Rasmussen

Trump is Suffering From a Severe Case of Self-Deception on a Level Never Seen Before

Posted by on September 18, 2024 at 1:42 pm. 1 Comments :

With less than two months until Election Day, predictions about the outcome of the presidential race are still fairly fluid. Pundits are mostly aligned in forecasting the results as a close call. Although part of their reticence to make more bold predictions may be in part due to having been wrong so often in the recent past.

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Donald Trump

However, it is undeniable that Kamala Harris and Tim Walz have a decidedly strong advantage with regard to momentum. In the seven weeks since Harris became the Democratic nominee, she has raised unprecedented sums of donations and rocketed to leading positions in most polls. Trump, meanwhile, has descended to ever deeper depths of delusion triggered by fear and despair.

SEE THIS: Trump’s New Campaign Slogan Inspired By His Angry Debate Act: ‘There’s Nothing to Smile About’

As usual, the best place to find out how Trump is really feeling at any given point in time is his flailing social media scam, Truth Social. And today is no exception. In another all-caps tantrum, Trump bellowed that he has a…

“BIG LEAD IN THE JUST RELEASED RASMUSSEN POLL, ONE OF THE FEW THAT GOT IT RIGHT!”

There’s a surprising amount of misinformation to unpack in that brief outburst. Let’s start with the fact that Trump’s alleged “BIG LEAD” in the Rasmussen poll is a soaring 2%, well within the margin of error. Secondly, as Trump noted, it’s a Rasmussen poll, which is a notoriously right-wing leaning operation, and has had a pro-MAGA bias from the start.

However, to his credit, Trump is correct in observing that Rasmussen’s results are “ONE OF THE FEW” that show him ahead of Harris. Almost every other credible pollster has Harris in the lead. Take a look at the RealClear Politics poll of polls…

Trump’s celebration of having a single, right-wing pollster release a survey that shows him with a small lead is evidence of his psychological misfiring, wherein he can only process positive news about himself. Which in this case is quite a feat considering that even Rasmussen’s results reveal a steep downward spiral. Have a look at the Rasmussen polls since President Biden passed the torch to Harris…

So even though Rasmussen continues to prop Trump up, it is now just by two points rather than by seven. He has stayed at about 49% the whole time, while Harris jumped from 43% to 47%. And at the risk of being repetitive, these are Rasmussen’s numbers. Trump can’t do any better than this, even with the most Trump-fluffing pollster in the business.

For good measure, Trump posted another comment that exhibits his willful delusion about himself and how voters perceive him. He bragged that…

“Finally everyone is agreeing that I won the Debate with Kamala. It was like a delayed reaction but, as one Political Pundit said, ‘Trump is still the G.O.A.T.'”

Once again, Trump is imagining that “everyone” agrees that he won the debate with Harris that he definitely lost. Polls taken after the debate confirm that Harris beat him. As do the trends evident in the general election polling. His reference to a “delayed reaction” is just another invention of his bruised psyche.

The question is whether Trump actually believes his absurd analyses of the state of the race, or if he is just trying to lead his cult followers down a primrose path. Not that it makes any difference in the long run. If it’s the former, he’s patently insane. If it’s the latter, he’s a bald-faced liar. And given those two choice the most likely answer is…It’s both. Trump is a patently insane bald-faced liar.

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Putting Trump’s Polling Delusions in Perspective – It’s Even Worse than He Thinks

Posted by on August 29, 2024 at 12:52 pm. 0 Comments :

It’s been a little more than a month since President Biden passed the torch to Kamala Harris. In that time her campaign has been firing on all cylinders. She has raised record amounts of money. She has united the Democratic Party, as well as many independents and Republicans, in support of her candidacy. And she has sparked a movement driven by her surging popularity.

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Donald Trump

Meanwhile, the former reality TV game show host, convicted felon, and adjudicated rapist, Donald Trump, has managed to single handedly sabotage his own campaign simply by opening his big mouth. Every utterance surpasses the previous one for ignorance and/or dishonesty. It’s all too much to effectively document, although some have tried…

SEE THIS: TRUMP IS TOAST: The Washington Post’s Laundry List of Trump’s Increasingly Bizarre Claims

Despite the obviously troubled waters in the Sea of MAGA, their Dear Leader is remaining steadfast in his beliefs about his promising electoral prospects. At least on the surface. He is telling the sycophantic press (the only ones he’ll speak with) that he is the frontrunner in the race for the White House. For instance, when he was recently asked by Fox News about Harris’ success, he provided a full-on fantasy reply saying that “No, she’s not having success. I’m having success. […] We’re leading in most of the polls.” He has been saying that a lot lately…

So this seems like a good time to introduce some reality to the question of Trump’s polling prowess. Let’s begin with the RealClear Politics poll of polls…

These are the 15 most recent polls that were taken over the past three weeks. And even the most glassy-eyed Trump cult disciple can readily see that it doesn’t look good for their guy. But a quick analysis shows that it’s even worse than it looks.

Ten of the 15 polls have Harris in the lead. Of the five where Trump is ahead, one of them is by Fox News. Which shouldn’t matter much to him because he posted on his floundering social media scam, Truth Social, this morning that “Fox Polls are Rigged and Worthless!”

The other four Trump-favored polls were all from the notoriously disreputable Trump-fluffing outfit, Rasmussen Reports. But if you look at those numbers, they are progressively worse for Trump in each poll, dropping each week from +5, to +4, to plus +3, to currently +2. Sinking like a stone comes to mind. At this rate, Rasmussen will have Harris ahead before the September 10 debate. And that is from the pollster most slanted toward Trump.

Democrats, however, must not put too much faith in any of these polls. They are not predictive of outcomes, They are merely snapshots in time. And Harris must maintain a commitment to winning every possible vote, in every state, right up until election day on November 5th.

She’s got more money than Trump; more volunteers; more popular support; and more energy (Trump is campaigning from the golf course, or in his jammies from Mar-a-Lago). And she must use those assets intelligently in order to emerge victorious. Run, as she says, as the underdog. And so far, she is doing everything right. Keep it up.

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Trump’s Favorite Pollster, Rasmussen, Shows Biden Winning By 12 Points

Posted by on October 7, 2020 at 11:57 am. 2 Comments :

In case anyone is wondering why Donald Trump has posted 100 insanely rage-infested tweets since 9:00 PM Tuesday night, it might have something to with how desperate and scared he is. This is how he copes with fear and the burden of a future that holds nothing for him but misfortune and misery.

Donald Trump, Joe Biden

Being infected with the coronavirus is only part of Trump’s tribulations. Although it’s likely a more significant part than he and his handlers are letting on. He hasn’t been seen in public in two days during the period of time when COVID-19 symptoms generally become more severe (7-10 days after first symptoms). And in his last appearance he seemed to be gasping for air as he stood on a White House balcony for a propaganda video.

However, even more troubling to a malignant narcissist like Trump, his reelection campaign is crumbling into dust. He is trailing Joe Biden by double digits in most recent polls. And this isn’t a trend that Trump can dismiss as phony, Democratic polling or “FAKE NEWS” because his favorite pollster, Rasmussen is showing the same dismal results:

“President Trump’s debate performance followed by his coronavirus diagnosis appear to be digging an even deeper hole for him this week. Democrat Joe Biden now has a 12-point lead over the president in Rasmussen Reports’ weekly White House Watch survey. The latest national telephone and online survey finds Biden leading President Trump 52% to 40% among Likely U.S. Voters.”

In the past three weeks Trump went from a one point advantage to one point behind to eight points back, and now a whopping twelve point deficit. His approval rating, according to Rasmussen, has declined eight points (52% to 44%) since September 25. In those intervening days Trump nominated a Supreme Court justice, debated Biden, and contracted the coronavirus. Apparently, none of those things advanced his standing with voters. Additionally, Trump’s approval among his Republican base now stands at a sorry 76%. That’s twenty points lower than the number he frequently boasts about on Twitter.

Trump likes to post the Rasmussen approval survey whenever they put him above the 50% mark, even though he generally falls back below that within a few days. But it’s a safe bet that he won’t be posting these results. He may even resort to attacking Rasmussen for having defected to the Deep State. That’s been his reaction when the Drudge Report has been critical of him, and even Fox News.

Adding to Trump’s polling woes are his abysmal fundraising efforts. While Biden is setting new records each month and expanding his targets, Trump is lagging in both receipts and cash on hand. He has had to pull advertising in key states that he needs to win in November. According to an analysis by Politico…

Joe Biden is set to spend $6.2 million on ads [in Texas] … Perhaps even more astounding: Trump doesn’t have the money to counter the cash-flush Biden on TV. Over the past two weeks, Biden had the airwaves to himself in Iowa, Ohio, Texas and New Hampshire, while Trump went dark.”

That’s not a recipe for any kind of campaign renewal for Trump. And with less than four weeks until election day, there’s little time for him to mount a recovery. There’s even less time when considering the fact that early voting has begun in many states and millions of people have already voted. Which leaves only one avenue available for the floundering Trump campaign: Straight up batshit crazy ranting and incoherent babbling. And in that race Trump already has a huge head start.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

Trump’s RNC Speech Flops in the Ratings, Loses to Biden

Posted by on August 28, 2020 at 12:40 pm. 2 Comments :

Our reality TV game show host president has made it clear over the years that the most important thing to him are his television ratings. He cites them to validate the usefulness of his phony Coronavirus Task Force briefings. In his ego-soaked ignorance, he considers them to be “the real polls.” But now he’s going to have to live with the yardstick for success that he created.

Donald Trump

The overnight Nielsen ratings for Trump’s nomination acceptance speech at the Republican Nationalist Confederation were an unmitigated flop. Despite his illegally using the White House for his political campaign, and cramming a couple of thousand cheering sycophants into a small space with no face masks, Trump still managed to underperform. As reported by CNN…

“President Trump’s Thursday night convention speech making the case for his reelection was lower-rated than his challenger Joe Biden’s speech one week ago, according to overnight Nielsen ratings.

“About 23.8 million viewers watched coverage of Trump’s RNC address across thirteen cable and broadcast networks, down from 24.6 million viewers who watched Biden’s DNC address on twelve of those same networks.”

This is the method of measuring that Trump has insisted best reflects where the American people stand. He’s wrong! But since he’s made such a big deal of it, it would be unfair not to give it due consideration. Two million more people watched Biden, who Trump has maligned with infantile nicknames such as “sleepy” and “slow.” And the Democratic convention also beat the Republicans for the total four days combined. So where does that leave Trump now?

Even on Fox News immediately following Trump’s 70 minute harangue, Chris Wallace told the Trump cultists watching that the speech was “surprisingly flat,” “far too long,” and lacked substance. Yet somehow, in Trump’s delusional fantasy world, he posted a tweet that contradicted reality:

Seriously, where does he get this stuff? Are his aides purposefully lying to him? Are these his own original lies? Or is he suffering from an acute case of self-deception? Regardless, he is passing these blatant falsehoods on to his worshipful cult disciples who will believe whatever he says.

However, the American people aren’t fooled by any of this. Trump’s approval ratings have not improved since the convention began. In fact, Trump’s favorite pollster, the wildly biased Rasmussen, actually shows him dropping five points. And if that’s the story from the most pro-Trump pollster, guess where the rest of the surveys are going to wind up.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

UPDATE: Naturally, Trump couldn’t keep his yap shut about this. But who would have expected him to completely defy reality by tweeting…

Well, actually everyone would have expected that. Trump lies like the rest of us breathe. But while it’s not surprising, it’s still shocking and disgusting.

Trump Approval Drops After Two Days of the Republican Nationalist Convention

Posted by on August 26, 2020 at 2:12 pm. 4 Comments :

What Donald Trump promised would be an optimistic and hopeful celebration of Republican leadership has predictably turned into a dystopian nightmare exalting an aspiring totalitarian dictator. The dark and hostile themes articulated by one speaker after another were unflinchingly foreboding and resolutely reverential of Trump and only Trump.

Donald Trump

This steadfast devotion to the Cult of Trump was intended to jump start his floundering reelection campaign. Joe Biden has been consistently beating Trump in both national and swing state polling for months. So the nasty tone set by Trump and his convention plotters was chosen in an attempt to boost his approval and to smear Biden in such a way as to bring him down to Trump’s level. They sent out their heavy artillery including four members of the Trump family (Eric, Don Jr, Tiffany, and Melania). They were fortified by notorious Trump-fluffers like Rep. Matt Gaetz, Rep. Jim Jordan, Nikki Haley, Mike Pompeo, and the screeching stylings of former Fox News host, Kimberly Guilfoyle.

However, early indicators show that this strategy is working about as well as everything else Trump has tried to do in his presidency (i.e. utter failure). One week ago Trump proudly tweeted that he had reached a peak approval rating of 51% as surveyed by the disreputable right-wing pollster, Rasmussen Reports. Rasmussen is without a doubt Trump’s favorite pollster and the only one who has ever shown Trump with a majority approval rating.

Now, after two days of RNC ranting, and worshipful characterizations of Trump as Messiah, Rasmussen has him at 47% approve, 51% disapprove. That’s a four point drop (and an eight point negative swing) that occurred in just the two days since the convention began. Additionally, Rasmussen has Trump with a 36% strongly approve rating, and 44% strongly disapprove. UPDATE: Another day, another drop for Trump as his approval on the Rasmussen poll goes down to 46%.

To repeat, Rasmussen is the most Trump-friendly pollster on the planet. For comparison, other recent polls show Trump with considerably worse numbers. RealClearPolitics’ average “poll of polls” has Trump in the red 10.6%. And his performance in the crucial swing states is particularly dismal. Biden is leading in six of the seven states considered as battlegrounds (Wisconsin, Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Ohio, and North Carolina). North Carolina is the only state where Biden is not ahead, but he is either tied or close. Biden is also challenging Trump in traditionally red states like Texas and Arizona.

Trump’s decline this week so far does not bode well for the remaining days of the convention, Ordinarily, a candidate could look forward to a game changing speech at the conclusion of the convention, But Trump has already played that card by casting himself in prominent roles every day. He even included official duties (the granting of clemency and a swearing in ceremony for new citizens) in his convention events, which many legal experts contend is a violation of federal law.

Consequently, the final two days hold little suspense. Firebrands like Kellyanne Conway, Ivanka Trump, Rudy Giuliani, and a parade of d-list members of Congress will be speaking. The remaining star power consists of Mike Pence, who is scheduled to give one of his always tranquillizing addresses on Wednesday. Then on Thursday, Trump will close the show with what will likely be a sequel to his infamous “American Carnage” inaugural horror story.

How any of that can be expected to move the polling needle is a mystery. But that’s all that the Trump camp has in store. Unless, of course, he surprises us with Hillary’s lost emails, a check from Mexico for the border wall, or a coronavirus vaccine he whipped up in the White House guest bathroom. Stay tuned.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

UH-OH: Fox News Speculates that Trump is a Loser Who Might Drop Out of the Race

Posted by on June 29, 2020 at 12:56 pm. 1 Comments :

The downward spiral into which Donald Trump is descending may finally be beginning to sink in, not just to Trump, but to the right-wing media propagandists who are struggling to shore up his sickly presidency. With each day there is news that contributes to the terminal prognosis of Trump’s floundering reelection campaign. And the accumulating sense of doom has become impossible to ignore.

Donald Trump

Trump himself is well aware of the dilemma he faces as every national poll shows him getting crushed by Joe Biden. Even worse, polls of the seven most crucial swing states (Wisconsin, Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Arizona, and Minnesota) are also showing Biden leading. So Trump has fallen back on his customary dismissal of the media and the independent firms they hire to conduct their surveys:

Trump is certainly “sorry,” but not for the reasons he states. He’s a sorry excuse for a leader who resorts to petulant whining whenever he doesn’t get his way. And he’s surely sorry that everyone from the New York Times to Fox News is reporting how thoroughly the American people have rejected him. Even his favorite pollster, the rabidly biased Rasmussen, has Trump’s approval rating at 42%, matching lows as far back as January of 2018.

These numbers have Trump repeating his oft-mentioned lie that he has 95% approval within the Republican Party. Not only is that untrue, it’s irrelevant. He is not the president of the GOP. What’s more, Republicans represent a measly 28% of the electorate. Which is hardly enough to secure a victory in November.

The conditions for Trump’s campaign have deteriorated so badly that close associates are speculating as to whether he might drop out of the race entirely rather than suffer defeat. Politico is reporting the prospect of Trump’s renowned cowardice, along with comments from insiders who say that…

“The president has privately come to that grim realization in recent days, multiple people close to him told POLITICO, amid a mountain of bad polling and warnings from some of his staunchest allies that he’s on course to be a one-term president.”

And as if that weren’t bad enough, Fox News is joining those with suspicions of Trump running away from an expected rout. Fox host Trace Gallagher prefaced a question to Trump surrogate John Sununu (video below) saying that “President Trump’s poll numbers declining in recent weeks […] is leading some speculation that if his support keeps falling, the president might drop out of the race.” And Fox News featured a graphic during the segment that warned of a “rough polling stetch” (sic) for Trump.

Donald Trump, Fox News, Polling

Whether there is any chance of Trump bailing is an open question. He has a reputation as a coward who flees from any trouble that confronts him. But he also has a stubborn streak and a massive ego that can overwhelm his fears. In the end it makes no difference because either outcome would be similarly humiliating for Trump. His malignant narcissism prevents him from accepting that he is less than the manifestation of perfection. And that will result in his eventual downfall being all the more debilitating when it comes to pass.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

Trump Threatens to Ditch GOP Convention in North Carolina, the Only State that Wanted It.

Posted by on May 25, 2020 at 1:58 pm. 2 Comments :

The United States is witnessing the unprecedented spectacle of a president devolving into total mental collapse right before our eyes. Donald Trump seems to know that America is literally sick to death of him. His prospects for reelection have been squandered by his tragically inept mishandling of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. And his most desperate attempts to recover are sinking in a turbulent sea of his own making.

Donald Trump Walking the Plank

If Trump happens to check his favorite pollster, the disgraced and ultra-biased Rasmussen, he will see his approval at 43%, matching his low point going back two and a half years. Other polls such as Reuters (42%) and even Fox News (44%) affirm that rating. He is losing to Joe Biden in every head to head match up nationally, as well as in most of the crucial swing states.

This grim reality has apparently driven Trump off the deep end. His Twitter feed is dripping with psychotic distress. He’s accusing MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough of murder. He’s feuding with his former Attorney General, Jeff Sessions. He’s insulting critics (mostly women) as being skanks (Hillary Clinton), overweight (Stacy Abrams), and stupid (Michigan AG Dana Nessel). He even retweeted Jesse Watters of Fox News saying that President Obama will be in prison soon. And speaking of Fox News, Trump is alternately lashing out at it and embracing it with schizophrenic fury.

On Monday morning, Trump hammered out four tweets that are further evidence of his mental infirmity. He is extremely upset with with the Democratic governor of North Carolina, Roy Cooper, for not guaranteeing that the state will be fully open for business by the time the Republican National Convention is scheduled to be there. Due to the coronavirus, there may still be restrictions of certain activities and crowd sizes. But Trump is insistent that the convention be permitted to operate at full capacity no matter how many lives could be lost.

That’s no surprise coming from the president who has presided over nearly 100,000 American deaths to date that are directly attributable to his negligence, incompetence, and even deliberate malfeasance. Trump’s twitter opus whined that…

I love the Great State of North Carolina, so much so that I insisted on having the Republican National Convention in Charlotte at the end of August. Unfortunately, Democrat Governor, @RoyCooperNC is still in Shutdown mood & unable to guarantee that by August we will be allowed…

…full attendance in the Arena. In other words, we would be spending millions of dollars building the Arena to a very high standard without even knowing if the Democrat Governor would allow the Republican Party to fully occupy the space. Plans are being….

…made by many thousands of enthusiastic Republicans, and others, to head to beautiful North Carolina in August. They must be immediately given an answer by the Governor as to whether or not the space will be allowed to be fully occupied. If not, we will be reluctantly forced…

…to find, with all of the jobs and economic development it brings, another Republican National Convention site. This is not something I want to do. Thank you, and I LOVE the people of North Carolina!

True to form, Trump is demonstrating that he is more concerned about his own welfare than that of the American people, even his own supporters. If he is set on cramming thousands of people into an arena-sized petri dish, then they should be quarantined there for 14 days following the convention to prevent them from spreading the coronavirus as they fan out across the nation to their homes. There have already been numerous reports of spiking infection and death rates in states that have loosened restrictions.

What Trump isn’t addressing in his threat to ditch North Carolina is that there may mot be any alternatives available. When the RNC originally put out the call for cities to host the convention, they ended up with with only Charlotte, North Carolina submitting a bid. That’s unheard of in the convention business. And it wasn’t because of economics, logistics, or security. The Democrats got eight bids to host their convention. So obviously the problem was Trump.

Consequently, there has been some speculation that Trump might move the event to his Doral golf resort in Miami, although he denies it. However, in his denial he accused the New York Times of engaging in that speculation, which the Times didn’t do. This is just Trump’s routine practice of disinformation to muddy the waters around whatever scandalous hole he’s trying to dig himself out of at the time.

Being as it is only about 13 weeks until the convention is to be held, there isn’t nearly enough time to find another host city that could ramp up quickly enough to pull off this large of an event. That’s even if there is a city that wants to, which was not the case when the original opportunity presented itself.

What’s more, the GOP has already invested heavily in the North Carolina site and would have to forfeit those expenditures if they cancel. So the likelihood is that the convention will proceed in Charlotte under whatever conditions the state mandates, and Trump will have to suck it up. Of course that means he will just blame the Democrats in North Carolina for his failures and elevate the hysteria in his tweets.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

Trump’s Approval Goes Down in Flames, After He Bragged About Rising Polls

Posted by on April 3, 2020 at 12:25 pm. 9 Comments :

Let’s face it, Donald Trump proves every day that the only thing he really cares about is Donald Trump. He rarely talks about anything other than his hyper-inflated self-adoration, and how magnificent he believes he is at whatever he does. He even wasted time during what was supposed to be a Coronavirus Task Force briefing (but which he has hijacked to exploit for his 2020 reelection campaign), to falsely claim that he’s number one on Facebook. He’s not (Trump has 29 million followers vs. Obama’s 53 million).

Flaming Trump

Trump frequently tries to justify himself with references to his polling. More often than not he either lies or cherry picks results that appeal to him. He has been leaning on that obvious PR tactic extra heavily in recent days. And while a couple of polls have shown some small improvements, they were short-lived and easily explained as some respondents exhibit the “rally round the flag” syndrome common to times of great distress.

Nevertheless, Trump continues to fluff himself with bogus boasts about his imaginary popularity. On Thursday, while complaining about a proposed congressional coronavirus oversight committee, Trump once again congratulated himself for fake numbers:

“It’s witch hunt, after witch hunt, after witch hunt. […] and we want to fight for American lives, not waste time and build up my poll numbers. Because that’s all their doing.”

What Trump has still yet to learn (among so many other things) is that if you live by the poll, you can die by it as well. On Friday morning, Trump’s favorite pollster, the rabidly right-wing Rasmussen Reports, delivered the lowest approval rating they have recorded for Trump in four months: 44% versus 53% disapproval. That’s sharply down from 48-50% the day before. And this is by the pollster that reliably delivers the most pro-Trump numbers, and after Trump’s daily COVID-19 unreality show.

What’s more, the “rally round the flag” syndrome seems to have already fizzled. An ABC News/Ipsos poll asked Americans what they thought of Trump’s handling of the coronavirus response. A majority of 52% said they disapprove of his management of the deadly outbreak, while only 47% approve. That’s a deep dive from the previous poll that had a majority approving (55-43%).

This is the sort of news that will drive Trump crazy. His gargantuan and tender ego can’t handle criticism of any kind. He is likely to lash out at the pollsters and the media outlets that publish the data. And while he can’t escape the truth, he’s going to try. For instance, a few days ago he tried to take credit for high Nielsen ratings for the Task Force briefings. Never mind that there are at least as many Trump opponents as supporters who tune in to get information from experts like Dr. Fauci.

Trump’s attempts to console himself with false and flattering representations of reality will just look more pathetic with each attempt. The American people are united in their distrust of whatever Trump says about COVID-19 (or anything else). Even worse from Trump’s perspective is that they trust the media more. And they do not appear ready to reassess that opinion as his negligence, incompetence, callousness, and failure is more evident with each passing day.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

Trump is Whining (Again) About Fox News Poll Where He’s Losing to Every Top Democrat

Posted by on February 28, 2020 at 12:35 pm. 2 Comments :

There is one thing that can be reliably assumed about Donald Trump at any given moment in time. He is probably whining. That’s pretty much his resting state of mind. He is without a doubt the most cowardly crybaby ever to occupy the White House. He even admitted it on national TV in 2016, saying that “I am the most fabulous whiner. I do whine, because I want to win. I am a whiner and I keep whining and whining until I win.” Duh!

Donald Trump Pacifier Fox

So it shouldn’t surprise anyone that Trump is wailing about a new poll by Fox News that shows him losing to every top Democratic in the race. The poll has Biden beating Trump 49% to 41%. Sanders 49-42. Bloomberg 48-40. Warren 46-43. Buttigieg 45-42. And Klobuchar 44-43. Notice that Trump never scores higher than 43% in any of these match-ups. So an obviously rattled Trump pounded out this frantic tweet:

For the record, most of the 2016 polls, even those by Fox News, were pretty accurate. They showed Hillary Clinton beating Trump by about 3%, which is precisely what happened. Remember, these are polls of voters, not the electoral college, and Clinton won the popular vote by 3,000,000 votes. FiveThirtyEight rates Fox News pollsters (Beacon Research/Shaw & Co. Research) a respectable “A-“.

But none of that matters because Trump’s complaints aren’t rooted in reality to begin with. He has often criticized Fox News polling in the past when they delivered bad news. And he routinely complains that Fox has “always been terrible to me.” But he’s ignoring all the times he praised Fox for surveys that had more positive results.

RELATED: Are Trump’s Cult Rallies Breeding Grounds for the Coronavirus?

Trump’s perspective is always colored by whatever he views is in his best interest at the moment. It’s a bizarre psychosis that springs from his malignant narcissism. If someone compliments him, they are a rock solid ally. If someone criticizes him, they have always been a bitter enemy. He simply has no grasp of the nuances of fluid, human interactions. And he will use whatever data he finds most beneficial, even if he has to make it up. For instance, Trump also tweeted this Friday morning:

The problem with that is that it was a retweet that is several days old and does not reflect a “new” Rasmussen poll. In fact, the most recent Rasmussen poll has Trump at only 47%. What’s more, he has never had 95% GOP approval, no matter how many times he tweets it.

Despite Trump’s disappointment with Fox News, he just scheduled a town hall on the network for next Thursday. It will be one of the rare occasions where Trump will be interviewed on Fox by someone other than Sean Hannity or one of the other devoted Trump-fluffers. Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum will host the affair. However, their previous interviews with Trump were dominated by softball questions and no substantive follow ups.

What’s peculiar is why Fox News is having this town hall at all. Trump is running virtually unopposed, so what’s the point in providing a platform when there isn’t a primary contest in progress? The only plausible reason is that Fox wants to make sure that Trump isn’t overshadowed by the Democrats who are engaged in a heated primary. In other words, it’s free advertising for Trump.

What Fox isn’t doing is offering the same thing to Bill Weld, the Republican former governor of Massachusetts who actually is running against Trump in the GOP primary. Both Fox News and Trump are pretending that Weld doesn’t exist. The party has canceled several primaries so that Trump doesn’t have to face an opposing candidate. And Fox has refused to to even book Weld for an interview.

If Trump is as confidant of his 2020 prospects as he keeps insisting, then why is he suppressing this primary opposition? For the same reason he is whining about the Fox News poll. He is scared. He recognizes the political risk that he faces if the economy falters. And his moaning notwithstanding, he does realize that polls reflect the tenor of public opinion, and that opinion now is decidedly – and appropriately – anti-Trump.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

Uh-Oh: Trump’s Favorite Pollster Shows a Baghdadi Bounce of 2 Measly Points

Posted by on October 28, 2019 at 1:43 pm. 2 Comments :

On Sunday Donald Trump made what he surely thought was the most consequential public address of his ignoble presidency. He announced the death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi at the conclusion of a raid by U.S. forces. Despite some flagrant lies and admissions of improper conduct, Trump must have imagined that this news would provide some relief from the avalanche of evidence and testimony against him at the congressional impeachment hearings. Instead, he was greeted by boos when he attended the fifth game of the World Series later the same day.

Donald Trump

Trump, as usual, has been paying tribute to himself. In the past twenty-hours hours he has posted seven videos of his Sunday address. He has also lauded reporting by correspondents who praised the military mission and his decision to greenlight it. Nevermind that inside experts have revealed that Trump was actually an impediment to the mission’s success.

Perhaps the best indication of how little Trump will benefit from the Baghdadi episode is his approval rating as reported by his favorite pollster, the ultra-rightist Rasmussen Reports. In recent days Rasmussen has had Trump’s approval at a low (43%) that matches his worst polling in nearly two years. And now, after the death of Baghdadi, Trump’s approval creeped up a mere two points to 45 percent. That’s still uncharacteristically low for Trump on a Rasmussen survey. But it also reflects the tiniest of bounces from what should have been highly positive news.

Trump is fond of bragging about his approval rating from Rasmussen. He has tweeted fourteen times this year when the number exceeded 50 percent. The most recent was just two weeks ago, after which it quickly declined to 43. What he apparently has failed to learn is that after he posts a relatively good approval rating, it routinely drops back down in a matter of days. Then when it goes back up to 50, he pounds out another repetitive robo-tweet. And the wheel spins round and round.

If Trump has been hoping to ride a rocket to popularity in the post-Baghdadi world, he is going to be bitterly disappointed, a state of being that he is probably familiar with. If his approval rating rises only two points on Rasmussen after an event like this, it is unlikely to shoot up to a majority any other poll. Trump has actually never had a 50 percent approval rating from a credible pollster during his entire presidency. And as the afterglow of the Baghdadi news fades, the red-hot radiance of impeachment will reignite. And, once again, Trump will wallow in an abyss of victimhood, disapproval and desperation.

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