Trump's Wins Turn Democrats' World Upside Down
On PBS this weekend, David Brooks — who in March 2016 penned a column for The New York Times titled "No, Not Trump, Not Ever" that claimed Trump was "epically unprepared to be president" and "an affront to basic standards of honesty, virtue and citizenship" — found himself praising Trump for his recent foreign policy wins.
Brooks suddenly discovered that Trump's background as a businessman provided some relevant experience for being president, particularly when it comes to dealing with "thuggish" leaders.
He even added that President Obama's argument for his now defunct nuclear deal with Iran — that it would moderate the extremists running that country — "turned out to be clearly false."
That's a double whammy from the guy who once gushed over Obama and his "perfectly creased pant."
Over the same weekend, the virulently Trump-hating "Saturday Night Live" found itself forced to admit that Trump had "a pretty good week." Colin Jost, in a rare display of actual humor on the show, said "He helped secure the release of three American prisoners from North Korea, and when he greeted them at the airport, he didn't even say, 'Wait I thought they were Americans.'"
Legendary California Democrat Willie Brown took to the pages of the San Francisco Chronicle on Saturday to tell fellow Democrats that they should "stop bashing President Trump."
"Like it or not," he wrote, "a significant number of Americans are actually happy these days. They are making money. They feel safe, and they agree with the president's protectionist trade policies, his call for more American jobs, even his immigration stance.
"The jobs growth reports, the North Korea summit and the steady economy are beating out the Stormy Daniels scandal and the Robert Mueller investigation in Middle America, hands down.
"So you are not going to win back the House by making it all about him."
Meanwhile, the latest CNN poll shows Democrats with a meager 3-point advantage on the generic ballot question. The Reuters/Ipsos poll has Democrats up by only one point, and the Real Clear Politics average is +5, down from +13 in December. Trump's approval rating has been steadily, if slowly, rising since December, going from an average 37% approval to over 43% now.
The Washington Post reported on Monday that Democrats are now fretting about "a shifting political landscape" and an energized GOP base.
In fact, Democrats are starting to complain that the press is too focused on Trump scandals and not paying enough attention to "issues," and that this could hurt him in November.
"Eager to move a message that focuses on things like minimum wage hikes and health care premiums," the Daily Beast reported on Monday, "they have been overtaken by a steady stream of stories of Russia meddling, porn star payoffs, and shady Trump-world figures."
Democrats fear, the story goes on, that "a perception is taking hold that the party is obsessively focused on a Russia-collusion message above all else."
Never mind the flagrant rewriting of history here. The only stab at "issues" has been a lame, warmed over set of liberal policy prescriptions wrapped up in the generic title of "A Better Deal." Other than that, their only agenda has been to attack Trump at every turn.
Nevertheless, it's a sign Democrats are starting to realize that their plan to ride Trump hatred to victory this November isn't panning out the way they'd hoped.
The Mueller investigation — now in its second year — has failed to bear any impeachment fruit. Trump is racking up successes foreign and domestic — the tax cut and resulting economic boom, the embassy move to Jerusalem, the impressive progress with North Korea, tough stands with China and Iran. More importantly, the public is starting to realize that Trump isn't the cartoon villain Democrats had portrayed.
But if Trump-bashing won't work, what else can Democrats talk about? Repealing Trump's tax cuts? Imposing still more ObamaCare? The return of job killing regulations and mandates? Gun control? Free college?
No wonder Democrats are now looking for someone else to blame if they don't win big in November.
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