The Rasmussen Poll usually favors Republicans and it's now saying Trump's popularity is fairly high. No doubt he thinks that's the only one that matters…and will until it tells him something he doesn't like. For what little it may be worth, I don't think the measure of any politician's popularity means a lot until such time as there's a named alternative to them. Asking "Would you rather have [name of elected official] or some unnamed alternative who isn't even running yet?" is different from asking folks if they'd prefer a named alternative. You not only can't beat something with nothing, you can't even measure preference against nothing.
Here are some articles I read today which you might want to read today…
- Trump has been hammering Amazon — gee, I wonder why he'd attack a company owned by Jeff Bezos — and insisting they don't pay high-enough postal rates. Here's what that's all about and why he's probably wrong.
- Fred Kaplan wonders (and has a theory) about who made the single worst decision of the Iraq War. There were a lot of "worst" decisions made during that mess but only a couple of folks who could have made the real "worst one."
- William Saletan tries to get to the bottom of how John Bolton, Trump's incoming national security adviser, feels about Muslims and Islam. As you'll see, this is not an easy thing to figure out.
- A political theorist offers political theories as to why Trump's base doesn't seem to care if he's corrupt. I think it's a lot simpler. They hate not having one of "their guys" in power so much that they're willing to overlook anything.
- Jonathan Chait explains why Trump signs a budget then denounces it as terrible. It's because if he said it was great, then he'd have to take some responsibility for what results from it.
- Charles P. Pierce on how Wisconsin governor Scott Walker's idea of democracy is to not hold elections he fears Republicans will not win. And hey, what's more democratic than not letting people vote?
Like you, I'm aghast at some of the lies and personal attacks being hurled at the young survivors of the Parkland school shooting. Some people will say or do anything just to deny an opponent a smidgen of Higher Moral Ground…or even Equal.