In a previous column, I reported how President Donald Trump is under water on public approval ratings, showing the lowest first July approval rating of any president in the modern era. Today, six weeks later, he’s still under water.
Donald Trump is a solidly minority president. His negatives are larger than his positives.
For example, polling reported by The Economist Oct. 11 shows a 39% approval rating on the president’s job performance and a 56% disapproval rating — under water by 17%.
Richard Conville
The Economist’s polling at the same time further showed the most critical issues to voters are inflation and prices along with jobs and the economy. On jobs and the economy, Trump is under water by 18%. Similarly, Nate Silver’s polling of Oct. 11 had Trump under water by 15.3% on his handling of the economy, and 27.7% on his handling of inflation.
Trump is a solidly minority president, but he doesn’t care because he has a National Police Force — that ad hoc jumble of ICE agents, Border Patrol officers and federalized National Guard members. You know, the ones who roamed the streets of Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles and who now are in Portland, Chicago and Memphis.
“Fearful people are easier to rule than free people.”
Dealing with so-called “illegal immigrants” is his excuse for all these deployments, but that is only a cover story. The real reason is to instill fear in the general population, because fearful people are easier to rule than free people.
And what is worse, those ICE agents and their compatriots are not just roaming the streets, they are wearing masks, wearing uniforms with little or no identifying makings and arriving in big black SUVs and anonymous white vans. Arriving with no warrants (violating Amendment IV) and arresting seemingly random people who have a slightly darker complexion than “normal” and who speak Spanish. And taking those arrested to detention centers that are closed to legislative oversight where they are held incognito, with no due process (violating Amendment V). Constitutional rights be damned!
Trump’s world is the world of every dictator, tyrant, king or emperor who has ever lived. Absolute rule is the goal.
Absolute rule, yes. But to what end and for what purpose? The president’s actions indicate his end game is to turn the presidency into a great big money machine for his family and his billionaire friends.
The president has two responses to those who oppose him: Ridicule, and “Stop me!” So far, no one has been able to stop him. Republicans have actively supported his authoritarian takeover of government (fearing his revenge, I suppose); Democrats lack a majority in both houses of Congress; and the Supreme Court has been compliant.
Only federal judges have been able to slow him down, but the outcome of those cases is uncertain.
“Do you think the president will simply send those thousands of agents home when their war on Hispanics is done?
Finally, look into the future. What if, after a couple of years and millions of deportations, Trump declares victory over the “invasion” of the U.S. by non-Europeans. What does he do with the thousands of inductees into his National Police Force? Remember the Big Tax-Breaks-for-Billionaires Bill recently passed by the Republican majorities in Congress? It provided nearly $28 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Do you think the president will simply send those thousands of agents home when their war on Hispanics is done? Really? Do you think they will simply go home to their friends and families and disappear into the fabric of society as responsible, hardworking, tax-paying citizens? Maybe go back to school. Maybe open a small business. No. Of course not.
The toothpaste is out of the tube, and the horse is out of the barn. The commander-in-chief will simply sic them on another easy target, some other relatively powerless group to blame for the nation’s problems.
Why? Because that’s how you retain your power — so you can find more ways to make more money for yourself and your billionaire friends. It’s not a pretty picture. Democracy will be the victim and prices will continue to rise, but he won’t care, because he has the National Police to smother dissent and enforce his every whim.
The president doesn’t care if he’s a solidly minority president.
Richard Conville is professor emeritus of communication studies at the University of Southern Mississippi and a long-time resident of Hattiesburg, where he is a member of University Baptist Church.