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Trump Approval Down in South Dakota But Still Higher Than His Incompetence Warrants

South Dakota has given unrealistically high approval ratings to the current occupant of the White House, whose arrogance and expensive suits would get any other Manhattan billionaire snickered out of most board rooms and barnyards in this state. But even here, common sense is catching up with emotion, and Donald Trump is losing support.

Bob Mercer notes that Trump’s approval rating in the Morning Consult survey has dropped from 54.2% in January to 50.7% in September. Folks who remained agnostic in January have come down heavily against Trump: his South Dakota disapproval has jumped from 33.5% to 43.5%. His positive spread in South Dakota has thus been cut by two thirds, from just about 22 points to a slimming 7.

Morning Consult’s full figures show Trump holding on to net approval in 22 states, down from 45 in January. Those 22 net-approval states hold only 193 Electoral College votes.

We should not be surprised. In nearly nine months in office, Donald Trump has shown no aptitude for the office America gave him, no sign of growing or maturing into the enormous responsibilities of the Oval Office. He has not enunciated or explained, never mind passed, any substantive policy proposal. As on the campaign trail, Trump speaks rarely in complete sentences and never in paragraphs. Any attempts at true statesmanly speech are scripted affairs that he recites in his bored wheeze, then dashes to oblivion with his next frenzied Tweets.

Jonah Golberg offered this accurate assessment of Trump’s performance yesterday on NPR:

INSKEEP: That was a trick question, a trick question. Let’s start with the Republican senator, Bob Corker of Tennessee, retiring chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, widely respected, works in a bipartisan way, has also tried to work with the president, vital to the president on issue after issue. Why go after him?

GOLDBERG: For the same reason Trump goes after anybody. He’s a counterpuncher. He doesn’t like to be disrespected. He’s easy to provoke, which is sort of proving part of Bob Corker’s point, which is that Donald Trump’s behavior on Twitter and elsewhere is endangering to the country and is ill-advised. I do think trying to find a long-term strategic vision to the Twitter account is a bit like trying to find a long-term strategic vision to a runaway monkey from a cocaine study. It’s just not…

INSKEEP: (Laughter).

GOLDBERG: It’s not a fruitful enterprise because he makes these decisions on his Twitter account in a glandular, sort of instantaneous, gut way. And then the White House has to clean up the mess, which, again, is sort of what Corker’s point was [Jonah Goldberg, interviewed by Steve Inskeep, NPR: Morning Edition, 2017.10.09].

Glandular cocaine monkey—that those three words can objectively the normal behavior of a person with unchecked authority to launch nuclear weapons should terrify the world… as should the fact that a majority of South Dakotans can still say they approve of such a person holding such power.

Donald Trump’s own staff admits that it is using toddler-diversion tactics to keep our Toddler-in-Chief from making bigger messes:

As White House chief of staff, Reince Priebus mused to associates that telling President Donald Trump no was usually not an effective strategy. Telling him “next week” was often the better idea.

Trump would impulsively want to fire someone like Attorney General Jeff Sessions; create a new, wide–ranging policy with far–flung implications, like increasing tariffs on Chinese steel imports; or end a decades–old deal like the North American Free Trade Agreement. Enraged with a TV segment or frustrated after a meandering meeting, the president would order it done immediately.

Delaying the decision would give Priebus and others a chance to change his mind or bring in advisers to speak with Trump — and in some cases, to ensure Trump would drop the idea altogether and move on [John Dawsey, “White House Aides Lean on Delays and Distractions to Manage Trump,” Politico, 2017.10.09].

The people closest to Trump recognize he is a child—unfortunately, an enormously powerful child—whom they must constantly scramble to distract from using his power in destructive ways.

South Dakotans, Donald Trump does not deserve your approval. He wouldn’t last an hour on a South Dakota dairy farm or construction site before mouthing off, wrecking some piece of equipment, or hurting someone.

Democrats and other sane citizens, have faith: the reality of Trump’s incompetence will overwhelm whatever emotional attachment some South Dakota voters haave formed for this reality-TV charlatan. Any Republicans who cling to Trump will lose more voters than they win in 2018. Democratic candidates, Trump and his incompetence are your path to victory and to re-establishing good government in South Dakota.

 

21 Comments

  1. jerry 2017-10-10 13:34

    Wait until dementia suffering mom and dad are forced to move out of the nursing home because of Medicaid cuts, that will make trump supporters even more supportive of his agenda. Nothing says trump support like looking across the table to see a loved one who does not know who in the hell you are or why there is a sudden stink in the room. trump, Making America a Great Abomination.

  2. Donald Pay 2017-10-10 14:27

    I think Cory and I recognized this man-child’s unfitness for the Presidency early on in his candidacy. Why do half of South Dakotans still cling to this evil, mentally ill man like he is the Bible or a gun?

    All who have had children, recognize the need for guardrails at certain times as they mature. Generally, most children grow out of the stages. When they don’t, they end up like Donald Trump, a man-child who grabs p___y, bullies people, calls people names, seethes with any perceived or misperceived slight, and undermines his own cabinet when they pursue peace. All but the latter the permissive of us can, perhaps, tolerate, but Corker is absolutely right to think the last bit is a disqualification. Trump must go.

    It amazes me that people who wouldn’t tolerate their child behaving like Donald Trump thought this man-child would be a better than an adult like Hillary. Yeah, Hillary had her faults, but being a spoiled brat who would tweet us into WWIII was not one of them.

    Now that even conservative Republicans have seen through the mental illness of the president, it is time to rip the bandage off: get rid of this guy through impeachment or the 25th Amendment. Now.

  3. Loren 2017-10-10 14:45

    SD, where a hand shake is a deal, voted for a con man. SD, where a hand shake is a form of greeting, NOT a p***y grab or unwanted kiss, mint or no mint, voted for a serial grabber. SD, where family values are a virtue, voted for an admitted adulterer. SD, where military service is respected, voted for a gent with a yellow streak and “bone spurs”! SD, where … OK, you get he idea! SD, you aren’t the state I used to admire.

  4. Roger Cornelius 2017-10-10 15:18

    Now this rich, Trump condemned movie mogul Harvey Weinstein for his alleged sexual abuse against women.

  5. John Sweet 2017-10-10 16:34

    “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump” by Bandy Lee, M.D., M.Div and 27 psychiatrists and mental health experts assess Trump in this book, which would be a very good resource for a class in abnormal psychology. The guy is scary. His election is clearly a “party before country” scenario. Impeachment or the 25th amendment need to be invoked before more damage has been done and to avoid an ultimate catastrophe for our country.

  6. mike from iowa 2017-10-10 17:47

    I am afraid KGB agent lookalike Pence might be worse. Pence follows Drumpf’s orders without question and looks like he’d be at home as Putin’s right hand do it all assassin.

  7. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2017-10-10 18:01

    Mike, I understand the danger of a Pence Presidency, but potential political impacts of removing Trump do not change the objective facts that support his unfitness for office. We don’t like what Pence would do, and he’d do more of it, but he’s not unfit for office. It’s his very competence that makes him worrisome.

  8. Richard Schriever 2017-10-10 18:27

    “Why do half of South Dakotans still cling to this evil, mentally ill man like he is the Bible or a gun?”

    Because he is a near perfect reflection of their own personalities.

  9. mike from iowa 2017-10-10 19:00

    Drumpf spoke, sitting next to war criminal Henry Kissinger, that he would sign EO destroying Obamacare. I can only imagine the thrill that brought to Kissinger’s heart.

  10. Darin Larson 2017-10-10 23:02

    If I wasn’t so worried about Trump starting WWIII, I would much prefer him to Pence as president. Pence would be much more effective.

    Trump is absolutely incompetent at building coalitions and getting legislation passed even while his own party controls Congress, no less. He alienates everyone around him. No one is safe from his Twitter storms and odd rants. He demands uncompromising loyalty, but demonstrates he will throw anyone under the bus at the drop of a hat if he thinks it will benefit himself. Trump puts a crazy face on much of the Republican agenda and exposes it as a facade for the rich and connected. And man I love to watch Pence, Sanders, Tillerson, et. al. squirm as they are asked to explain the latest steaming pile that Trump left on their doorstep.

  11. Vance Feyereisen 2017-10-11 01:38

    I sometimes think that America began its nosedive from greatness with the acceptance of “the lie”. If memory serves me right, the idea of telling a lie so many times it became the truth, came out of the U. of Chicago. About 70% of our economic system depends on selling, marketing and advertising; a system of artful lying. Then Fox News plead not guilty to lying because they are an entertainment station and the Supremes agreed with them.

    We came to accept the lie as more or less part of our culture. We expected politicians to lie and held no one accountable for doing so. When Wall Street stole a million we meekly asked for a thousand back. Simply little accountability for criminal lies.

    Then along came the lunatic liar in the White House. Good job America.

  12. OldSarg 2017-10-11 06:29

    Trump doesn’t matter. What matters is the majority of people are standing against a government the people see as too intrusive, over bearing and dictorial. You can point at Trump, yell about the failures of the people to support Obamacare, cry about the lack of support for the EPA, smear the truth about the confusing wrotten tax structure and you will get no where. The people are tired of the crap being forced upon them by the government. Once again, it isn’t about Trump. You may want to remember: In a Republic the people rule.

  13. Donald Pay 2017-10-11 07:13

    If Trump doesn’t matter, Old Sarge, then he can go.

  14. Darin Larson 2017-10-11 08:12

    OldSarg, if you think Trump doesn’t matter, then perhaps you should tell that to Bob Corker, Rex Tillerson, John McCain, Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, John Kelly, James Mattis, and every other member of Congress and Trump’s cabinet. They obviously think he matters.

    Trump is such an embarrassment to our country that I can understand you trying to change the subject. He is a narcissistic buffoon and will go down in history as the worst president of modern times, if he can keep from starting a nuclear war that ends recorded history.

  15. Jenny 2017-10-11 08:21

    57% approval rating for Trump in SD. How embarrassing, but not really surprising, since SD is a less educated state. Guns, being anti-gay, anti-immigration and anti-muslim are of utmost importance to people in SD and Trump supports all of the above.

    39% approval rating for Trump in MN, a state that ranks among the top in the nation for percentage of people with college degrees. Educated intelligent people are much more likely to be progressives.

  16. Rorschach 2017-10-11 13:30

    The GOP Party is ashamed of the incompetent idiot it foisted on the country. The SDGOP press release blog refuses to write anything about him or even mention his name.

    When OldSarg argues that the President “doesn’t matter” he’s saying:

    1) that Trump is impotent as no other President ever has been, or
    2) that OldSarg is personally disowning Trump and downplaying his own vote for the worst president ever, or
    3) Both 1 and 2.

    As the polls show, more and more Trump voters are acknowledging the obvious. The GOP Party is accomplished at throwing grenades, and that’s what OldSarg and his ilk want from their party. But it’s hard to throw grenades at a government when you’re running it – which is what the kakistocracy is trying to do. (PS: throwing grenades at himself made a hero of Bob Dole in WWII. Won’t work for Trump today.)

  17. mike from iowa 2017-10-11 16:06

    Welp, there’s now a theory that has been postulated, first popularized by Josh Marshall of TPM during the 2016 election. The theory is dubbed Trump’s Razor. The principle is this – “ascertain the stupidest possible scenario that can be reconciled with the available facts”; in other words, when Trump or his brood do or say something, the stupidest scenario that explains the statement is the true one.

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