林中斌 部落格 / Blog Chong-Pin Lin

America actually agrees with Trump

Josh Withey, indy100, FEB 3, 2017

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accessed Feb 3, 2017

●  多數美國人民支持川普工作表現，但認為他邁向的方向錯誤。相對多數49%:41%支持目前管制移民一段時間。

林中斌 2017.2.3

In the eyes of many Americans, Donald Trump is doing a bang up job.

The past few days haven't been without incident for Donald Trump and his White House Staff. During the traditional Prayer Meeting Breakfast, POTUS thought it appropriate to request a prayer for Celebrity Apprentice viewing figures, he's reportedly hung up on the Prime Minister of Australia after a difficult phone call, and he continues to refer to legitimate news organisations as 'fake news'.

Thanks to all of this; you might be forgiven for thinking that the majority of Americans are in turmoil over their lose cannon leader, and are praying for impeachment daily.

You would be wrong though.

According to a Politico and Morning Consult poll: 49 per cent of voters approve of how Trump is handling his job, with 41% disagreeing.

However, to the question: "Would you say that things in the country are going in the right direction, or have they pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track?" 42 per cent reported that things were on the right track, while 58 per cent that the country was on the wrong track.

One of the most polarising decisions to emerge from Trump's White House so far has been an executive order imposing a temporary ban on immigration from seven countries with majority-Muslim populations.

Mr Trump's ban blocks refugees from entering the country for a 120-day period. There is an indefinite ban on refugees from Syria and a 90-day ban on citizens from Iraq, Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

After it was announced, global protests, State lawsuits and petitions were signed, condemning POTUS' actions and demanding he rescind the executive order.

However, a Reuters / Ipsos poll found that 49 percent of Americans did, in fact, agree with a pause on entry to the United States, while 41 percent disagreed.

Some 31 per cent of people told Reuters that the ban made them feel “more safe,” while 26 per cent said it made them feel “less safe.”

Much like the entire 2016 US election cycle, what we are seeing on our Facebook, Twitter and news bulletins doesn't seem to be the entire story. A huge number of Americans are behind Trump's controversial decisions. We're just not seeing them marching up and down the Mall with pro-Trump placards.

Mollie Ziegler Hemingway, a senior editor at The Federalist, toyed with this 'social media bubble phenomenon'. She writes:

From the tenor of these protests and much attendant news coverage, you'd think the country was in constitutional chaos, and that the people were rising up in unity from sea to shining sea to fight the orange scourge.

But from the mean streets of Facebook to the fabled Terminal 4 of JFK airport to the airwaves and pixels of the media outlets, the mood is extremely different. It's like a whole other country.

Ziegler Hemingway goes on to list helpful tips to constructively protest against Trump, not sink to his level. From supporting free speech to being as meticulous with the facts as you can possibly be.

And, perhaps most importantly, not being as vulgar as he can be.

You Don't Make Someone Look Crazy by Being Crazier

The unhinged rhetoric, violent anti-speech street protests, and hysteria currently on display don't make Trump look like he's a unique threat.

They make him look like a reasonable alternative. The goal in the fight against Trump shouldn't be to strengthen him.