Difference between revisions of "Opposition to Donald Trump"

Revision as of 14:59, April 3, 2019

Since declaring his presidential campaign in 2015, strong opposition to Donald Trump has existed, primarily from RINOs and those on the Left.

See also: Trump Derangement Syndrome

Donald Trump has faced massive opposition from liberals and RINO Republicans alike.^[1]

Prior to the November 2016 election

Since announcing his presidential campaign on June 16, 2015, Donald Trump has faced massive opposition from liberals and RINO Republicans alike. According to one study, during the 2016 presidential election, 91% of the media coverage regarding Trump was negative and 96% of campaign contributions from the media went to his campaign opponent, leftist Democrat Hillary Clinton.^[2] See also: American liberalism and 21st century political losses

When polling organizations measure public opinion of political figures, they ask questions to determine how many people have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of the person. In general, politicians get elected because prospective voters' favorable ratings exceed the unfavorable ratings. A candidate's rating earns a boost from his nominating convention, and again during the transition between election day and taking office, as America tends to unite behind the winner. Every President experiences a decline in opinion polls as voters are turned off by unpopular decisions. Donald Trump is unusual because he was nationally well known before entering politics, and he has maintained a very high negative rating since his earliest opinion polls.^[3] The leading explanation for how Trump became President was that the Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton was even more unpopular with historically high negative ratings.^[4]

Opposition as President

From the federal government bureaucracy

See also: Obamagate and Russiagate timeline

Due to his promotion and support of conservative, America First^[5] policies, President Trump faced large opposition from the left and the establishment,^[6] including from within the government bureaucracy.^[7] (The fact that members of the deep state have grown visibly scared of reports stating such confirms this view,^[8] as well as the fact that federal government employees overwhelmingly donated to Democrats leading up to the 2018 elections just like in previous elections;^[9] in May 2017, it was reported that 60% of National Security Council employees were Obama-Administration holdovers^[10]). In June 2018, one socialist protestor who heckled DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen for her enforcement of President Trump's tough immigration policies was revealed as a DOJ employee.^[11] Even some White House officials worked against the president's agenda.^[12]

Obama holdovers worked to block President Trump's agenda and continue liberal policies.^[13] Numerous government officials who resigned due to President Trump's actions subtly inserted anti-Trump messages into their resignation letters.^[14] The Trump Administration was the victim of numerous leaks of information, many of which threatened U.S. national security – it was reported in July 2017 that leaks occurred once a day on average,^[15] and Trump faced seven times more leaks than Obama or Bush II did.^[16] The Russia probe headed by Independent Counsel and former FBI Director Robert Mueller was founded to have hired investigators extremely biased against President Trump.^[17]

Left-wing federal courts also blocked many Trump Administration actions, including President Trump's executive orders regarding sanctuary cities and immigration.^[18] Former U.S. presidents, such as George W. Bush and Barack Obama, even broke with tradition to criticize President Trump.^[19]

From radical left-wing activists

Anti-Trump protest in February 2017 – "Not My Presidents' Day"

Anarchists protesting Trump on Inauguration Day 2017

Aftermath of anti-Trump protests in Washington D.C. on Inauguration Day 2017

After his election, left-wingers labeled themselves as the "resistance" against Trump.^[20] Even before being inaugurated, Democrats spoke about impeaching and removing Trump from the presidency.^[21] Even some local communities passed resolutions calling for the impeachment of President Trump.^[22] Some Democrats used profane language against Trump, such as the f-word^[23] and s-word.^[24] As a testament to the deep opposition and hatred towards him by the left-wing, at least 217 violent protestors were arrested in Washington D.C. on Inauguration Day.^[25][26] Left-wingers committed or advocated for many other acts of violence against President Trump or his supporters.^[27] It was reported in early February 2017 that 12,000 tweets already had called for Trump's assassination.^[28] The mainstream media helped promote such violence,^[29] and top Democrat leaders encouraged it.^[30] Many entertainers made jokes about harming President Trump.^[31] Contrary to left-wing claims, Democrats and the Left were significantly more likely to engage in acts of bigotry or violence related to Trump,^[32] and they engaged in hate crime hoaxes.^[33]

As an example of the hatred the Left had for President Trump, students at George Washington University voiced support for Trump's tax plan when told it was Bernie Sanders's plan.^[34] In fact, many liberals changed positions and opposed positions they formerly supported after President Trump also spoke in favor of those positions.^[35]

Democrat attorney generals were extremely active against the Trump Administration,^[36] suing it nearly 50 times in 2017 alone.^[37] Leftists went out of their way searching for evidence of crimes by President Trump.^[38] In March 2018, Democrat Representative Tom Suozzi suggested taking up arms against President Trump.^[39] By June 2018, the Left was growing increasingly violent and unhinged at the Trump Administration, as well as everything they claimed to be fighting against.^[40] They used increasingly vulgar and crude phrases to criticize President Trump, including calling him and his supporters "Nazis."^[41] In a large August 2018 counterdemonstration ostensibly opposing racism, left-wing activists instead protested against President Trump, the police, and the existence or borders.^[42]

From Congress

In addition to the above, Senate Democrats unduly delayed Trump's cabinet nominees at historic and unprecedented proportions^[43] – by February 8, 2017, only George Washington had fewer cabinet nominees confirmed by this length of time into his presidency.^[44] Trump's last cabinet secretary was confirmed on April 27, 2017,^[45] and Trump's last cabinet-level member assumed office on May 15, 2017.^[46]

It was reported in July 2017 that Senate Democrats had filibustered most of Trump's nominees – every filibuster ultimately failed, but they slowed down the confirmation process.^[47] The result of this was that by July 2017, the Senate had confirmed 23% of Trump's appointments compared to 69% for Obama at the same duration.^[48] Even after one year in office, only 58% of President Trump's government nominees had been confirmed (compared with 69% for Obama and 76% for Bush II),^[49] and Democrats had forced 47 cloture votes on Trump's nominees compared to six cloture votes for the four previous administrations combined by that point.^[50] In December 2017, the U.S. Senate, in a clear break from precedent, returned about 100 of Trump's nominations – rather than choosing to continue with those nominations for the following year – while it only did the same for eight of Obama's nominees and two of Bush's after their first years in office.^[51] Trump's presidency saw numerous heated confirmation battles.^[52]

Democrats delayed the confirmations of President Trump's judicial nominees,^[53] and even red-state Democrats voted against them.^[54] The establishment GOP also blocked President Trump's conservative agenda.^[55]

By the first 100 days of his presidency, congressional Democrats had already (unsuccessfully) filibustered Trump's supreme court nomination, instituted one of the longest and most extreme delays in cabinet confirmations in U.S. history, and initiated an investigation into alleged ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.^[56] According to Pew Research Center in July 2018, Facebook rants by Democrats expressing opposition, such as to Trump, increased by 450% after the 2016 election.^[57][58]

From the media

See also: Mainstream media and Donald Trump

As in the 2016 presidential election, the mainstream media strongly opposed Trump and wrote him off as a failure early in his presidency, despite his numerous accomplishments by that time.^[59][60] They consistently misrepresented him and his accomplishments,^[61] and they frequently attacked the president and his supporters.^[62] The mainstream media's bias against Trump promoted hatred, bigotry, and even violence against the administration.^[63] As evidence of this intense MSM opposition, a study published close to the 100th-day mark of Trump's presidency found that 89% of media coverage regarding Trump was negative.^[60] A similar study conducted by the Harvard Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy released in May 2017 found that 80% of the mainstream media coverage over Trump (including outlets such as Fox News Channel and The Wall Street Journal) was negative.^[64] According to the Pew Research Center, in October 2017, the media was three times more negative and eight times less positive toward Trump than it was to Obama, and the media was also significantly more biased against Trump compared to presidents Clinton and Bush II.^[65] The Media Research Center found that 90% of coverage on President Trump on the evening news of ABC, CBS, and NBC in 2017 was negative and biased against him,^[66] and it found in October 2018 that the level was at 92%.^[67] The MRC also found in October 2018 that 88% of media coverage of the GOP was negative.^[68] It found that media coverage of Trump in 2018 was 90% negative.^[69] Additionally, Trump was on track to become the most mocked president on late-night comedy TV in at least 25 years,^[70] and the Associated Press found in late 2018 that late-night hosts made more jokes about Trump than any other public figure in history.^[71] In July 2018, Jamelle Bouie, Slate's chief political correspondent, wrote that "for the better part of two years now, reporters have been trying to find the issue or offense that could fracture Donald Trump’s base of support."^[72]

The American public had the same perception of media bias against the president – a June 2017 Rasmussen poll found that 50% of Americans believed the media was biased against President Trump and that 4% believed the opposite.^[73] According to a 2017 Poynter Media Trust Survey, 44% of Americans believe the media creates "fake news" stories against Trump to make him look bad.^[74] According to a Pew Research Center poll released in January 2018, the U.S. mainstream media was perceived by Americans as significantly more biased against President Trump than the media in other countries is against their own leaders.^[75] Even former president Jimmy Carter, a liberal Democrat, stated that the media was more biased against Trump than any other president he knew about.^[76]

The mainstream media promoted fake news against President Trump,^[77] with notable examples including an unverified dossier by BuzzFeed,^[78] two stories by the The New York Times^[79] and CNN,^[80] respectively, debunked by former FBI Director James Comey, and an eventually-retracted CNN article that attacked Trump and his allies over a Russia fund^[81] that was motivated by ratings^[82] and caused three CNN employees to resign.^[83] President Trump and his policies caused the health of many members of the mainstream media to decline.^[84] The media tried to attribute some of Trump's achievements, such as the growing economy, to Obama,^[85] and it refused to give President Trump credit.^[86]

In May and June 2018, the mainstream media exhibited blatant and even embarrassing bias against the Trump Administration when covering a certain illegal immigration-related incident,^[87] and it fabricated a non-existent "border crisis" – they did not refer to massive illegal migration levels when using the word "crisis" – in order to hurt President Trump and promote left-wing values.^[88][89] Although the media pressured President Trump to end the policy of separating illegal alien parents from their children (which had been occurring since before 2001^[90]), when Trump actually did this, they sided with Democrats and left-wing activists by going further and explicitly demanding open borders policies.^[91] The media refused to admit that mass levels of illegal immigration were a crisis.^[92]

In August 2018, over 300 mainstream media outlets colluded to run op-eds on the same day to attack President Trump for not accepting their left-wing bias against him.^[93] Media coverage leading up to the midterm election was largely negative.^[94]

Media FOIA requests at the Trump Administration EPA increased 669% from the last years of the Obama Administration.^[95][96]

From others

In the 2018 Presidents and Executive Politics Presidential Greatness Survey, 170 "experts" at presidential politics rated President Trump as the worst president in American history, ranking him even lower than presidents such as James Buchanan.^[97][98] By contrast, these "experts" rated Obama the eighth best president and second most worthy to be the next president on Mount Rushmore after FDR.^[97] According to a 2018 survey, 88% of Harvard professors thought Donald Trump did a "very poor" job as President while only 3% thought he was going a "good" or "okay" job.^[99]

Liberals and establishment Republicans have compared President Trump's policies, such as those on illegal migration, to policies pursued by the Nazis or the Japanese internment camps during World War II.^{[100][101][102]}

In addition to domestic opposition, President Trump, and by extension, the United States, was strongly opposed by non-Americans compared to the Obama Administration, despite a majority of non-Americans believing Trump to be a strong leader.^[103]

Token conservatives have strongly opposed President Trump despite his many accomplishments in advancing conservative policies.

Setbacks for the Left

See also: Donald Trump achievements

According to a poll taken around the 100th day of Trump's presidency, only 11% of Democrats believed that their party's opposition to Trump had yielded successful results for them.^[104] A July 2017 poll found that 52% of Americans thought the Democrats only stood against Trump, rather than something more, with 37% thinking the latter.^[105] The Democrats' poor performance in the special congressional elections held in the first half of 2017 illustrated their weakness and unsuccess in challenging President Trump.^[106]

President Trump's supporters also continued to support him despite left-wing predictions of "buyers' remorse." A poll taken shortly before the 100th day of Trump's presidency indicated that 96% of his supporters would have voted for him again had an election been held that day.^[107] A May 2017 poll showed Trump with 98% support among Republican military veterans and 54% overall.^[108] Similar polls taken mainly around the same time gave the same results.^[109] Additionally, a Pew Research poll indicated that over three-fourths of "white evangelical Protestants" approved of Trump's performance.^[110] These people, as well as members of the Tea Party Movement,^[111] did not believe the media and left-wingers in their war against President Trump. Evangelical Christians stood with President Trump, as seen in August 2017 when nearly every evangelical advisor to the president remained in their positions after Trump made politically incorrect comments related to white supremacism, while business and arts advisors resigned over the controversy and establishment Republicans criticized him.^[112] A POLITICO/Morning Consult poll taken just before the one-year anniversary of the 2016 presidential election found that 82% of Trump's voters would vote for him again.^[113] By one year into his presidency, Trump's base – as well as traditional conservative blue-collar Democrats – continued to strongly support him.^[114] By Trump's first year in office, his support among black people doubled despite claims of "racism" manufactured by the Left.^[115]

According to a Gallup poll in June 2018, President Trump was seeing record support from Republicans, despite the Never Trump movement.^[116]

Additionally, numerous polls found that he had higher approval ratings than several globalist world leaders.^[117]

See also

• Never Trump movement

References