All those Trump obituaries will re-elect the president

FPI / June 12, 2020

Leftists in politics and the major media, as well as holier than thou anti-Trumper RINOs, have from day one insisted the Trump presidency was on the verge of collapse.

As his critics insidiously drone on, the president fights on. And, the Left's hyperbole is only working in President Donald Trump's favor, a columnist noted.

"If Trump denounces far-left militant Antifa as terrorists, some rush to defend them. If Trump praises law enforcement, progressives rush to defund them. Biden backers try to elevate Joe as a historic leader who can heal the nation when his civil rights record is worse than Trump’s. Trump’s best re-election guarantee will be if Democrats cave to the extremist narrative of a fundamentally racist America requiring radical progressive change," James S. Robbins wrote for USA Today on June 10.

"From the phony Russian collusion story through the Ukrainian phone call impeachment and acquittal, Donald Trump has had more obituaries written about him than most actually deceased presidents. So far, all the pundits and prognosticators have been wrong. And they still are," Robbins wrote.

In March, The Atlantic ran a piece by "Never Trumper" Peter Wehner titled, “The Trump presidency is over.” Wehner insisted that Trump's response to the COVID-19 outbreak would precipitate the likely end of Trump. “His administration may stagger on,” Wehner wrote, “but it will be only a hollow shell.”

Robbins noted that "Two weeks after that opinion column appeared, Trump’s approval rating for handling the crisis reached its record high. It has since settled from that peak but not to 'hollow shell' levels."

Yahoo Finance predicted that the economic downturn resulting from coronavirus lockdowns presaged “a death sentence for presidential re-election hopes.” Experts suggested that if there were a recovery at all, it would not be a swift “V” shaped rebound but a grinding, long-term “U” shaped slog.

"The experts were wrong yet again," Robbins noted. "Trump’s approval numbers on handling the economy have remained in positive territory throughout the temporary downturn. The stock market has rebounded strongly; the NASDAQ is back in record territory. And the unexpected gain of 2.5 million jobs pushed unemployment down to 13.3 percent, the largest monthly gain ever on record."

Then came the George Floyd protests and riots, which critics said would finally do Trump in politically.

"In the past week, the anti-Trump narratives have come thick and fast," Robbins wrote. "When protesters occupied Lafayette Square, the president was said to be hunkered down in a bunker, and a doctored picture of a darkened White House was widely circulated that later proved to be a stock photo from the Obama era. Commentators were more agitated with Trump standing in front of St. John's Episcopal Church holding a Bible than they were when supposedly peaceful protesters set fire to it the night before."

Through it all, "Trump’s numbers compare favorably with his immediate two-term predecessors," Robbins noted. "Gallup long-term poll data shows Trump following a nearly identical opinion track as President Barack Obama for the last 10 months, and he is also even with President George W. Bush at this point in his presidency. By contrast, Trump is about 10 points above both our most recent one-term presidents, George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter."

Robbins concluded: "Given the dismal track record of the president’s critics, there should be an editorial moratorium on 'Trump is finished' pieces until after his re-election. Then they can run with that narrative until it finally comes true in 2025."

Free Press International