We all remember the amen chorus of hatred for Donald Trump that seemed to form organically from the moment the bombastic billionaire became a serious candidate for president. Organized resistance to the Donald seemed to encompass the entire existing order, every nook and cranny of the D.C. Swamp, snarling left-wingers and deep state conservatives deranged by Trump’s success right out of the gate after they had failed for years. But what came next was arguably even more odious than the tissue of venomous lies about Trump unleashed daily by the universally anti-Trump bullhorns in big-box media.
Not satisfied with attacking, defaming, and slandering Trump, painting him as the second coming of Hitler, they decided to name and shame his voters. It started in the immediate aftermath of the 2016 election, and was typified by a story in the left-wing Guardian on 11/19/16 headlined, “Vote shaming Trump supporters is fair. What they have done is shameful.” It openly encouraged the condemnation of Trump supporters for exercising their franchise in an unacceptable way: “Being socially ostracized for supporting Trump is not an infringement of your rights, it’s a reasonable response by those of us who are disgusted, anxious, and afraid.“
A Culture of Threat and Intimidation
This type of humiliation, first introduced by Hillary Clinton in her infamous “deplorables” remark during the 2016 campaign, was visited upon Trump voters on a regular basis for the entirety of his presidency. Many who supported the 45th president were hesitant, if not downright fearful, of admitting it in public, not to mention displaying a button or bumper sticker. Trump voters seemed always to feel one slight away from violence.
But now, one year after the election of 2020, the man anointed to take over the Oval Office is in a freefall so severe that it makes Trump after the Charlottesville slander seem like a conquering hero in contrast. Not one, not two, but three separate polls, including the latest over the weekend from left-leaning USA Today, now show Biden’s approval dropping into the 30s, meaning it is near or even past the point of no return.
So we ask a question whose time has come: Why should Biden voters not be held to account in precisely the same way Trump voters have been for the last five years? Most Trump voters would cast their ballots exactly the same way given another chance. Would Biden voters do the same?
(Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Will these voters – and we’re especially looking at those suburbanites who were famously so offended by Trump’s tone – admit they made a mistake by knowingly electing a man so past his prime, in such obvious decline, and with such visible cognitive impairment that the meltdown we are witnessing in real-time was all but predictable for anyone who was paying attention? Will they confess to being so brainwashed by the four-year-long assault on the person of Donald Trump by the forces of the political establishment that they took their eyes completely off the hard-charging economy and genuinely game-changing accomplishments of his administration?
A Subtle Admission?
The answer, of course, is no. These voters will not issue a mass apology, but they did affect a double-digit swing back to the GOP, which put Glenn Youngkin in the governor’s seat in Virginia and produced a stunning repudiation of Biden and the Democrats in several other revealing contests a week ago. It is the closest thing we will get to an admission by the voters responsible for Trump’s demise and Biden’s rise that they made a mistake.
And by the way, if you thought Biden was only going to serve one term and Vice President Kamala Harris would be a lock to win the presidential nomination in 2024 anyway, think again. The VP is the only thing making Biden look good by comparison, because her approval in the USA Today poll is – wait for it – ten points lower than even the president – at 28% (!). A second-in-command for a left-wing administration protected and propped up by elite media has had to work awfully hard to achieve such a staggeringly low approval.
In addition to seeing Biden’s support fall to 38% in the USA Today poll, a comparison of approval levels between Trump in the final month of his presidency and Biden today on various issues is the real gold in the latest Harvard/Harris survey.
In the final poll taken in the waning days of his presidency, Trump’s approval on the economy stood at 56%. Biden’s is now 16 points lower at 40%. On job creation, Trump stood at 58%, while Biden is now 14 points down at 44%. On foreign affairs, Trump left office with 52% approval. Biden today stands at 39%. Biden’s approval is also 16 points lower than Trump’s on fighting terrorism, 17 points lower on immigration, and most shockingly, 7 points lower on the single issue which Biden apologists claimed would most distinguish their polished veteran from the wildly incompetent Trump: administering the government.
There is also a huge issue to factor into this timeline of presidential approval. Trump’s numbers, impressive enough in ordinary times to assure the re-election of a sitting president, were compiled in the wake of a once-in-a-century pandemic that killed hundreds of thousands of people, wrecked the economy overnight, and all but single-handedly ended Trump’s presidency. And they came following the lowest point of Trump’s presidency on January 6. And still, the results overwhelm those of his failing successor. Perhaps those Biden voters should have one more chance to answer the burning question which led them to kick Trump out in favor of this doddering old man.
Still upset about all those mean tweets?
~ Read more from Tim Donner.
