Why Democrats Must Not Underestimate Donald Trump?

Is Donald Trump another George H.W. Bush or Jimmy Carter? Repeated controversies and muddled decisions from Trump have some thinking that Trump will soon become another 1-term president. But the new Washington post/ABC News poll depicts a contradictory tale altogether, continuing to mystify onlookers. 

A majority of Americans see President Trump as ‘Unpresidential’; he has never reached a 50% approval rating. BUt recently he did see a surge in his support, inching closer with his approval rating now at 47% among registered voters. Regardless of who holds the presidency, political psychology has long thought that it is difficult for a sub 50% (approval rating) president to regain the White House. At the same time, Trump is riding a strong economic wave, and a recent poll shows 51% of registered voters that believe the economy is better. Trump is riding a strong economic wave, that despite some questionable policies, hasn’t yet faltered. 

This news makes his base of supporters cheer, with his opponents flustered. This is a president that openly lied (telling a falsehood that was known to be false), attacked the 1st amendment by calling the free press the ‘enemy of the people’, committed felony crimes, covered up felony crimes by himself and others, committed obstruction of justice, verbally insults our allies while praising and unfriendly dictator states. Yet, his base has not wavered, as he continues to have a high 90%+ approval rating among the Republican party. 

The Democrats have strong evidence of impeachable offences committed by President Trump, and the drumbeat is getting louder within the Democrate caucus in the House of Representatives to move forward and open an Impeachment Inquiry. The party needs to now wrestle with the right thing to do vs. the strategic thing to do.

Though George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter failed to regain the White House for a 2nd term, but both were struggling with a bad economy. President Trump is presiding over a strong  economy, low unemployment and economic growth. Apart from these benefits, he has gotten Republicans in Congress, as well as the conservative media, to fall in line with his talking points -- and effectively co opted them as the state propaganda machine. So emfatic are they that Trump can do no wrong, that they frequently praise Trump for the exact actions for which Trump and conservative media previously attacked his predecessor for. He Tweets daily to his 60 million Twitter followers., who believe him over the news organizations, regardless of how outlandish some of his Tweets are.

This creates a real hurdle for the 2020 election: how do Democrats highlight Trump’s faults, if none of his followers believe anything true and negative about him? When factual stories -- sometimes captured on video with Trump himself saying it -- are posted on social media, his followers comment  with “FAKE NEWS.”  How does one reason with someone that insists the sky is purple even when it is blue to everyone else?   

Political psychologists analysis of Trump (not as a conclusive diagnosis, but rather just an observation) is that he displays all the traits of classic narcissism. And some have noted that while Trump lies, openly, that through his own distorted view of the world, he may actually ‘believe’ he is telling the truth.

For Democrats,  they are going to have a difficult -- if not impossible -- time in getting his believers to change their views. So for them, they need to nominate a strong, well-prepared candidate. Someone who has a vision for the future, strong character, and the ability to resonate to a wide spectrum of voters, and display the winning personality they lacked in 2016.

  

The 2020 reelection will be historical, regardless of who wins. It is one of those moments in history, a turning point in the direction of the nation. 

The Rationale for Impeachment of Trump

Some democratic leaders and scholars believe that a Trump impeachment is the best option against Donald Trump’s abuses of power and obstruction of justice. Trump’s stonewalling has pushed more and more Democrats toward initiating an impeachment inquiry. Overall, democrats are probably better off continuing their committee investigations, building a case, and educating the American public. But keeping the impeaching sword hanging over Trump.

Though there is a strong case for formal impeachment inquiry, the public is not yet onboard -- as on 43% of Americans support such an action.  Through continued congressional hearings, however, the public will continue to gain insights to the wrongdoings of Trump, and that support may rise. When the Nixon impeachment inquiry began, he had a 67% approval rating. By the end, even his Republican allies changed their positions and Nixon was forced to resign. Democrats continue to win court battles as they seek access to the information they seek. The administration’s current claim that the House desires for oversight hearings have no legislative is empty. Congress doesn’t need a legislative purpose: as an equal branch of government, they have oversight authority.  

There are some who are actually arguing that Trump may be the one wanting impeachment—as a strategy of 2020 election. As a political psychologist, I agree that for now, an impeachment inquiry will certainly rally his base. But in the long run, if facts were revealed to the country that could quickly shift. And, it’s not his base that Democrats need to convince, but rather, the Independents.

The latest polls show the number of Americans supporting impeachment has significantly grown. This means that an anti-Trump era may have begun to push back againt ‘Pseudo Protectionism’? Regardless of the reason, ‘impeachment hearings’ would receive far more news coverage than regular oversight hearings. And that would have a stronger impact on the views of Aericans as the truth rises and becomes more evident.

- Dr. Bart Rossi Ph.D

Trump Gets Roasted For His Epic Tweet on Moon

Donald Trump storms the internet on Thursday in yet another tweet on NASA that says the Moon is a part of Mars.

'For all of the money we are spending, NASA should NOT be talking about going to the Moon - We did that 50 years ago. They (NASA) should be focused on the much bigger things we are doing, including Mars (of which the Moon is a part), Defense and Science!'

The 72-year-old US President’s propensity for Twitter gaffes is very well known and documented. However, in his latest tweet which claims the moon is actually a part of Mars, he simply outdone himself.  Though he was trying to question NASA’S decision to spend money on another moon mission simply exploded the social media and backfired. 

Trump’s tweet is not just in contradiction to a well-established universal fact about the moon’s identity as being planetary body, but also to his own statements in 2017 when he showed tremendous interest on the Mars missions. He had actually asked NASA to accelerate plans to return to the Moon and to land humans on the surface again by 2024.

After showing such interest, why is he questioning NASA, which is a significant change of his support of Mars missions? As a part of political commentary and as a political psychologist, I can say that this is not the first time when he has made such a cynical statement. By resorting to such comments, he either tries to grab attention, which he surely does, or he tries to manipulate public opinion in the most vacuous manner.

What Trump says and what he means are not always in sync. It is reasonable to ascertain that what he meant was that while Mars should be the focus, our moon should also be included in space exploration plans. But, it’s not what he actually said. And that something being hotly debated on social media by anit-Trump and pro-Trump Americans.

Trump has not only given scientists sleepless nights over the Moon-Mars conundrum, but also shattered NASA’s Mars mission plans. yet, this is nothing new for Trump. If he aims to win the 2020re-election, then he must rise above his conceited attitude and work for the welfare of Americans, and show leadership instead of just blabbering. USA politics is going under tremendous fluctuations, and he has much else to worry about. North Korea is still a threat. Iran is a serious rising concern. While his tariffs are causing significant harm to the economy as farmers are going bankrupt at an alarming rate. 

-Dr. Bart Rossi Ph.D

Analysis of USA Politics during Trump’s Reign

It's nearly a quarter of the way through Donald Trump's presidential term. There have been promises kept, broken and ignored. But, how much has his policies changed U.S. Politics? Has he succeeded?

A Discussion:-

Immigration

The Trump administration undertook the immigration issue pretty much right out of the gate, with it’s ill-fated executive order closing the U.S border to entrants from a handful of majority-Muslim nations. Application of that effort led to chaos at U.S airports and a quick suspension at the hands of US courts.

Mr. Donald Trump also announced an end to the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca) programme. It granted normalised residency status to roughly 700,000 undocumented immigrants who entered the US when they were children. The order has been temporarily suspended by the court, as well

As for the Mexican border wall, possibly the most memorable of Donald Trump campaign promises, funding is still in doubt and the money to pay for it will almost certainly come from U.S. taxpayers and not Mexico. He makes the claim that it is being paid through trade tariffs, precisely because he doesn’t seem to understand how trade works: tariffs are essentially a tax on American importers, and ultimately, American consumers. 
 

Infrastructure

The infrastructure plan during the Trump reign has always been just around the next bend. Instead, Congress and the administration first emphasized on healthcare reform, an effort that ended in a string of disappointments. Despite the heightened impeachment rhetoric and investigations, Democratic leadership continues to try and work with Trump on infrastructure. 

Healthcare

For most part of the year, it seemed as though Mr. Trump's efforts to revoke Obamacare and replace it with a conservative plan would fall flat. Beneath the dramatic legislative failures, the administration has taken important steps to chip away at the foundations of the Democrat's signature law, but with nothing to replace it -- despite his claims in January 2017 that a new plan “was almost complete. And it’s a great plan”. Yeah, not.

Trade

He has repeatedly emphasised "reciprocal" trade and encouraged friendly nations to buy US-made products. But he quickly ended US participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership., and initiated talks with Canada and Mexico to restructure the North American Free Trade Agreement. Meanwhile, his trade war with China, which he claimed “Trade wars are easy to win” lingers on, costing American companies billions of dollars as the trade deficit with China has skyrocketed. And again, he claims the treasury is taking in billions from the tariffs, although he fails to realize the increased costs to American importers is not paid to the treasury, it is paid by those American businesses. 

 

Conclusion:-

From the analysis mentioned above, it can be deduced that U.S. politics during the tenure of Trump has suffered quite a lot on the political as well as the economic front. 

-Dr. Bart Rossi, Ph.D

Trump and the Border Wall Mystery

It's nearly a quarter of the way through Donald Trump's presidential term. There have been promises kept, broken and ignored. But, how much has his policies changed U.S. Politics? Has he succeeded?

A Discussion:-

Immigration

The Trump administration undertook the immigration issue pretty much right out of the gate, with it’s ill-fated executive order closing the U.S border to entrants from a handful of majority-Muslim nations. Application of that effort led to chaos at U.S airports and a quick suspension at the hands of US courts.

Mr. Donald Trump also announced an end to the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca) programme. It granted normalised residency status to roughly 700,000 undocumented immigrants who entered the US when they were children. The order has been temporarily suspended by the court, as well

As for the Mexican border wall, possibly the most memorable of Donald Trump campaign promises, funding is still in doubt and the money to pay for it will almost certainly come from U.S. taxpayers and not Mexico. He makes the claim that it is being paid through trade tariffs, precisely because he doesn’t seem to understand how trade works: tariffs are essentially a tax on American importers, and ultimately, American consumers. 
 

Infrastructure

The infrastructure plan during the Trump reign has always been just around the next bend. Instead, Congress and the administration first emphasized on healthcare reform, an effort that ended in a string of disappointments. Despite the heightened impeachment rhetoric and investigations, Democratic leadership continues to try and work with Trump on infrastructure. 

Healthcare

For most part of the year, it seemed as though Mr. Trump's efforts to revoke Obamacare and replace it with a conservative plan would fall flat. Beneath the dramatic legislative failures, the administration has taken important steps to chip away at the foundations of the Democrat's signature law, but with nothing to replace it -- despite his claims in January 2017 that a new plan “was almost complete. And it’s a great plan”. Yeah, not.

Trade

He has repeatedly emphasised "reciprocal" trade and encouraged friendly nations to buy US-made products. But he quickly ended US participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership., and initiated talks with Canada and Mexico to restructure the North American Free Trade Agreement. Meanwhile, his trade war with China, which he claimed “Trade wars are easy to win” lingers on, costing American companies billions of dollars as the trade deficit with China has skyrocketed. And again, he claims the treasury is taking in billions from the tariffs, although he fails to realize the increased costs to American importers is not paid to the treasury, it is paid by those American businesses. 

 

Conclusion:-

From the analysis mentioned above, it can be deduced that U.S. politics during the tenure of Trump has suffered quite a lot on the political as well as the economic front. 

-Dr. Bart Rossi, Ph.D