People, Personas, and Politics 2 – Trump, Summers, and Palin
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen and Rick Rosner
Publication (Outlet/Website): People, Personas, and Politics
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2017/03/21
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Rick Rosner: If Trump and the House, the House or the Senate—I don’t know—if Trump and Congress were of opposite political parties, it would be much more likely that somebody would try to—that Congress would try to impeach Trump. We’re still waiting to see how some of the stuff Trump has done shakes out to see if it rises to an impeachable offense. Things that might be that nature include is that he colluded with Russia for the release of damaging information against the Democrats.
But that’s not news. We can talk about approval or disapproval. There are levels of approval and disapproval. That once you hit them, it seems extremely unlikely based on other presidents that you can recover.
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: This is not only disapproval that’s unprecedented. It’s a significantly unprecedented level of disapproval.
RR: Yea! He came in with approval numbers—something like, at least, 10 points lower on average. More than 30 points lower than the average incoming president.
SDJ: You know the economist Larry Summers? He was in the Obama White House as well. He was the President of Harvard University. He made a statement about Trump and the economy as being akin to a “sugar high.” I remember watching an interview a little while ago with him. I think that the approval rating for people that were really gung-ho about Trump being in the White House might be akin to another kind of a sugar high.
Super popular, but then a massive drop, a ‘sugar crash’ – so to speak.
RR: Trump fits that characterization with regard to the stock market, but not with regard to the—American’s statistically are not giving him the benefit of the doubt that they are giving every other president. There’s been no honeymoon period for Trump. In fact, that honeymoon period and benefit of the doubt has been declining from president to president for at least a half-dozen presidents.
There was some euphoria over Obama, but, for the most part, you see increasing levels of political division with lower overall approval ratings for presidents.
SDJ: That’s a good point. I want to revise what I said then. The “sugar high,” politically, that around what Sarah Palin called the “Hopey-Changey Stuff” of Obama. The “crash” could probably be considered a little bit delayed, but the Trump phenomena could be considered that. People disappointed and disenchanted and go for a demagogue because of that – because a lot of people, apparently, that voted for Obama voted for Trump.
RR: When you look at the circumstances of his election, losing popular vote by 2.8 million, saying horrible things about everybody, obviously benefitting from Comey’s interference and from Russia releasing all of the emails, many people feel it is an unfair outcome. Also, the boisterous glee of rabid Trump supporters that, in some ways, tends to not be sporting or not feel entirely American because it is ungenerous and kind of racist, and just not—just kind of saying, “F- you,” to everybody.
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