Silence can be golden
Our president would be so much better off if he could just take yes for an answer. The economy is booming. Unemployment is dropping. Donald Trump hasn’t been shy about touting positive news, but his constant spouting of every single thought he has is tanking his approval rating and might end his presidency after four years or maybe even sooner.
Obviously, there are reports of possible collusion with Russia to get himself elected and campaign finance issues with porn star payoffs that will only be put in a brighter spotlight if the predicted blue wave gives Democrats control of Congress in a few months.
If President Trump could simply spend a day being president and not live tweeting FOX News programs or reminding people of how innocent he is and how guilty the fake news is, I don’t think his disapproval rating would be almost twice what his approval rating is.
Trump claims the media is out to get him, so you shouldn’t believe anything they say about him or his administration. He says he uses his Twitter following to talk to people directly instead of going through the media.
That would make sense if he were restating policy positions or correcting the record. That isn’t what he does.
On Tuesday, he tweeted, “17 years since Sept. 11th!”
Was the liberal media missing out on that breaking news? Did someone say it was only 16 years? No.
Trump tweets for the same reason high school girls post photos of themselves at the pool — for attention. He can’t survive without it.
Another tweet featured President Trump saying Hurricane Florence was “tremendously big and tremendously wet.”
Pundits criticized him for trying to put Captain Obvious out of work. Maybe they should just give him credit for once. He is criticized for lying constantly, but this is a demonstrably true statement. After this hurricane makes landfall, everyone will realize that this was indeed a big, wet storm. Some might say tremendously big and wet.
Does Trump really need his Twitter feed to reach Americans with his message? FOX News is literally a PR firm working in his interest. They even had his son on this week to talk about Bob Woodward writing a book to “make three shekels.” It wasn’t the son who cheated on his wife with a FOX News personality. It was the other one.
If Trump could control himself or if any of his employees could control him his approval ratings would rise quickly. I just don’t think self-control is an option with this president.
Many people who didn’t vote for Barack Obama came to like him and approve of the job he was doing before he left the White House.
Why?
Everything he said was calculated and careful. He didn’t enter controversies lightly and he didn’t, continually tell people how innocent he was proving that he was guilty of something.
Take this example: most people who read my columns regularly have found something I have said with which they disagree. I write four columns a week. If you agree with me 100 percent of the time, that would be shocking. My mom doesn’t. In fact, there have even been times when I went back a few months and wondered if I had been missing too much sleep when I wrote a column.
However, none of you have a problem with our editor at the News-Star. Kim is one of the nicest people you will ever meet. But she is also wise enough not to share her personal opinions with thousands of people four times a week. Even though she is kind and caring, smart and thoughtful, you wouldn’t agree with everything she thinks. She keeps it to herself so no reader has ever written a letter to the editor saying horrible things about her. Me, on the other hand, I like to think I’m a nice guy and people who know me tend to agree. But readers know more about what I think than my own family does. You should see some of the emails I get. Believe it or not, some people aren’t very kind when they disagree with you.
That’s why I think Trump should wake up one morning and just read a newspaper without grabbing his phone and opening Twitter. Let the headlines speak for themselves. He should stop screaming “No Collusion!” once a week and “Make America Great Again” and just enjoy his third round of golf of the week.
No policy positions would change. But the positive headlines would gain traction and not be displaced by reactions to his tweets.
His tragically low approval rating will be a big issue in November. If there is a blue wave, his refusal to take advantage of his right to remain silent will be a contributing factor.