OPINION:
In his column “Making sport calling out ’them lyin’ newspapers” (Web, July 26) Wesley Pruden expresses astonishment that President Trump’s approval rating continues to rise despite well, despite his being Donald Trump. What really astonishes me is that the American electorate continues to deny this president higher “marks” than his predecessor — considering the difference between the Obama and Trump performances is the difference between lies and failure, and truth and success.
Mr. Obama stared directly into the eyes of the American people and lied about his “transformational” health care plan, which failed as premiums sky-rocketed and millions lost their doctors and plans — counter to Mr. Obama’s vehement promises. Compare Mr. Obama’s cynical lies with Mr. Trump correctly promising that economic deregulation and corporate and individual tax-rate reductions would reinvigorate the stagnant Obama economy. His plan is working, as small-business confidence soars and a manufacturing renaissance accompanies 4 percent annualized GDP growth.
Mr. Obama did not understand a wit how the private sector could harness free markets and reduced tax and regulatory burdens to nurture economic growth and prosperity. Instead he injected his anti-growth agenda of regulatory overreach, tax increases on job creators, and “wealth redistribution.” When his policies resulted in the weakest economic recovery in American history, a doubling of the national debt and an expansion of welfare, food stamps and the Medicaid rolls, he retorted that sub-par growth was America’s unavoidable future.
Meanwhile, he and like-minded leftists in academia and the media injected a poisonous stream of identity politics, victimization and class envy into American civil discourse, disparaging those who “cling” to religious faith and taunting entrepreneurialism, demonizing law enforcement and promoting an expanding coalition of victim classes.
Don’t be astonished by the president’s rising approval rating. Be astonished that his rating hasn’t risen higher than his predecessor’s.
KEN BECKERT
Abingdon, Md.
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