Trump’s use of the military to suppress protest is, like Trump himself, not popular
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Everyone is aware of the phenomenon where articles in the news section of the Wall Street Journal provides readers with information efficiently debunking ridiculous claims made in the crank op-ed pages. At the New York Times, this can run the other direction. Take this allegedly straight news story, which accepts the framing of Republicans and John Fetterman (to the extent there’s any daylight there anymore) to discuss the LA protests and Trump’s unjustified escalation of force:
Polls have long shown immigration and crime as areas of Democratic vulnerability. And some Democrats see a risk that the party will seem soft on crime and criminals without clearer denunciations.
Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, a Democrat who has increasingly broken with his party, described the scenes unfolding in Los Angeles as “anarchy and true chaos,” posting a photo that Republicans have heavily circulated of a masked man waving a Mexican flag standing on a vandalized car surrounded by fire.
“My party loses the moral high ground when we refuse to condemn setting cars on fire, destroying buildings, and assaulting law enforcement,” Mr. Fetterman wrote on Monday.
No Democrat of any influence is doing any of these things, but you can’t let the truth interfere if you’re determined to push MAGA talking points.
Anyway, you may have noticed here that Goldmacher focuses on generalized polling and not on polling about Trump’s specific actions. There’s a reason for this. You can find the more pertinent information in Jamelle Bouie’s column [gift link], which while in the “opinion” section contains much more actual material information than the news story:
You’ll notice the president said nothing about lawful or unlawful protest, peaceful or violent. To him, any dissent is unacceptable. He does not believe that anyone has a right to challenge him. He is the nation’s boss, and it is our job to obey.
The White House clearly believes its actions are a show of strength, but again, they are not. The immediate recourse to repressive force; the inability to handle even modest opposition to its plans; the threats, bullying and overheated rhetoric — it betrays a sense of brittleness and insecurity.
Power, real power, rests on legitimacy and consent. A regime that has to deploy force at the first sign of dissent is a regime that does not actually believe it can wield power short of coercion and open threats of violence.
It’s not all that hard to imagine a more confident administration that met protests with a firm but accommodating defense of its prerogatives. We understand your opposition to our deportation program but we have to enforce the law. A smarter White House might try to isolate its opponents with a performance of responsible stewardship. Instead, the actual White House may have given its opponents the ammunition they need to persuade the public of their cause.
As it stands, 34 percent of Americans approve of the use of the Marines in Los Angeles, according to a newly released survey by YouGov. Forty-seven percent disapprove and 19 percent say they aren’t sure. This gets to one of the fundamental facts of the political situation, which is that Trump just isn’t that popular. His net approval rating is underwater by eight percentage points, and more Americans say the country is on the wrong track now than at the start of his term.
Americans are not enamored of his signature policy bill. They don’t like his tariffs, nor do they like the actual carrying out of his deportation plans. Overall, more Americans say that Trump is fighting against them than say that he is on their side.
I should be clear here that none of this is inconsistent with the points Paul Erik has raised today about the weakness of the Democratic brand — while Trump is unpopular even before his extremely unpopular signature legislation gets passed, it’s almost impossible to see the path to even a bare Senate majority. Trump’s unpopularity is an opportunity that won’t just exploit itself, particularly in high-turnout elections. But by the same token narrowly winning an election in a very favorable political context doesn’t make Donald Trump a popular figure or mean that everything he does is some kind of work of tactical genius. His invocation of military strength comes from a place of insecurity and weakness, not real strength.