“Liberation Day” was on April 2. Hasn’t even been three weeks yet. As far as Trade Wars go, this one is still in diapers. So today, on Easter Sunday, let’s (carefully) vacate our bunkers and survey the dreadful damage:
Hmm…
Disruption has been minimal. You can still buy all the iPhones you want. Sure, the ambiguity over tariffs sucks for globally-sourced products, but most Americans understand Trump’s thought process. It’s threefold:
- China is a communist dictatorship that’s ruthlessly dishonest, absolutely untrustworthy, and has become our #1 global rival. Seems kind of stupid to perpetually send our money to our #1 global rival.
- One of the lessons of the COVID pandemic was the importance of nationalizing critical supply chains, so we’re no longer dependent on foreign rivals for medicine, food, and technology.
- Cheap (crappy) mass-produced Chinese goods are great, but American jobs are even better. And with millions of young people stuck in stagnant, low-paying jobs — unable to ever afford a house of their own — we needed to flip our priorities.
Which is why Trump is playing brinksmanship and renegotiating trade deals. You can agree or disagree with his methodology, but the problems he’s attempting to fix are painfully authentic. Ignore them at your own peril.
Kamala Harris ignored ‘em, and it cost her the election.
Yet the Democrats are already waiving the white flag, bowing before the country that is, quite literally, a red flag. Again: it’s only been 18 days!
Mark Twain popularized the expression in 1907, “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” And, to be fair, poll numbers are statistics. So for consistency’s sake, we’ll use the exact same numerical thresholds as our pals in the mainstream media.
Two days ago, we noted a new media theme about Trump’s “tanking” numbers on immigration. And there were a lot of stories:
The Independent: Trump’s approval rating on immigration has tanked in recent weeks as more controversial deportations are revealed
Newsweek: Donald Trump’s Approval Rating Over Immigration Is Tumbling
Slate: Trump polling: Perhaps sending people to Salvadoran gulags is not exactly what voters had in mind.
The Independent (Part II): Amid the Kilmar Abrego Garcia controversy, Trump is losing ground on immigration
Splinter: Trump’s Immigration Policies Are Not Popular
The American Prospect: The Anti-Immigration Majority Is a Mirage
MSN: Trump’s economic and immigration policies face growing dissent
Well, garsh! That all sounds crappy. So we dug deeper and reviewed the poll that the media described as “tanking,” “tumbling,” “losing,” and a “mirage”:
“Tanked,” eh?
Well, let’s look under the hood, shall we: Last week 57% of Americans supported Trump’s immigration policies. This week it “tanked” to 54%.
Three points!
The poll’s margin of error is 3.5, by the way. You don’t need to be a math major to recognize a big, fat, juicy Nothing Burger when you see one.
According to the standard set by the mainstream media, a three-point drop — in an opinion poll with a 3.5 margin of error! — constitutes “tanking,” “tumbling,” “losing,” and a “mirage.”
Fine.
Recently, the Pew Research Center released a new poll on Americans perceptions of China. And what did they discover?
For the first time in five years, the share of Americans with an unfavorable opinion of China has fallen from the year before – albeit slightly, from 81% in 2024 to 77% in 2025.
Well, that’s a four-point drop. (Even bigger than Trump’s “tanking” three-point drop.) Hmm.
Views of China tend to vary by party. While majorities of adults in both parties have an unfavorable opinion of China, Republicans and Republican-leaning independents are significantly more likely than Democrats and Democratic leaners to hold this view (82% vs. 72%).
So the real story is a 10-point divide between the parties on China. Keep an eye on this gap, because the Democrats’ knee-jerk impulse to oppose everything Trump supports — and support everything Trump opposes — will push them closer to China. They’ll sympathize with the Chi-Coms. They’ll editorialize on behalf of China. They’ll include Xi within the Great Liberal Wall of Resistance.
And they’ll likely pluck away a few libertarian-leaning, Ayn Rand-loving conservatives, too. One of the unexpected results of the poll was a 16-point drop amongst Republicans who had a “very unfavorable” view of China.
Still, this issue is a yuuuuge net winner for the GOP. You’ve got 82% of Republicans with an unfavorable opinion of China — and 77% of Americans overall. Even after 18 days of hyperbolic, venomous headlines, more than seven out of 10 DEMOCRATS rightly recognize China as a bad actor!
But that 10-point gap is a doozy.
So far in this Trade War, there’s been a curious absence of nationalism. That’s a PR mistake. Beginning on Monday, it would be wise for Team MAGA to reframe the issue from fairness to patriotism — because the fairness argument has already been successfully seeded. We’re at 77%!
There’s already a consensus.
What’s missing is a patriotic call to arms, where the country understands that we’re sacrificing together so we can win together. We need a national buy-in on the mission.
That’s what’s missing. And it’s not too late.
There’s America’s side. And there’s the Chi-Coms’ side. The GOP needs to increase the cost of being on the Chi-Coms’ side, because that’s the direction the Radical Left is gonna be marching, and that’s where they’re gonna be by the end of 2025.
They won’t be able to help themselves!
The Democrats are addicted to anti-Trump outrage. The siren’s call of The Resistance… is irresistible.
With just a modicum of wheel-greasing, President Trump could have ‘em in one helluva political trap. Wouldn’t take too much effort, either.
The Dems are gonna make it easy.
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