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President Trump completed his first 500 days as president yesterday, and according to Gallup has the 2nd highest "own party" approval of any president since World War II. Only George W. Bush had a higher approval at 500 days.
Trump's enemies are shocked, middle-class America and evangelicals are pleased, but not shocked.
President Trump completed his 500th day in office yesterday.
Many on the far Left are shocked and deeply disappointed---especially Hollywood.
The big question for the Left the day after the November presidential election (except for the question of "Where is Hillary Clinton?") was "How long can Trump last before he self-destructs?"
While many were predicting Trump would not finish his first term in office, Hollywood big shot Alec Baldwin told Vogue Magazine and other publications early in 2017, "Trump will be out of the White House by 2018. I don't think he can make it till the end of the year. I think he can't take ridicule. I think he'll resign."
Baldwin said, "He ran for president out of spite, and he won because it's rigged. And now he's miserable. What is he going to do, go to a barbecue in West Virginia every day with a bunch of unemployed people?"
Baldwin's thinking about middle class, working people is not his and Hollywood's idea alone, but is pervasive among the far Left, so-called progressive elite folks.
Ben Rhodes, former Obama deputy national security adviser, wrote in his soon to be released book titled, "The World As It Is: A Memoir of the Obama White House," recalls his depression following the election of Donald Trump.
The New York Times reports that Rhodes writes that a day after the election, Obama sent him a message to cheer him up, saying, "There are more stars in the sky than grains of sand on the earth."
But Rhodes writes that after a few more days Obama seemed less sanguine. He told Rhodes and a few others, "I don't know. Maybe this is what people want. I've got the economy set up well for him. No facts. No consequences. They [the people and their choice for president] can just have a cartoon."
Obama also said his own presidency may have come "10 to 20 years too early" for the country, implying he may have been too good for the less evolved people.
More than "a year" has passed---500 days to be exact---Baldwin and his Hollywood buddies were wrong, but Baldwin's question regarding what Trump is going to do after the election has been answered quite definitively.
What has President Trump been doing the past 500 days.
He may have had a barbecue in West Virginia---I'm not sure, but the facts that Obama declared were missing in the Trump administration are pretty impressive and Baldwin's concern as to what Trump would find to do following the election are equally impressive:
As Axios' Jonathan Swan points out, this president has ushered in overarching change not just to the country, but within the Republican party itself. It is this kind of change that led President Trump to enjoy record approval ratings from members of his own party. Of presidents since WWII, Mr. Trump's own party approval rating falls behind only President George W. Bush at this point in his presidency.
Swan is not a fan of President Trump, but in trying to undermine or diminish what President Trump has done, he lends credence to the decision voters made in November 2016.
"In 500 days, Trump’s hijacking of the formerly conservative GOP is complete — an astonishing accomplishment. The majority party in America is fully defined by his policies, his popularity with the base, his facts-be-damned mentality, his ability to control and quiet virtually all Republican elected officials," writes Swan.
Swan also details how Trump has nearly wiped out Obama's legacy. Swan adds, "He’s exited the Paris climate deal; signed major tax cuts, especially for corporations; confirmed an ultra-conservative Supreme Court justice and record numbers of circuit court judges; deregulated like crazy; exited the Iran deal; exited the TPP trade deal; repealed the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate; and moved the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, recognizing it as Israel’s capital."
What is not included in Swan's song is how forcefully President Trump has stood for the sanctity of life and religious freedom.
NBC News swallowed hard and admitted last January that President Trump, addressing the annual March for Life event in DC, was the first time in history a sitting president had spoken on live video to the tens of thousands of pro-life marchers.
President Trump promised to continue rolling back Obama-era regulations that "radically favor abortion."
And a host of other promises, many of which have already been kept.
Wanting to take some of the luster off the moment, the best NBC could do was remind their listeners and readers that back in 1999, Donald Trump had said he "hated the concept of abortion" but considered himself "pro-choice."
The obvious answer to NBC's "concerns" is found in the John Newton song and his life story we all know---"Amazing Grace:" "I once was lost, but now I'm found, was blind but now I see."
Marc A. Thiessen is often a guest on Fox News. I suspect he is a Republican---worked for George W. Bush, but is not a supporter of President Trump.
Recently Thiessen wrote this in his nationally syndicated column after rehearsing Trump's moral failures, and they are many, he wrote: "Trump does have one moral quality that deserves admiration: He keeps his promises."
Thiessen says Trump has been "relentless" on the fronts of "life" and "religious freedom," which was under assault by the Obama administration. And how President Trump is standing strong with biblical Christians regarding marriage and with those whom the homosexual community seeks to destroy because of their belief in biblical marriage---a union between one man and one woman.
Thiessen concludes of Trump: "He is not the most religious president we have ever had, but he may be the most pro-religion president. Little wonder that religious conservatives stick with him...Christian conservatives are judging Trump not by his faith, but by his works. And when it comes to life and liberty, his works are good."
Many on the far Left are in denial, but the 87% in the Republican Party who "approve" of him are feeling pretty good about his presidency.
And: With 500 days down, President Trump still has 962 days in his first term. That is a problem for those who oppose him.
Be Informed. Be Vigilant. Be Discerning. Be Prayerful.