President Donald Trump speaks in the East
Room of the White House, Thursday, Feb. 6, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/ Evan
Vucci)
Make no mistake about: President Trump has had a great
week, and the Democrats had a lousy one. Not even the liberal media denies it.
"Donald Trump is having a week that's frustrating a lot of
Democrats," CNN's Jake Tapper conceded as early as Tuesday. And he wasn't
the only one who noticed. "Democrats are reduced to hoping the president's
luck finally runs out," wrote The Week's Damon Linker. "It’s been
a pretty good week for Donald Trump," wrote David Graham of The Atlantic.
"In fact, it’s hard to think of a better week in the Trump
administration."
"Republicans say Donald Trump had perhaps the best
week of his presidency, nine months before the election. And even some
Democrats privately agree with that assessment," wrote Scott Wong of The Hill.
Should Trump be re-elected in November, it's no stretch
of the imagination to predict that many pundits will point this past week as
the moment his re-election became inevitable.
Let's review what happened this week, and why Team Trump
should be celebrating.
Monday
Trump's tremendous week was foreshadowed by the disaster
that became of the Democratic Iowa caucuses. Bernie Sanders came in with
momentum and all eyes were on the Hawkeye State to see who would actually
emerge victorious, as the caucuses have typically predicted which candidate
will ultimately win the Democratic Party's nomination.
Instead, results were delayed... and delayed... and delayed
some more. Something went wrong, horribly wrong, which was traced back to
problems with an app that was developed specifically for the caucuses to report
results, prompting accusations of shenanigans designed to hurt Bernie Sanders
and prevent him from declaring victory Monday evening.
Results wouldn't come in until later in the week, and
reports of errors in the numbers only added fuel to the fire that the
Democratic Party is run by corrupt and incompetent people.
Worse yet, turnout for the Democrat caucuses was lower
than expected, matching 2016 levels, as opposed to 2008 levels. Meanwhile,
Trump broke a record for the most votes for an incumbent president in the Iowa caucuses.
Tuesday
With Democrats in disarray, Trump's great week continued
when a new Gallup poll was released giving him the highest marks of his
presidency. While he's never hit the 50 percent mark in the Gallup poll, he
reached 49 percent in their new survey, which not only was a high for him
personally but also outperforming Barack Obama at the same point in his
presidency. CNN's Chris Cillizza was
flabbergasted, calling the results "remarkable, given the first 3+
years of Trump's presidency and the fact that he became just the third
president in American history to be impeached by the House last month."
Tuesday also ended on a high note for President Trump
when he delivered his State of the Union address, which was met with
overwhelming approval by voters, including 82 percent of independents, and even
30 percent of Democrats, according to a CBS/YouGov flash poll.
Adding to Trump's triumphant evening was the amazing
pettiness of Democrats that was on full display. Democrats refused to clap for
America's successes, and upon conclusion of the speech, Nancy Pelosi ripped her
copy of the State of Union. The totality of this anti-American and juvenile
behavior backfired
on the Democrats.
Wednesday
Trump's epic week continued on Wednesday with his impeachment
acquittal. Though acquittal was always expected, many believed that
Democrats would manage to get a couple of moderate Republicans, like Susan
Collins and Lisa Murkowski, to vote with them to convict. Ultimately, they only
got Mitt
Romney, and on just one of the two charges. Their failure to secure more
moderate Republican votes was a true condemnation of the partisan nature of
impeachment and the unfair nature of the process in the House of
Representatives.
Thursday
Trump's post-acquittal victory lap continued on
Thursday with
a 45-minute off-the-cuff address to the nation, during which he unloaded on
James Comey, Adam Schiff, Nancy Pelosi, and the Democratic Party for their
partisan witch hunt. “We first went through Russia, Russia, Russia. It was all
bulls**t," he said. "We then went through the Mueller report, and
they should have come back one day later. They didn’t, they came back two years
later after lives were ruined after people went bankrupt. They kept it going
forever because they wanted to inflict political pain on someone who had just
won an election.”
Friday
Capping off Trump's triumphant week was the release of
new economic numbers by the Labor Department. In January, payrolls increased by
225,000, beating expectations and the December numbers were revised upward to
147,000. The labor force participation rate also reached a Trump-era high of 63.4 percent, and even liberal
"economist" Paul Krugman conceded Trump's
economy is strong. "Let’s be honest: The U.S. economy is running pretty
hot these days," Krugman said.
Arguably Trump had a great Friday evening as well when
the Democrats held their debate in
New Hampshire. Every
Democrat on stage hesitated to say that they were concerned about
having a democratic socialist at the top of the Democratic ticket. Think that
moment won't show up in a Trump ad?
Liberal Tears: Democrat Lawmakers Reportedly 'Depressed' After Trump's Acquittal
_____
Matt Margolis is the author of Trumping Obama: How President
Trump Saved Us From Barack Obama's Legacy and the bestselling
book The Worst President in History: The Legacy of Barack Obama.
You can follow Matt on Twitter @MattMargolis