In
the midst of much hand-wringing and anguished sighs, the Huffington Post
has announced to its readers that after his first year in office “Trump Is
Winning.”
“This is one of the hardest things
I’ve ever had to write and admit,” begins Earl Ofari Hutchinson in his essay, “Trump is winning.”
Hutchinson, an author and co-host of
the Al Sharpton Show, observes that according to numerous indicators the Trump
presidency is a success, beginning with his delivery of a long list of campaign
promises.
Among Mr. Trump’s many victories,
Hutchinson enumerates Mick Mulvaney’s appointment to head the Consumer
Financial Protection Bureau, Neil Gorsuch’s contribution to the Supreme Court,
Scott Pruitt’s work at the EPA, Trump’s support of fossil fuels to make America
energy independent, the RNC backing of judge Roy Moore in Alabama, the fizzling
out of Russiagate, the passage of the tax reform bill, and the record-level
stock market.
Yet all of these wins are small
potatoes compared to Trump’s three top victories, Hutchinson claims.
First, the President has successfully taken charge of the
Republican Party. “He is the point man for GOP policy and issues and, in a
perverse way, the spur to get action on them,” Hutchinson notes.
Second, Mr. Trump has managed to energize his base and keep their
loyalty. The “overwhelming majority” of Republican voters continues to back
him, Hutchinson admits.
“This is the voter loyalty that buys
a lot of support from the GOP establishment even as they flail him or shake
their head in disgust at his antics,” he writes.
Third, Trump has successfully harnessed the mainstream media for
his own purposes. “He remains a ratings cash cow for the networks and makes
stunning copy for the print media,” Hutchinson complains.
“He knew that from day one of his
presidential bid and he knows it even more now. He will continue to suck the
media air out of everything that the Democrats do and try to do.”
While praising the war on Trump
waged by the New York Times and “other liberal print publications,”
Hutchinson recognizes that for much of the Trump base these papers have lost
all credibility. “So the withering criticism of Trump in these publications is
tantamount to a wolf howling in the wind,” he says.
After a string of jabs about Trump’s
“phony war” with the NFL, his “bumbling, inept, and dangerous handling of the
North Korea nuclear threat,” and his “clueless saber rattle” over the Iran
nuclear pact, Hutchinson finds himself forced to confess that Trump has managed
to come out on top.
For Trump so far, “this has been a
win-win, and a sad one to admit,” he writes.
Of course, from Hutchinson’s
perspective, all of these triumphs are bad for America. The Trump base of
benighted deplorables and hobbits don’t realize that what seem to be victories
are really long-term defeats and ultimately won’t benefit them at all, he
whines.
One thing seems certain.
The annoying habit leftist elites
have of condescendingly telling other people what is best for them isn’t
gaining them any friends.
It didn’t work in 2016 and it
doesn’t work now.
And then they wonder why Trump is
winning.
