Retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn resigned his position as national security adviser Monday night. Flynn’s resignation ends a sad and disturbing chapter.

The long knives have been out for Flynn ever since he was forced out of the Obama administration because he repeatedly said that too little was being done to fight Islamofascism. He also publicly opposed Obama’s nuclear deal with the Islamist regime in Iran.

The reason for Flynn’s resignation is clear. According to White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, Flynn misled Vice President Mike Pence and others about his contacts with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. It is unfortunate that Flynn misled the vice president.

However, the media meme that he did something illegal is absurd. As White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said yesterday, “There is not a legal issue but a trust issue.” President Trump tweeted Tuesday morning, “The real story here is why are there so many illegal leaks coming out of Washington.”

In 2008, then-Senator Barack Obama, as a presidential candidate, went to multiple countries. He met with foreign leaders and discussed how his foreign policy would be different than the Bush administration. No one suggested Obama was violating any laws then.

What is at play here are the ongoing efforts of the media to undermine the Trump administration with manufactured scandals. “It’s incompetence!” “It’s illegal!” “It’s unethical!” “It’s fascism!” Throw in whatever other outrage you can come up with. It’s a 24/7 media drumbeat.

Speaking of Drumbeats…

The Left and its media allies continue hyperventilating over last week’s immigration enforcement raids. But according to the Department of Homeland Security, 75% of those detained were “criminal aliens.” They had been convicted of the following crimes: “homicide, aggravated sexual abuse, sexual assault of a minor, lewd and lascivious acts with a child … drug trafficking, battery … DUI and weapons charges.”

Now, here’s the important part we must all keep in mind as this debate continues: Those additional charges really don’t matter.

The penalty for entering the country illegally is … deportation. It would not matter if 100% of the people arrested and deported had not committed any additional crimes because the deportation of illegal immigrants is perfectly legal.

We cannot buy into the Left’s argument that unless the illegal immigrant is a convicted rapist, we have no right to deport him.

Some left-wing politicians have suggested that America won’t be “great again” if we are arresting “moms and maids.” Well, America won’t be great again if we turn a blind eye to the killing of citizens like Kate Steinle.

America won’t be great again if there are millions of people in the country with false names and fake Social Security numbers. America won’t be great again if we tolerate illegal immigrants voting in our elections.

About That Poll…

A new Gallup poll made headlines Monday. Here’s one from CNN: “Gallup Poll: Trump Approval Rating At New Low.”

But there was more to the poll than just the president’s low approval rating (40%). Two questions in particular got my attention.

When asked if President Trump “keeps his promises,” 62% of Americans said “Yes.” And when asked if President Trump “is a strong and decisive leader,” 59% of Americans said “Yes.”

Those are two huge numbers that any elected official would love to have. Trump has high ratings in areas where it counts and he has time to show results and build confidence among those Americans who have an open mind.

The chances that he will convert the hard-core Left are next to zero, as would be the chances of anyone else on our side who might be president.

By the way, a new Rasmussen poll also got my attention yesterday: 45% of Americans say the country is heading in the right direction.

Obviously that is not a majority. But consider this: According to a Rasmussen poll conducted just before the November election, only 30% of Americans felt the country was headed in the right direction.

Since Donald Trump was elected president, there has been a 15-point swing in the percentage of Americans who think we are doing better, and the percentage of those who say we are headed in the wrong direction has dropped 13 points — from 63% before the election to 50% today.