The Patriot Post® · Polls Questions and the Truth

I suggested earlier this week that the tide is turning when The Washington Post named antifa as the aggressor in attacking peaceful demonstrators at a free speech rally in California. But later we got the political equivalent of a tsunami when Paul Ryan and … drum roll … Nancy Pelosi both issued statements denouncing antifa by name. Okay, maybe not a tsunami — others have not followed suit, and folks like Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe merely commented that those who break the law should be arrested. But maybe he gets a pass since this is potentially a lawsuit target as part of the chain of command that told the Charlottesville cops to stand down, and illuminating the obvious may not be such great litigation strategy. But I digress.

And before the leftist powers that be recovered from the shock and demanded a qualifier, we had Sen. Diane Feinstein opining that Trump could actually be a good president. Yep, you heard that right. What was probably driving that comment were good economic numbers coupled with Trump’s push for tax cuts and infrastructure spending that even some common sense Democrats could get behind. But perhaps she has become too complacent with her base, or maybe lost a bit off her fastball, since statements like these are heresy to the Left. And it took them only a few hours to force her to go public with the caveat that Trump might be okay if he went along with Democrat proposals. That included the Democrat mantra that tax cuts would be just dandy if they all went to those who pay no taxes, but forget any support if a nickel went to the “rich.” Nice try, Di.

And as if the media could look more foolish, I give you a “poll” that shows the following. After describing the events in Virginia as a “conflict between neo-Nazi protestors and counter protestors that led to deadly violence” (how’s that for accuracy in stage setting?), Trump landed a negative-28-point rating on race relations (surprised it was that low); the disapproval numbers on the way he “responded to events in VA” was 56% to 35% (another perfect example of polls asking questions in a way to get the desired result — even a Trump supporter like me would have given him a disapproval mark with the issue posed that way); and the split was 33% to 56% negative when the choice was either Trump “drawing the country together” or “tearing it apart” (no hyperbole there).

The most interesting poll question/result, however, was whether white supremacists or the media pose “a greater threat to the USA.” The media came in only slightly behind at 40% to the white supremacists’ 47%. The commentary found this result “jarring,” and I guess since it was written by a media source, that was meant to convey shock that the media is held is such similar regard as the white supremacists. But I drew the exact opposite conclusion, again partly driven by the phrasing of the question that referred to a “threat to the USA.” What the media keeps ignoring is that something like 99% of Americans find the neo-Nazi, KKK, and white supremacists philosophies abhorrent and that you can fit the number of active NN, KKK and white supremacist members into a large phone booth. They have zero real political power, and the only influence they garner is conveyed on them by the very media that claims to find them hateful. I would have given the “threat” factor for these guys a full zero and am surprised the media number is as low as it is. But that’s just me.