Believe it or not, there’s good news (for critics) about Donald Trump. To wit, the public disapproves of him and practically everything he does—mostly by huge margins.
His job approval ratings in the nation’s most respected polls are as follows:
- NBC 43% approve, 54% disapprove.
- Pew Research Center 40-53.
- Gallup 40-56.
- Quinnipiac 38-54.
- Economist/You Gov 39-56.
- Reuters/Ipsos 41-58.
- AP/NORC 39-60.
- Washington Post/Ipsos 43-56.
- RealClearPolitics (average of 12 polls) 41-52.
Among Independent voters, average approval is 25-33%. Hispanics 31-36 approve with 58-69 disapprove, little changed from 2024 election (Trump 38%, Harris 60%).
Approval on handling major issues: Blame for Government Shutdown: Trump and Republicans 41.5, Democrats 25 Both 45. Support for extending subsidies for Obamacare recipients: 75-80% across many polls. A KKF poll this month showed 78% support, including 92% of Democrats, 82% of Independents and 59% of Republicans. Even 56% of self-identified MAGA Republicans. Immigration: 45% approve 53 disapprove.
Support for ICE and mass deportation: ICE 45%-53%. Mass Deportation 38%-55%. Economy: Trump’s approval varies between 41 and 47%, disapproval 51-55. Inflation: 38-42 approve, 56-60 disapprove. Trump’s “Big Beautiful” budget bill: 32-46. Tariffs: 39-54. Health care: 38-54. Ukraine/Russia: 36-56. Israel/Gaza: 37-55 Protecting democracy: 36-56.
His poll rating on Israel/Gaza certainly will rise with Trump’s achievement of first steps toward peace—a ceasefire, hostage exchange, an Israeli withdrawal from large population sites and provision of humanitarian aid.
So on to this week’s Outrages:
Military/Paramilitary Takeover
You do not need to be paranoid to imagine how Trump could snuff out American democracy. He has often threatened—in his first term and recently—to invoke the 1807 Insurrection Act, which would entitle him to call up active duty Armed Forces to put down any demonstration or disorder he deems an “unlawful obstruction” that hinders law enforcement. His invocation would not be subject to judicial review or time limits.
Historically, the Act has been invoked just 30 times in 218 years, by Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War, by U.S. Grant to control the Ku Klux Klan and by Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson in civil rights cases and by Johnson and George HW Bush to control urban riots.
Trump has declared cities like Portland and Chicago to be “war zones” and protesters as “the enemy within,” framing dissent as rebellion. He has not invoked the Act yet, but his rhetoric and deployments suggest he is testing its boundaries. He also has said on numerous occasions that he might deploy active-duty troops to American cities, perhaps a step toward martial law.
Even though city mayors and state governors have protested deployment of National Guard personnel to their jurisdictions—and have frequently filed suit—in fact, Trump’s true national “army” (actually paramilitary) consists of agents of ICE and the US Border Patrol, whereas the Guard at most protects the immigration officers and sometimes just picks up trash around federal buildings.
ICE personnel usually wear masks and military garb (with their personal and official insignia hidden, inspiring fear) and often resort to violence to arrest persons they deem to be “illegal aliens.”
While Trump has slashed the budgets of every other federal law enforcement agency, he has already turned ICE into the government’s largest. It’s grown to 38,000 this year, with a goal of 45,000 by year’s end, backed by a budget of $45 billion.
The most notorious recent case of ICE’s recklessness occurred in Chicago’s South Shore neighborhood on the night of Sept. 29-30. Three hundred ICE agents took part, a contingent arriving on a Blackhawk helicopter and rappelling onto an apartment building. They ordered the building’s 100-120 inhabitants, some children and some naked or thinly garbed, onto a frigid street, where they remained for over 90 minutes. Agents knocked down doors, tore up apartments, and ended up arresting just 37 persons, though many more were detained temporarily, including US citizens. The stated targets of the raid were Venezuelan gang members but the government has declined to say how many actually were.
Other cases include roundups at worksites, schools, street corners, homes, university campuses and courthouses where immigrants were going to have legitimate asylum claims adjudicated. Three immigrants have been killed in the course of roundups or detention. Tear gas and rubber bullets have been used on clergy and journalists as well as protesters.
It’s no exaggeration to say that ICE has become Trump’s go-to paramilitary force and enough publicity has surrounded its excesses that recruits—eligible for signing bonuses up to $50,000–are people who either don’t mind or relish the notion of violent work.
The National Guard deployments, even if they are not Trump’s principal means of waging war on Democratic-run cities, definitely are responses to administration claims that the cities are “out of control,” “crime ridden” and “on fire.” Violent protests have occurred, but in every case, unrest has broken out in limited geographic areas, fully within the capacity of local and state police to contain. Nevertheless, a quarter of all FBI agents have been added to federalized state Guards and 300 Texas Guard personnel have been sent to Chicago.
Democratic cities where Guard personnel have been deployed—in every case against the wishes of their mayors and/or state governors—are Los Angeles, the District of Columbia, Portland, Oregon and Chicago, with New York, Baltimore, San Francisco and Oakland reportedly next.
Memphis is the only Republican city targeted (with no objection from GOP authorities). Other Republican-led cities have serious crime rates higher than those targeted, including Oklahoma City, Baton Rouge and Birmingham. AL.
Two federal district court judges have issued blistering opinions in imposing temporary restraining orders against guard deployments: In Oregon, Judge Karin Immergut, a Trump appointee, said that “this is a nation of Constitutional law, not martial law” and that Trump’s determination to deploy troops was “untethered to the facts” since Portland protests were “small and uneventful.” In Illinois, Judge April Perry, a Biden appointee, found “no credible evidence of rebellion” or inability to enforce federal law in the state. She said that deploying troops would “add to the fire” and increase civil unrest.
Other Outrages
Firing Federal Workers under cover of the Shutdown
With the government shutdown dragging on, the Trump administration is commencing a threatened “massive” drawdown of federal employees, beginning with 4,200 workers permanently fired at agencies deemed to be working on Democratic priorities—the IRS, CDC, EPA and other agencies working on climate change, renewable energy, economic research and cybersecurity. Trump has said he is trying to ensure that military personnel are paid during the shutdown, but that some employees on furlough may not have back wages paid (a violation of a law signed by Trump in 2019.)
A Shakedown of Universities
As part of Trump’s effort to bend universities to his will, Trump proposed a “Compact” to nine major institutions (so far) offering “preferential federal funding” and invitations to White House events in exchange for the institutions’ agreeing to ten requirements including a five-year freeze on tuitions and cuts to administrative costs; limiting international students to 15% of total enrollees; banning race, ethnicity, sex as factors in admissions and hiring; abolishing departments that “belittle or punish conservative ideas;” limiting political advocacy by faculty; and canceling tuition for hard science students at large universities
So far, only the University of Texas has agreed. MIT has formally rejected it as “inconsistent with our core beliefs,” and Dartmouth’s president is leaning toward rejection, saying “we will never compromise academic freedom.” All the others—Brown, Penn, Arizona, USC, Vanderbilt, Virginia are undecided. as of this writing. California Gov. Gavin Newsom threatened to cut state aid to any school that signs on and Notre Dame’s president described the compact as “fascist,” warning it undermines independent institutions.
A TACO on Russia?
After years of supporting Vladimir Putin—and being humiliated in return— Trump finally seems to have lost patience with the Russian dictator’s refusal to sign onto Trump’s peace plan, stepped-up attacks on civilians and infrastructure in Ukraine and violations of NATO countries’ airspace. He’s said that Ukraine could prevail in the war and recapture all the territory occupied by Russia.
However, while he is issuing threats, he still is not delivering what it might take for Ukraine to actually prevail. He is merely “considering” providing Tomahawk cruise missiles President Volodymyr Zelensky has requested, capable of hitting targets 1,500 miles inside Russia. On its own, Ukraine has developed sophisticated drones used to hit Russian energy sites, causing serious civilian and military fuel shortages.
Trump also has not applied new economic sanctions on Russia or tapped frozen Russian assets valued at $350 billion to finance weapons purchases and other aid to Ukraine. He has merely threatened 100% tariffs on China and other countries buying Russian oil, but has imposed a 25% tariff on India. He has also endorsed a bipartisan bill to impose 500% tariffs on countries trading with Russia.
Payback
Trump, wrote to Attorney Gen. Pam Bondi on Sept. 20 ordering her to indict former FBI Director James Comey, New York Attorney Gen. Letitia James and Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff. “They’re all guilty as hell. And nothing is going to be done. We can’t delay any longer. It’s killing our reputation and credibility.” He added, “they impeached me twice and indicted me (five times!). OVER NOTHING JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!”
The message proves that Trump has abolished the independence of the Justice Department and is ordering prosecutions grounded in personal vindictiveness, which may result in summary acquittals. Perhaps not to worry — when the US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia resigned after refusing to indict James, Trump chose as his replacement Lindsey Halligan, a former insurance lawyer and Trump defense attorney who has never prosecuted a case.
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