Donald Trump Erupts Into Twitter ‘Tantrum’ Over Bad Poll Numbers, Blames ‘Racism Witch Hunt’
Donald Trump unloaded on Twitter this Sunday morning over a series of polls showing his unpopularity growing, which the president blamed on what he called a “racism witch hunt.”
As the Independent noted, the president seemed particularly peeved at his recent polling and unloaded in a series of Sunday-morning tweets, attempting to shift the blame for his unpopularity onto the American press. In what was widely described as a “tantrum,” the president claimed that the critical reporting was “biased” and “evil.”
“The reporting is so false, biased and evil that it has now become a very sick joke,” Trump wrote, adding, “With all that this Administration has accomplished, think what my Poll Numbers would be if we had an honest Media, which we do not!”
The past few weeks were a particularly difficult time for the president in terms of polling, with his disapproval soaring after a series of incidents widely decried as racist. That included Trump telling a group of Democratic congresswomen of color to go back to their “original” countries (despite three of the four being born in the United States and the fourth a naturalized citizen after immigrating from Somalia) and another incident in which he attacked a majority-black congressional district as “rat and rodent infested.”
Donald Trump fought back hard against the racism allegations, declaring that he was the “least racist person there is anywhere in the world.” Americans seemed to strongly disagree. As The Washington Post reported, a poll from Quinnipiac University showed that more than half of Americans, including three-quarters of black Americans, believe that Donald Trump is explicitly racist.
Another poll from Fox News this week showed that Trump’s disapproval rating soared to 56 percent, just one percentage point below its all-time high in the poll. Trump’s rising unpopularity seems to have put a dent in his re-election hopes as well, the Independent noted. In another recent Fox News survey, Trump trailed every one of the 2020 Democratic frontrunners in head-to-head polling.
Trump has also taken a hit for his response to mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio. The president drew bipartisan criticism for his demeanor while making those visits, with pictures and video showing the president laughing and joking with hospital staff. One photo, showing the president smiling and giving a thumbs-up while wife Melania Trump held an infant whose parents were both killed in El Paso, drew particularly strong pushback.
About half of Americans disapprove of Trump’s response to the deadly mass shootings in Texas and Ohio, and broad majorities support Congress moving to expand background checks for all firearm sales, per new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll. https://t.co/VsO7dVecK7 via @KThomasDC
— Evan Rosenfeld (@Evan_Rosenfeld) August 18, 2019
#Trump disapproval rating rises to near record high in new poll https://t.co/XhJCCOh5lm via @amjoyshow
— Formerly 'AM JOY' on @MSNBC (@amjoyshow) August 17, 2019
The little Trumpy’s Sunday morning Twitter tantrum is pathetic and hilarious, at the same time. He becomes more unstable as time goes… https://t.co/fqpCHgveVy
— Yvonne Cousar (@yccousar) August 18, 2019
Many of the president’s critics responded to what they saw as his Twitter tantrum, underscoring his growing unpopularity as shown in the polls.
