The Dictatorship
‘Americans aren’t against the war’: Trump pitches alternate reality on public attitudes
During a brief Q&A with reporters on Wednesday morning, Donald Trump was reminded that most Americans oppose the war in Iran. The president immediately pushed back against the assertion.
“Well, Americans aren’t against the war,” he said. “A poll just came out: Americans don’t want high gasoline prices, but they’re not against the war. That just came out, loud and clear, in a poll.”
Trump has spent much of his political career referring to survey data that exists only in his imagination — up to and including making up approval ratings for himselfciting data that he thinks ought to exist. So when the president told reporters about a poll that “just came out,” he didn’t elaborate, probably because he was making stuff up again.
To the extent that reality matters, plenty of polls show just how wrong the Republican is about public attitudes toward the ongoing military operations.
Last week, for example, the latest Washington Post-Ipsos poll found that 68% of Americans believe the war was not worth fighting. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were also unpopular, but according to previous Washington Post polls, public opposition to the current war with Iran is even worse than attitudes toward those other recent conflicts.
Similarly, the latest Fox News poll found 66% of Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of U.S. policy toward Iran.
It’s possible the president discards such data because the surveys include a broad range of Americans, including those who oppose him politically, and Trump has a track record of arguing that people who disagree with him literally don’t count. The trouble is, many of the Republican’s most loyal followers are also turning against the conflict.
“Half of President Donald Trump’s MAGA base thought the Iran war was worth its economic costs in May. Now, just a little more than a third do,” Politico reported. “That precipitous, 13-point drop in just two months, according to a new Blue Light News Poll, reveals how the president’s most die-hard supporters are starting to agree with the majority of Americans who have long opposed the U.S.’ involvement in the war.”
Trump doesn’t have to like this data. He can even try to argue that the American mainstream is wrong. But to pretend that Americans “aren’t against the war” is to take a life-and-death issue and turn public attitudes on their head.
Steve Benen is a producer for “The Rachel Maddow Show,” the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He’s also the bestselling author of “Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans’ War on the Recent Past.”