by CHQ Staff
One of the more bizarre elements of last night’s Democratic presidential “debate” was how much the leading Democrat – Senator Elizabeth Warren – agrees with President Trump, especially on endless Middle East wars and the effects of trade on American workers.
When asked about jobs, the economy and trade Senator Warren said the top reason Americans have lost jobs is bad trade policies and corporations with no loyalty to America workers, consumers, and communities.
Although it lacked the poetry of then-candidate Donald Trump’s speeches to the Detroit Economic Club and at his rally at Monessen, Pennsylvania, they were coming from much the same place, said Trump in Detroit:
When we were governed by an America First policy, Detroit was booming. Engineers, builders, laborers, shippers and countless others went to work each day, provided for their families, and lived out the American Dream.
But for many living in this city, that dream has long ago vanished. When we abandoned the policy of America First, we started rebuilding other countries instead of our own. The skyscrapers went up in Beijing, and in many other cities around the world, while the factories and neighborhoods crumbled in Detroit. Our roads and bridges fell into disrepair, yet we found the money to resettle millions of refugees at taxpayer expense.
And at Monessen, Pennsylvania:
But if we are going to deliver real change, we’re going to have to reject the campaign of fear and intimidation being pursued by powerful corporations, media leaks and political dynasties. The people who rigged the system for their benefit will do anything and say anything to keep things exactly the way they are.
And later in that same speech:
We allowed foreign countries to subsidize their goods, devalue their currencies, violate their agreements and cheat in every way imaginable, and our politicians did nothing about it. Trillions of our dollars and millions of our jobs flowed overseas as a result. I have visited cities and towns across this country where one-third or even half of manufacturing jobs have been wiped out in the last 20 years. Today, we import nearly $800 billion more in goods than we export. We can’t continue to do that. This is not some natural disaster, it’s a political and politician-made disaster.
Where they differ, of course, is in the solution. President Trump’s solution was to cut taxes and regulations, policies that have led to the best economy in five decades for most Americans. Senator Warren’s solution is to raise taxes and increase the regulation of business – the same policies that led to a lost decade of economic progress for most Americans.
Even more interesting was Senator Warren’s apparent agreement with President Trump on getting America out of regime-change wars in the Middle East.
Warren said she doesn’t want troops in the Middle East, but America must do it in the right way, however, what that right way is remained undefined.
Indeed, as with so many other questions or topics that came up last night, rather than detail the right way, Senator Warren evaded or pivoted to an unrelated attack on President Trump.
Trump, on the other hand, has made a clear break with the endless war policy of the past and is redeploying troops out of the Syria theater of operations.
And his policy seems to be supported by the American people – even Democrats.
In defending his Syria decision announced on Monday, October 7, the president declared, “It is time for us to get out of these ridiculous endless wars, many of them tribal, and bring our soldiers home. We will fight where it is to our benefit, and only fight to win.”
Fifty-eight percent (58%) of Likely U.S. Voters agree with Trump’s statement, according to the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey. Just 20% disagree, while 22% are not sure.
Even 55% of Democrats agree with the statement, although it is important to note that Rasmussen Reports did not identify Trump as the source of the quotation in its question. Sixty-nine percent (69%) of Republicans and 50% of voters not affiliated with either major political party also agree. Democrats and unaffiliateds are more likely than GOP voters to be undecided.
So, take Trump derangement out of the equation and 55% of Democrats agree with Trump’s policies.
Forty-four percent (44%) of all voters continue to believe that our political leaders send American soldiers into harm’s way too often, but that’s down from 52% two years ago and the lowest finding in regular surveying since January 2013. Only four percent (4%) think U.S. solders aren’t sent into harm’s way enough. Thirty-eight percent (38%) view the balance as about right.
Just 38% believe the U.S. military is overstretched these days, also a new low.
This finding ran as high as 57% as recently as three years ago but has been trending down since Trump’s election. Forty-three percent (43%) say the military can adequately handle the number of missions it has. Nineteen percent (19%) are undecided. This marks the first time in Rasmussen Reports surveying that voters who are comfortable with the military’s efforts outnumber those who think it is overstretched.
The bottom line for Senator Warren’s populist approaches on the two issues where she was trying to out populist Trump is saying Trump is doing it wrong isn’t enough. If Elizabeth Warren wants to out populist Trump on endless wars, she’s going to have to do better, because more than half – 55% — of Democrats are already looking Trump’s way.
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Photo “Elizabeth Warren” by CNN.
