Welcome to Liberty Nation’s Daily Snapshot. All the top news of the day, the latest polls, and more.
What’s happening in the political sphere – the hot stories making the news today.
- New York Governor Andrew Cuomo was, just a few weeks ago, the Democrats’ new champion. He was receiving rave reviews for his daily press briefings. One almost expected to see reporters throwing bouquets of roses onto his desk after each presentation. There were even rumors that he might swoop in to rescue his party from a Biden 2020 candidacy. Now, however, people are beginning to wonder how many seniors may have died from COVID-19 infection as a result of his disastrous policy toward care facilities.
- President Trump is pushing the Senate to take action against Obama-era officials involved in the creation of the Russian collusion hoax. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is resisting the idea of calling Obama himself to testify, but he and his fellow Republicans cannot be oblivious to the potential backlash from their supporters, should they fail to act on the growing scandal that is engulfing members of the previous administration.
- Whether it was incompetence or deception, the World Health Organization’s handling of the Coronavirus pandemic has been a disaster. President Trump froze U.S. funding of the agency but, recently, it was reported that he had decided to open the spigot once again – if only providing a fraction of what the U.S. had previously been sending to the WHO. In a new twist, Axios is reporting that, in fact, Trump may be disinclined to resume sending the agency any money at all.
The latest polls and trends impacting the United States.
- According to the latest Gallup tracking poll, President Trump currently enjoys a 49% job approval rating, which is equal to his highest rating since taking office. After the same number of days in the White House (1209), former President Obama was at 47%. George W. Bush was at 46% after 1205 days on the job.
- How is that social distancing thing going? 58% of American adults say they are mostly or completely isolating themselves. On April 5th, it was 75%, and on April 26th, 68% – so we are finally flattening the curve.
- Almost three-quarters of Americans say there are not enough Coronavirus tests available. 26% believe there is an adequate number of tests to go around. It is awe-inspiring to know that almost all Americans apparently possess a detailed knowledge of the status of the country’s medical equipment stocks.
Something political to ponder as you enjoy your morning coffee.
There’s fake news, and then there’s spoof, satire and good old ridicule – and the political left appears woefully unable to tell the difference. Recently, a Twitter account that specializes in creating pro-Trump and pro-Republican memes reproduced a clip from the movie Independence Day. The clip is edited to portray Donald Trump delivering the rousing presidential speech featured before the climactic battle against invading extraterrestrials. Trump’s detractors – particularly in the media – were outraged, claiming that the clip was, as The Hill put it, “heavily doctored.” Language is important here: the term “heavily doctored” suggests the movie clip was altered to deceive people into believing that Trump made the speech – for real. Presumably, the commander in chief was busy saving the planet from an alien assault, while everyone was too busy social distancing to notice – or, at least, this is what the president would have us believe when he retweeted the clip. Note to Trump-haters in the media: It’s not fake news if it’s something that very obviously did not happen in real life.
A thought for the day from history’s most interesting thinkers.
The first lesson of economics is scarcity: there is never enough of anything to fully satisfy all those who want it. The first lesson of politics is to disregard the first lesson of economics.
– Thomas Sowell
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