A Sociological Eye

  There’s a fantasy out there. And it’s being used to justify a flood of actions that are stupid, counterproductive, meanspirited—oh, and often illegal. Actions like firing FBI agents, prosecutors, and inspectors general who protect Americans. “Throwing into the woodchipper” entire federal agencies doing vital work—like USAID (which saves the lives of starving children and those suffering from dangerous diseases in other countries), or the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (which saves Americans from being ripped off by credit card companies and banks). Shutting down a wide range of grants to charities that help people in need or assess the impacts of discrimination. Slashing the funding of research—and through that action, yanking back hundreds of millions of dollars from universities and hospitals that rely on that funding. Firing people from across all federal agencies randomly, based on their not having served the full two years or one year of probationary status, with n...

This is an example of the troubling pro-Trump spin now being seen across the mainstream media, as their owners rush to curry favor with the vindictive president. This morning I decided to open the Apple News app and see what it would suggest I read. First it offered me an article following up on plane crash victims. And then: "Donald Trump Has Never Been This Popular: Polls." That Trump headline was eye-popping to me, given that the favorability polling I saw last week indicated that under half of Americans approved of Trump's performance. I felt a drop in my stomach. Had there been a sudden swelling of approval in response to a week of chaos? No, friends, there had not. Trump's approval rating in the first weeks of his second presidency remains the lowest of any president since such polls began in 1953. It's still under 50% during these first weeks of his term--the "honeymoon period" when recently-elected presidents usually see the highest approval rate...