March 29, 2018--The 42%

There is a recent CNN poll that has Donald Trump with a 42% approval rating. Up a few percentage points from four weeks ago.

This after what would appear to have been Trump's stormiest month ever.

It was the month during which Stormy Daniels and other women surfaced who claimed to have had intimate relations with our randy president.

It was a month in which Trump disposed of his Secretary of State and National Security Advisor, among various others.

It was a month in which he launched a trade war with some of our closest allies and then a couple of weeks later basically backed off from his threats.

It was a month that saw the stock market drop up to 10% in value.

It was another month in which more evidence accumulated that the Russians and his own operatives meddled (successfully) in the 2016 election, with Facebook and Cambridge Analytica providing the ammunition.

And of course the seemingly and continuingly popular Robert Mueller (with a 72% approval rating) and his investigators tightened the noose around Trump and his inner circle.

And yet Trump's approval rating went up nearly five points.

Forget Teflon Ronald Reagan.

When I mentioned this to Rona, she said, he is more popular because he provided Americans with a mega-dose of political entertainment.

"Love him, hate him (and you know where I stand) don't you wake up in the morning eager to see what he tweeted overnight and don't you turn on the TV every afternoon to find out who he fired or if anther woman has stepped forward waving an NDA, a non disparagement agreement? And don't you every night, before trying to get some sleep, one more time check your favorite news sites to see who else Mueller has flipped?

"I'm embarrassed to admit it, but, yes, I do, I do" I said, "I have grown accustomed to receiving my daily Donald Trump fixes."

"David Frum, liberals' favorite Republican, said that there is a 'conservative entertainment complex,' a place where members of the GOP either inadvertently or intentionally go to provide entertainment for the electorate."

"What does that have to do with Trump's approval rating?"

"The more entertaining he is the more popular he is among a wide swatch of voters. If he's at 42% that means a lot more than just his rock-solid base of fanatics is approving of him. I'd say, the more amusing he becomes there's at last 10% of the public up for political grabs. So, his base is maybe 35% and the additional seven percent in the poll you mentioned, are with him recently because he's had a very entertaining month."

"So, by your logic, Stormy Daniels rather than harming him among the electorate is actually contributing to his approval ratings?"

"Yes."

"And?"

"And, how pathetic are we to have allowed ourselves to become addicted to this political circus? And by 'we' I mean that 42% and . . . you and I. How far have we fallen?"