Well…The James Carville, Paul Begala strategy from the Starr investigation into Bill Clinton still works some 20 odd years later. Who would have thunk it?
According to a shiny brand new poll done by USA TODAY/Suffolk University, it seems Donald Trump’s continuous hammering on Robert Mueller’s Russian collusion probe has had it’s desired effect.
Amid signs that special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election interference may be near its conclusion, a new USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll finds that trust in Mueller has eroded and half of Americans now agree with President Trump’s contention that he has been the victim of a “witch hunt.”
Support for the House of Representatives to seriously consider impeaching the president has dropped since last October by 10 percentage points, to 28 percent.
Despite that, the survey shows a nation that remains skeptical of Trump’s honesty and deeply divided by his leadership.
But that number does reflect an improvement from previous polls. One year ago, 57 percent had little or no trust in his denials; in December, 59 percent did.
Now, this poll does not have a rosy scenario in some very important areas for the 45th President. People still think Trump is not being truthful all the time and think he lacks leadership qualities to get the overall job done. However, the Nancy Pelosi signal last week that impeachment was off the table was the clearest sign the Mueller probe in regards to collusion, will be a bust.
The breakdown of the poll was just a tad bit surprising.
Fifty percent say they agree with Trump’s assertion that the special counsel’s investigation is a “witch hunt” and that he has been subjected to more investigations than previous presidents because of politics; 47 percent disagree. Just 3 percent don’t have an opinion.
There is, unsurprisingly, a stark partisan divide on that question: 86 percent of Republicans but just 14 percent of Democrats say Trump is the victim of a “witch hunt.” Among independents, 54 percent say he is; 42 percent say he isn’t.
When the Mueller probe comes out and if it has no suggestions of Russian collusion, Trump might get that undecided 3%.
The Presidents pounding of the Special Counsel though is nothing new. All the Trump people had to do was dust off the playbook left by Clinton advisors James Carville and Paul Begala to find out how to annihilate a foe and gain the majority of public support.
One White House official was blunt about the strategy, calling the coordinated hostilities ”part of our continuing campaign to destroy Ken Starr.’
If you took the above quote and changed Ken Starr to Robert Mueller you would not miss a beat in today’s White House. Yet that quote comes from a New York Times article from 1998 which describes how the White House was gonna knock down Ken Starr and destroy him.
One was over sex with an intern and the other is about Russian collusion that no one can seem to find. The playbook is the exact same though. Isolate the investigator, take the spotlight off of the subject of the investigation and destroy the credibility of the investigation.
Looks like it is working so very slowly, but it is working.
I’m wondering if Carville and Begala are at least a lil bemused that their 20-year-old playbook is still effective today and helping Donald Trump.
Someone should ask them.
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