Trump’s Public Image Is Deteriorating

Published in La Nación
(Argentina) on 20 December 2018
by Emilio Cárdenas (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Tom Walker. Edited by Eric Stimson.
Popular approval in the U.S. of the Donald Trump administration is rather low: Just 39 percent of those interviewed were in favor of it, according to a new poll by the television network CNN. Even so, with deregulation and the downward pressure on taxation, Trump has created an atmosphere of prosperity that is stimulating economic activity.

Likewise, only 29 percent of U.S. citizens trust Trump’s statements and arguments regarding the investigation underway seeking to uncover the truth about whether the U.S. president violated the law in his conversations and indirect contacts with the Russians during the recent election campaign. On this subject, less than a third of his fellow citizens say they believe him − a strikingly small number.

Even so, half the citizens of the U.S. are inclined to believe that the investigation mentioned above, which is under the direction of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, will at some time seriously implicate the president. And 44 percent of them characterize his behavior on this issue as ethical misconduct, while 26 percent dismiss him as not very intelligent.

However, there is certainly more. Of U.S. citizens, 59 percent believe that what happened between Trump and Russia during the election campaign should be thoroughly investigated, so that the truth about what happened on this particularly thorny issue can be learned.

In addition, a solid 43 percent of U.S. citizens interviewed argue that the special counsel for this investigation is doing a good job. Perhaps precisely because of this, Trump has, at least up to now, resisted the temptation, and the suggestions, to fire him.

For their part, the prosecutors carrying out the investigation appear to be convinced now that Trump personally directed and managed what happened in his contacts with the Russians: It looks today like a bold attempt to construct one of his huge towers in Moscow, the capital of Russia, to which was joined – according to some – an apparent attempt by the president to obstruct the course of justice in his country on this issue.

The U.S. public believes that the investigation that is underway must continue. They also believe that in the past, Trump somehow or other, directly or indirectly, might have lied about this sensitive issue.

A series of new aftershocks seems to have swamped Trump. There is a sense of a danger that, while not imminent, is growing, and could feed into his opponents’ eagerness to initiate the constitutional process that could lead to the eventual impeachment of the U.S. president.

Apropos of this, the political swamp that has grown up around Trump has not been drained. Not at all. At the end of the year, on the contrary, it appears to be continuing to slowly expand, which is the opposite of projecting tranquility.




La imagen pública de Trump se deteriora

La aprobación popular norteamericana a la gestión presidencial en curso de Donald Trump es más bien baja: tan sólo un 39% de los entrevistados lo aplaude, según una nueva encuesta de la cadena televisiva CNN. Pese a que, con la desregulación y la baja significativa de la presión impositiva, Trump ha generado un clima de bonanza que impulsa la actividad económica.

A su vez, sólo un 29% de los norteamericanos confía en lo que sostiene y argumenta el presidente Trump respecto de la investigación en marcha con la que se procura desentrañar la verdad sobre si el actual presidente de los EE.UU. violó o no la ley en sus conversaciones y contactos indirectos con los rusos durante la reciente campaña electoral. En este tema, menos de la tercera parte de sus conciudadanos dice creerle. Asombrosamente pocos.

Más aún, la mitad de los norteamericanos se inclina a pensar que la antedicha investigación, que está a cargo del fiscal especial Robert S. Muller, en algún momento complicará seriamente al Presidente. Y un 44% de ellos califica a su conducta en esta cuestión de poco ética. Mientras otro 26% la tilda, en cambio, de poco inteligente.

Pero hay ciertamente más, desde que un 59% de los norteamericanos cree que todo lo sucedido durante la campaña electoral entre Donald Trump y Rusia debe ser investigado a fondo, para así poder llegar a conocer la verdad de lo acontecido en un tema particularmente espinoso.

Un sólido 43% de los norteamericanos entrevistados sostiene, además, que el fiscal actuante está haciendo un buen trabajo. Quizás precisamente por esto, el presidente Trump ha resistido, al menos hasta ahora, a la tentación y a las sugerencias de despedirlo.

Por su parte, los fiscales actuantes parecen estar hoy convencidos de que Donald Trump condujo y dirigió personalmente lo sucedido en el capítulo de sus contactos con los rusos, en lo que hoy luce como una arriesgada procura de construir una de sus enormes torres en Moscú, la capital de Rusia, a lo que se sumaría -según algunos- un aparente esfuerzo presidencial por tratar de obstruir la acción de la Justicia de su país en este tema.

La opinión pública norteamericana cree que la investigación en marcha debe proseguir y que en el pasado, directa o indirectamente, el presidente Trump de alguna manera pudo haber mentido sobre este delicado tema.

Una serie de nuevos remezones parece haber ahora inundado al entorno de Donald Trump, lo que transmite la sensación de un peligro no inminente, que está creciendo y que podría alimentar en sus opositores en su ansia por poner en marcha el proceso constitucional que puede conducir al presidente del país del norte hacia su eventual destitución.

En este tema, el pantano político que aparece en torno a Donald Trump no se ha secado. Para nada. Por el contrario, cuando culmina el año crece la sensación de que parecería seguir expandiéndose, lentamente, lo que es lo contrario a proyectar tranquilidad.

This post appeared on the front page as a direct link to the original article with the above link .

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