The Left Needs to Go All the Way, and Demand Trump’s Resignation

Trump is fucked.

On Thursday, a Quinnipiac poll found that Trump’s approval ratings were at a dismal 36%. This is an historic low to begin a presidency. When Trump assumed office on Jan. 20, he had the lowest approval ratings of any President in the poll’s 24-year history — and that was a relatively healthy 41%.

But Trump has managed to beat that record with a new one with a majority of Americans polling their disapproval of him in eight days. By Saturday, 51% of Americans told Gallup that they did not think the President was doing a good job.

To put this in context, it took his predecessor 936 days to reach that mark. This is huge, tremendous—just not in the way that Trump usually uses the superlatives.

Days until achieving MAJORITY disapproval from @Gallup

Reagan: 727
Bush I: 1336
Clinton: 573
Bush II: 1205
Obama: 936

Trump: 8. days. pic.twitter.com/kv2fy0Qsbp

— Will Jordan (@williamjordann) January 29, 2017

Combined with Trump’s almost 3 million vote loss in the popular vote, this is an executive branch without a mandate.

It’s not only Trump. The people have no confidence in their government as a whole. A Quinnipiac poll from Jan. 25 finds the legislative body with an anemic 19% support among the American public. And while the GOP maintained its edge in the House of Representatives with a 2 million vote popular vote advantage, in the Senate over 11 million voters chose the Democrats over the GOP.

The Senate totals can be adjusted to 6 million excepting California, which had two Democrats up for election. The Washington Post’s Aaron Blake argues that that total is misleading due to the states that voted for Senate this cycle.

Yet the vote totals stand. More Americans voted for the a Democrat for President and for Senate in 2016, yet both the Executive Branch and the Senate are controlled by the GOP. These raw numbers tell a story. It’s a story of a government in which the minority are governing the majority and working to keep that cycle going with voter suppression and political repression.

They’ve already started with the president signing executive order after order with a vacant look on his face —he has no idea what he’s doing or what he’s signing. This week will bring a Supreme Court Justice that will likely be devoted to instituting a radical right wing regression, striking down Roe v Wade and what’s left of the Civil Rights Act.

They’re writing secret law, implementing it, adjusting it to what they think is least objectionable, all in real time. It’s completely reactive because the government has no mandate, no popular authority, and no widespread support.

They. Are. Outnumbered.

This is what we’ve seen in the streets over the past ten days. Reactions to this new, extreme right-wing government have been swift and decisive. The people are not going to put up with this shit.

This isn’t like the reaction of the right wing to Obama’s election and reelection. The right wingers complain about electoral results they don’t like, but their devotion to the authoritarian nature of the state renders true resistance unworkable. The left gets into the streets out of a fundamental belief in the right of the people over the institutions.

I wrote elsewhere that the time has never been better for a general strike. If a quickly called protest at JFK Airport can lead to a nationwide movement in 24 hours against Trump’s travel ban targeting seven Muslim nations, shutting down the US economy is doable.

I never thought that would be a real possibility in my lifetime. That it is, in 2017, speaks volumes.

Thus the political and financial elite of the US are in an untenable situation. Trump cannot remain in power. This chaos is bad for the bottom line —if not now, soon. It’s nice to watch them squirm. The Koch Brothers are already scurrying away from the administration.

If Trump is removed from office as a result of this public pressure—this particularly leftist public pressure—the movement that has risen over the last two weeks will claim it as a victory. And the people will be emboldened to demand more concessions down the line. No matter how much the elite resist or reframe, that’s what we need to demand: for Trump to step down immediately.

After that, an American Spring. Out of the desperation, horror, and pain, we can forge a new path. Reach out to your local labor and social justice organizations. Ally with immigrants’ rights groups. Join your local socialist party. Critical mass. It’s all possible.

See you in the streets.

You can reach Eoin Higgins on Facebook and Twitter.