Stephan: What is happening in America is not happening in a social vacuum, and the damage Trump and his administration are doing is harming the U.S. not only domestically but internationally. The Gallup Organization gives us the data from a well-conducted survey, so the data is reliable.
I believe Gallup's assessment of their data is too conservative. I think the trend is further along than they indicate, but that is a matter of degree not trend. The data is not in question.
Median approval of U.S. leadership is 30%, down from 48% in 2016
U.S. approval dropped substantially in 65 countries and areas
Germany’s leadership now tops that of U.S., China and Russia (emphasis added)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — One year into Donald Trump’s presidency, the image of U.S. leadership is weaker worldwide than it was under his two predecessors. Median approval of U.S. leadership across 134 countries and areas stands at a new low of 30%, according to a new Gallup report.
The most recent approval rating, based on Gallup World Poll surveys conducted between March and November last year, is down 18 percentage points from the 48% approval rating in the last year of President Barack Obama’s administration, and is four points lower than the previous low of 34% in the last year of President George W. Bush’s administration.
The recent drop in approval ratings is unrelated to the world’s being less familiar with the new U.S. administration. The global median who do not have an opinion about U.S. leadership in 2017 (23%) is similar to the 25% in the last year of the Obama presidency.
Stephan: David Frum is a conservative and on a number of things we do not agree. But he is a person who is data based, and the argument he makes in this interview is factual and, on the basis of social data, can not be refuted. We are in very dangerous waters and, I believe, the 2018 election is going to define the way America goes.
The Trumpacrats
David Frum, who is an author and conservative editor at the Atlantic magazine, thinks Republicans have backed themselves into a corner.
In Frum’s new book Trumpocracy, he argues that Republicans are wedded to an ideology that cannot succeed democratically. They have virtually abandoned the democratic process, he believes, and have chosen to support a demagogue who can push their unpopular agenda. It’s a strong rebuke of the current president and the Republican establishment that has enabled him at every step.
I spoke to Frum about the dangers of this moment, and why he thinks Republicans will, ultimately, have to face up to the fact that what they believe can’t be achieved if everybody votes.
A lightly edited transcript of our conversation follows.
Sean Illing
What’s the main argument you’re making in this book?
David Frum
The argument I’m making is that Donald Trump’s rococo personality is outrageous and ridiculous and consumes all of our attention, but what we really need to pay attention to is his system of power. A president does […]
Stephan: This is America. Are you proud of this? Neither were the people in the group that this story focuses on. They deserve our thanks. This is the 8 Laws in Action. If you master them you can bring about change.
This is the antidote to the first three stories in today's edition.
Johnston Regional Airport near Raleigh, North Carolina Credit: The Guardian
RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA — A Gulfstream jet from a quiet airport south-east of Raleigh flew captives to be tortured around the world. The government failed to act but local people have refused to let the issue die
A year after he was released from captivity in Guantánamo, Binyam Mohamed received a letter from Christina Cowger, an agricultural researcher from North Carolina. Enclosed was a petition of apology signed by nearly 800 visitors to the North Carolina State Fair.
Binyam Mohamed. Photograph: Stefan Wermuth/Reuters
It was “a small gesture”, Cowger acknowledged, but her 2010 letter came with a commitment. North Carolina Stop Torture Now, an organization she co-founded, had been conducting protests, petition drives and legislative campaigns seeking an official investigation into an obscure firm operating flights out of her local […]
Stephan: I find the continuing references to Norway by American politicians quite interesting; Bernie Sanders mentioned Norway in the second Democratic primary debate in one context. Trump mentioned it in quite another.
In my social outcome research I have become very interested in the Nordic nations, and have written specifically about a comparison between Norway and the U.S.: A Thought Experiment in Wellness: Suppose the United States Matched Norway .
It may interest you to know that on average only about 100 people a year immigrate to the U.S. from Norway, and that has been true for a number of years. In contrast the number of Americans immigrating to Norway totals something in the 600s.
But deeper than that, as this report spells out, it is hard to imagine why anyone from Norway or any of the Nordic countries would want to immigrate to the U.S.
View of the small village of Reine in Lofoten, Norway.
Last week, the president of the United States wondered aloud why America takes so many immigrants from poor countries (lest you forget, shithole was his term) and so few from places like, say, Norway. The comment was widely seen as crude, ungenerous, un-American, and more than faintly racist; it also displayed surprising ignorance of the many reasons why Norwegians of all people might choose to stay put. Following news of Trump’s reported (and disputed) remark, commentators pointed out that thanks to oil wealth and generous social policies, Norway ranks as the world’s happiest country.
As the Atlantic pointed out, once-poor Norway now “has higher life expectancy at birth than the U.S., lower rates of infant mortality, low unemployment, and access to the European Union’s labor market.” It also ranks first in prosperity and political and press freedom—much higher than the United States.
Somehow, Norway looks even better from a working parent’s perspective: Norway […]
Stephan: I think it is time we asked this question: Why does America as a matter of social policy not love or care about the wellbeing of children?
This is not a question that can be disputed, the social outcome data on children, childcare, and families is so awful that the U.S. is the worst or almost the worst in virtually every category of social data compared with other developed nations.
This piece also shows why a comprehensive social network must be established, doing things piece-meal, never works. Note also this is a report in the British press.
A minimum wage increase in Washington state added to parents’ struggle to afford childcare. Credit: Niall Carson/PA
Not long after the 2016 election, Shelby McGowan got a somber phone call from her brother.
“I’m so sorry,” he said.
She replied: “About what?”
“About your childcare expenses.”
Just a few weeks earlier, Washington state voters had approved a statewide ballot initiative to raise the state’s minimum wage to $13.50 over four years. The measure was supported by voters who pictured a better quality of life for thousands of retail and food service workers. But few considered the economics of the daycare industry, which pays some of the lowest wages of any industry. Tuition at Advent Lutheran Child Center, the Spokane Valley daycare center where McGowan’s two children were enrolled, was about to go up by as much as $300 a month per family.
And just like that, the entire state became the laboratory for a real-time experiment in the consequences of rising daycare costs. Washington state is a dramatic case, but not a total outlier. The cost of childcare and […]
Median approval of U.S. leadership is 30%, down from 48% in 2016
