Trump Is Leaning in on Crime. Dems Need a Better Response

More from the OpEd ...

... The president in recent days is leaning even further into using the National Guard as a glorified police force, visiting the troops and allowing them to be armed. He's suggested he's eyeing Chicago and New York next for their next deployment. On Sunday, he needled Maryland Gov. Wes Moore for Baltimore's notorious crime statistics, hinting he could send troops there as well.

It's a sign that despite polling showing how unpopular Trump's moves are in Washington, the president is playing to a national audience -- and betting this is a battle he and the GOP can win. If his recent escalation was an attempt to goad Democrats into declaring that crime isn't a problem, repelling swing voters in the process, top Democrats did not disappoint him. ...

... President Donald Trump said that his federal crime crackdown will sully the records of contenders for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination, drawing an explicit link between his deployment of National Guard troops and boosting the Republican Party's political prospects.

Trump and Vice President JD Vance lambasted California's Gavin Newsom, Illinois' JB Pritzker and Maryland's Wes Moore on Monday as governors who are weak on crime, defending plans to possibly expand the Guard's presence from Washington, DC to cities and states run by Democrats nationwide.

"All of their potential candidates are doing a bad job," Trump told reporters on Monday.

Moore "doesn't have what it takes," Trump said, adding that he "can't imagine Pritzker even being a candidate" because "he's not temperamentally suited" and is a "slob." Newsom, the president continued, is a "disaster."

The Oval Office appearance, during which Trump signed executive orders targeting cashless bail and flag burning, offered Vance a chance to burnish his credentials as the president's successor-in-waiting by hammering home his law-and-order message. ...

@#6 ... Nobody believes that. ...

Now, if that current alias instead had said in that comment something along the lines of, ~not even trolls like me,~ I might have even given that comment a NW flag.

;)

Going back to the topic of the thread ...

Pres Trump seems to be trouncing the Democrats in the optics of his military occupation of the US.

How will the Democrats respond?

Of course, then there's this ...

President Trump Job Approval
www.realclearpolling.com

...
RCP Average 8/1 - 8/25
Approve: 46.3
Disapprove: 50.8
Spread: -4.5
...

In specific areas ...

President Trump Approval - Economy
www.realclearpolling.com/polls/approval/donald-trump/issues/economy

...
RCP Average 7/7 - 8/25
Approve: 42.6
Disapprove: 54.6
Spread: -12.0
...

President Trump Job Approval - Foreign Policy
www.realclearpolling.com

...
RCP Average 7/7 - 8/25
Approve: 43.6
Disapprove: 53.9
Spread: -9.3
...

President Trump Job Approval - Immigration
www.realclearpolling.com

...
RCP Average 7/7 - 8/25
Approve: 46.0
Disapprove: 51.3
Spread: -5.3
...

President Trump Job Approval - Inflation
www.realclearpolling.com/polls/approval/donald-trump/issues/inflation

...
RCP Average 5/30 - 8/25
Approve: 38.2
Disapprove: 59.4
Spread: -21.2
...

@#11 ... At least half this neighborhood speaks Spanish. I'd expect a good number voted for Trump ...

Republicans Are Losing Latino Voters. But Democrats Aren't Winning Them.
www.newsweek.com

@#14 ... It's a good start. ...

Yeah, a good start.

But the race to the finish line is a long one.

Will the Democrats be up to the task in 2026 and beyond?

I wish I knew.