Inside the Beltway: Keep it simple and you’ll win, Mr. President

NEWS AND OPINION:

The political landscape grows ever more murky with questionable media coverage and partisan trickery meant to upstage President Trump’s bona fide accomplishments. How can he counter such tactics and maintain the positive momentum he gained following a well-received speech before Congress? Ford O’Connell, an adjunct professor at George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management, has a suggestion.

“It is indisputable; the Democrats want your head, Mr. President. They do not care if you resign or are impeached, and a good portion of the media agrees. And they will use all means necessary to upend your presidency at every turn. So I understand the need to counterpunch and engage in the day-to-day battles to reclaim the media narrative, but you cannot take your eyes off the ball and lose sight of the bigger picture,” says Mr. McConnell, also a former strategist for Sen. John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign.

“You were not elected to be the president of the Republican Party or to be a doctrinaire conservative. You were elected to get things done and to put Americans back to work. But as former President Obama discovered, you can only accomplish so much through executive orders. If you are able to get a couple of your big-ticket items through Congress — Obamacare overhaul, tax reform, infrastructure, securing America’s borders — you will be re-elected in 2020. It’s not that easy, but it is that simple,” Mr. O’Connell advises.

A DAY WITHOUT A LOT OF THINGS

“When are we going to have A Day Without Leftists? That’s what I’m waiting for,” remarked syndicated radio host Chris Plante as he pondered A Day Without Women, a nationwide strike on Wednesday that calls for women to stay away from work, not spend money and wear red, among other things.

Jenna Ellis, a practicing attorney and assistant professor of legal studies at Colorado Christian University, says the event is loaded with contradictions and absurdities.

“Liberal women often take the inconsistent role of being an empowered victim. If women truly placed equal value on ourselves, we would not want entitlements or preferential treatment on the basis of gender. We would simply work hard at being the best at what we do. Women’s rights began by seeking equal treatment, but we’ve gone from being equal to wanting preferred status,” Ms. Ellis notes.

“The demonstration is seeking to capitalize on the trendy protests that garner media coverage rather than actually accomplishing a goal. Why should women feel entitled to take a day off of life to prove we’re equal to everyone else who isn’t entitled to take the day off? That’s an internally illogical assertion,” the professor continues.

“Women are inherently valuable to society in all aspects of our work, including family. Modern feminism has suggested that this value is actually greater or more important than the man’s role in society — in church, family and the workplace. Feminism suggests to women that we are the only valuable gender and we have no need for men. This hypocrisy directly conflicts with biblical and traditional American values that we should place on both men and women,” she concludes.

PRESIDENT TRUMP’S TRUMP CARD

They may not agree with him, but they love his effect on the investment climate. A unique new survey of hedge fund managers, brokers and other financial wizards finds that 74 percent give President Trump high marks for his positive effect on the stock market, though only 40 percent approve of his job performance so far.

“We were surprised,” says Eric W. Noll, CEO of Covergex, the global brokerage firm that conducted the survey. “It is clear from the results that most of the respondents feel President Trump will have a positive impact on the near-term prospects of the financial market, even if they don’t necessarily agree with his overall vision for the country.”

This is promising news for Mr. Trump at a time when the nation places a robust economy at the top of their wish list.

Another 57 percent of the respondents expect stocks to do better over the next four years with Mr. Trump in office; 21 percent said stocks would be better had Hillary Clinton won the White House. A majority — 54 percent — also said Mr. Trump’s proposed tax cuts would be the most beneficial to U.S. equity markets, followed by deregulation and infrastructure spending. And interesting: 47 percent say the press has been unfair to Mr. Trump, while 49 percent said that news organizations fail to deliver “accurate and unbiased coverage.”

MEDIA OBSESSED WITH TRUMP TWEETS

Broadcasters remain obsessed with President Trump, and not in a good way. A new study from the conservative Media Research Center found that ABC, CBS and NBC “freaked out” following Mr. Trump’s recent series of tweets that accused former President Obama of wiretapping Trump Tower in New York City. The tweets — which began Saturday — were very popular on ABC, CBS and NBC, which devoted a generous 107 minutes of news coverage refuting the president’s claims.

But Mr. Trump was onto something.

“News reports from previous weeks suggesting the Obama administration did, in fact, initiate surveillance were essentially ignored at the time. For example, when the New York Times initially reported that members of Trump’s team were under surveillance before the inauguration, the story only got 13 seconds of coverage — and only on the CBS Evening News,” write Mike Ciandella and Rich Noyes, the analysts who tracked the coverage.

“Investigators have obtained information from human sources and are delving into electronic communications between individuals connected to Mr. Trump and Russian officials,” correspondent Jeff Pegues noted.

His reporting, the analysts conclude, “would appear to confirm exactly the kind of surveillance the media are scoffing at today.”

POLL DU JOUR

• 55 percent of registered U.S. voters have an unfavorable opinion of Hillary Clinton; 35 percent have a favorable opinion, 9 percent are undecided.

• 52 percent have an unfavorable opinion of the Democratic Party; 36 percent have a favorable opinion, 13 percent are undecided.

• 50 percent have an unfavorable opinion of the news media; 37 percent have a favorable opinion, 13 percent are undecided.

• 48 percent have an unfavorable opinion of the Republican Party; 36 percent have a favorable opinion, 13 percent are undecided.

• 47 percent have an unfavorable opinion of President Trump; 45 percent have a favorable opinion, 8 percent are undecided.

Source: A Suffolk University/USA Today poll of 1,000 registered U.S. voters conducted March 1-5.

• Advice, accolades to jharper@washingtontimes.com. Follow her on Twitter @HarperBulletin.