NEWS AND OPINION:
President Trump’s challenges from the news media and protesters are a factor during his historic and timely trip to Britain and France this week.
“Just arrived in the United Kingdom. The only problem is that CNN is the primary source of news available from the U.S. After watching it for a short while, I turned it off. All negative & so much Fake News, very bad for U.S.” Mr. Trump tweeted on arrival in perhaps not-so-jolly Old England.
“When the world watches CNN, it gets a false picture of the U.S.A. Sad!” Mr. Trump noted in a follow-up tweet.
Indeed. But news organizations across the pond are just as eager to gnash their teeth at the president — or raise conspiratorial possibilities, such as suggesting there was a “secret message” in first lady Melania Trump’s choice of wardrobe for the occasion. The overseas press will be — to use a British fox-hunting phrase — in full cry Tuesday, when a particularly large protest is planned for Mr. Trump’s meeting with outgoing Prime Minister Theresa May.
Yes, well.
No matter what the president does, the global media “would still vilify him,” writes Lee Cohen, a senior fellow in at the London Center for Policy Research, and the New York Director of the Anglosphere Society.
“Trump could accomplish a lot with his visit. He could encourage the government transition to resolve Brexit, spearhead a U.S.-U.K. trade deal, make the world safer from the actions of Iran and China. Heck, he could even announce a cure for cancer and resurrect Winston Churchill while in Britain and still the press won’t give him a break. But you can bet the whole world will be watching.”
TRUMP’S GOT FANS IN IRELAND
Press coverage would suggest that the entire British Isles dislikes President Trump. Not so. There is one place in Ireland where President Trump is beloved, and they can’t wait for his arrival this week.
“Donald Trump may be the most disliked American president in history in Europe but the small Clare town of Doonbeg cannot get enough of him. Trump is loved in the town he saved from financial disaster,” reports Irish Central, a New York City-based news organization.
Mr. Trump established a $32 million golf resort in the town in 2014, and the picturesque, 400-acre site now employs 300 local people and contributes much to the local and regional economy. The president will be in Doonbeg on Wednesday.
Local pub owner Tommy Turbridy explains all.
“Politics, I don’t get into it. I am all about creating jobs and employment in our area, and this is a man who has brought big industry to our area. It is all about creating jobs, providing bread and butter for the table, and paying mortgages,” Mr. Turbridy told The Irish Times.
“Make Doonbeg great again. We are going to be repeating Trump’s words,” added one local villager.
’THEIR WORST NIGHTMARE’
An American Spectator columnist has some terse thoughts about the U.S. attorney general as the Russian “collusion” melodrama continues in one form or another.
“There are few things that scare the denizens of D.C. more than an honest man. The only thing they fear more is an honest man who doesn’t give a damn what they think of him. William Barr is their worst nightmare,” David Catron writes.
“Nonsense from the legacy media, combined with ridiculous claims by the Democrats that a man with William Barr’s record has no credibility and self-exculpatory balderdash from fabulists like John Brennan and James Comey suggest that the real problem they have with the Attorney General is his blindingly obvious integrity,” Mr. Catron noted.
BERNIE’S AMBULANCE TOUR
Presidential hopeful Sen. Bernard Sanders has focused on a formidable foe as he continues down the 2020 campaign trail.
“Are you for ’Medicare for All’ or are you on the side of Big Pharma and the insurance industry That’s the fundamental question we pose to House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and Democratic lawmakers across the country,” says Joseph Geevarghese, executive director of “Our Revolution,” the official name of Mr. Sanders’ 2020 campaign.
It has just launched a “Medicare for All Emergency Ambulance Tour” which seeks to pressure the House majority to support Rep. Pramila Jayapal’s ambitious single-payer legislation, introduced by the Washington Democrat in February.
“The truth is that Medicare for All is a progressive litmus test and our tour is calling out House Democrats — either you’re on the side of the sick and the suffering or you’re with corporate healthcare CEOs,” Mr. Geevarghese says in his outreach, adding that it is “morally unacceptable” for House Democrats not to support Medicare for All.
“Our grassroots tour will be traveling to New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Wisconsin, and other states to go after House Democrats who are standing in the way of making Medicare for All a reality,” he notes.
The tour, incidentally, began in College Park, Maryland — Mr. Hoyer’s district — and will end later this month at the first Democratic debate in Miami.
POLL DU JOUR
• 65% of Americans say President Trump is facing more investigations than any other president before him; 79% of Republicans, 66% of independents and 54% of Democrats agree.
• 41% says the president should be impeached; 6% of Republicans, 35% of independents and 76% of Democrats agree.
• 54% overall say Mr. Trump should not be impeached; 93% of Republicans, 59% of independents and 18% of Democrats agree.
• 45% overall have a favorable opinion of the president; 88% of Republicans, 46% of independents and 9% of Democrats agree.
• 40% say Democrats are investigating Mr. Trump too much; 76% of Republicans, 44% of independents and 6% of Democrats agree.
Source: A CNN poll of 1,006 U.S. adults conducted May 28-31.
• Helpful information to jharper@washingtontimes.com.
• Jennifer Harper can be reached at jharper@washingtontimes.com.
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