Trump Looks To Distract With Afghanistan Speech As 56% Call Charlottesville Response A Failure

Donald Trump is preparing to address the nation on Monday about increasing the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan, and it’s no surprise why.

According to new polling that is beginning to trickle in following his disastrous response to the Charlottesville white supremacist terror attack, most Americans think Trump’s response – sympathizing with Nazis – was a complete failure.

One survey released on Monday from ABC News/Washington Post shows that 56 percent of Americans believe Trump’s response was insufficient. Just 28 percent approve of the president’s handling of the events in Charlottesville.

The numbers broken down by political affiliation:

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What’s worse for Trump is another finding in the survey, which showed that a plurality of Americans believes he is “putting white supremacists on equal standing with their opponents.”

Forty-two percent of the country said he is, while only 35 percent said he is not equating the two.

Even though Trump has lost most of the country, including Democrats, independents, and some rational Republican voters, he still has the support of his base, largely because there is a faction of this country who has willingly detached themselves from reality for the sake of being loyal to the president.

“The poll underscores the degree to which Trump’s base has largely stuck with him during the most tumultuous week of his presidency, in which few Republicans in Washington defended his response to the protests and many criticized him for not pinning blame clearly on the white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups,” the Washington Post noted.

Ultimately, Trump may be happy that he has kept his stubborn base of support – the high 20s to mid-30s – even through the darkest moment of his presidency, but his support is not enough to help him succeed in advancing his agenda or to win re-election in 2020, if he’s even around to run for it.

Sean Colarossi

Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.