Sep 9, 2018 5 min read

There is a strong and pungent odor arising from the progressive left narrative these days, and it is pretty easy to identify at least three sources of the decay.

Three of the most easily identifiable sources of progressive rot are current political polls, Paul Krugman’s columns and mainstream media characterization of President Donald Trump’s economic achievements.

A recent Rasmussen Approval Rating poll found 48 percent of those polled approved of the president’s job performance and 50 percent disapproved. An ABC/Washington Post Poll taken during the same time period found 38 percent approval and 60 percent disapproval. That’s a 20 percent disparity in polling results, a statistical impossibility if the polls were correctly and honestly administered.

Recall the 2016 presidential election when the very same ABC polls reported Trump was down 12 percent a week prior to the election. The day before the election, these polls had Trump down by 4 percent. Why are media polls so consistently skewed and wrong? Simply because they have become part of the propaganda of the left-wing media. They’re not about accuracy; they’re about message. They are another device intended to either whip up left-wing voters or to discourage Republican voters.

The ABC poll that showed Hillary Clinton with a 12 percent lead oversampled Democrats over Republicans by 12 percent. For professional pollsters, it is inconceivable this was “accidental.” Where polls are deliberately skewed by sampling methodology or design of questions to discourage Republicans or suppress Republican vote, they are not news; they are propaganda.

We are already seeing polls that don’t square with what is seen on the ground and wild news “reporting” based on those polls puffing the liberal cause. None are correct and, as history shows, intentionally so. The media, using polls as a visible tool, will attempt to paint Republicans in as negative a light as possible through the lie of manufactured poll numbers. They are attempting to create a “why bother voting” mood in Republicans before Election Day. Just remember that 90 percent of Washington, D.C., journalists vote Democratic. See the connection? Smell the rot?

There are many more sources of progressive odor. One is certainly Paul Krugman’s columns. Through some unfathomable quirk of fate, Krugman has a Nobel Prize in international trade. He teaches at NYU, having left Princeton in disgrace, being charged with intellectual dishonesty. He specializes in writing columns that have become little more than click bait, each predicting doom and gloom as a result of Trump’s presidency. The only consistency to Krugman’s predictions and forecasts is that they are uniformly wrong.

On the night of the election, Krugman called Trump and the people around him ignorant and predicted the markets would collapse and never recover. This from the guy who supported Barack Obama and his policies that gave us the weakest market recovery in 70 years. Krugman said we were looking at a global recession with no end in sight. Krugman said tax revenues would decline precipitously and only the rich would benefit from the tax cuts. This is the guy who said Nancy Pelosi was the greatest House Speaker of all time, that tariffs are designed to inflict maximum damage on the U.S. economy, that the U.S. is becoming another Poland or Hungary, and that tax cuts are not helping the middle class.

The president’s tax cut, along with deregulation, have put rocket fuel in the economy. Federal tax revenues in the first half of 2018 were $76 billion higher than the first half of 2017. That’s a 9 percent increase, even with the lower withholding that went into effect this year. The equity markets are at all-time highs. 401Ks are creating record numbers of IRA millionaires. The president scrapped NAFTA and it looks like it may be replaced with a much superior trade agreement with Mexico and possibly Canada.

Big-box stores like Target are reporting the biggest sales growth in 13 years, and other big-box stores like Walmart, Home Depot, Kohl’s and TJ Maxx are reporting 3 to 8 percent sales growth. Consumer confidence is at an 18-year high. People have money because of the tax cuts and deregulation and the confidence to spend it.

This is all really good stuff that Krugman said would never happen and still says won’t happen even when it is. Krugman’s forecasts aren’t intellectual or academic – They are purely political. Can you smell the odor of progressive rot?

The media is more of the same, running an endless rehash of baseless, speculative and disproven verbiage that fits their delusional narrative of nonexistent collusion and other fanciful tales all because after 19 months they still have not come to grips with the fact that their anointed queen lost. She lost because working America wasn’t buying the product the Democrats were pushing. Today, Blue Collar America buys it even less.

Worse, the media refuses to report what is obvious around them, that the president’s economic policies are working and the American economy and its people, especially the middle class, are doing well. Blue-collar approval of the president is soaring. His approval among blacks is at 36 percent, double what it was a year ago.

In response to a failed message, the media is doubling down on the same message and moving further into failed territory. Hate America doesn’t sell, and socialism doesn’t work. They have no believable message and no plan so the default position is “Hate Trump.” That’s about as dishonest as it gets.

The media continues to stir the pungent stew of its unmitigated efforts in repeating its dishonest narrative and failing to report the obvious. This is perhaps the most pungent of the odors of progressive rot.

Dave Ball is vice president of the Washington County Republican Party and a Peters Township councilman.