By Sheryl Estrada and Luke Visconti
Despite the backlash against the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy regarding immigrants, President Trump boosted his approval ratings among Republicans to 90 percent, higher than Ronald Reagan at this point in his presidency.
The rise in Trump support “suggests a level of unity among Republicans that could help mitigate Mr. Trump’s low overall approval ratings and aid his party’s chances of keeping control of the House of Representatives in November,” The New York Times reported on Saturday.
The number of people identifying as Republican since 2016 has dropped and the Democrats have an 8 percentage point advantage, up slightly from when they won the popular vote by 3 million. Trump’s approval rating amongst non-Republicans is at 15 percent, lower than any other president in recent history, including George W. Bush.
The key for the November congressional elections is going to be voter turn out and it appears that the Republicans have a decisive advantage after last week’s apparently coordinated hate communications campaign.
Immigrants Will ‘Infest’ America
After backlash from politicians and the general public, Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday saying immigrant families will no longer be separated at the U.S.-Mexico border. The separation was a result of the “zero tolerance” policy.
On Tuesday, he said immigrants would infest America:
Democrats are the problem. They don’t care about crime and want illegal immigrants, no matter how bad they may be, to pour into and infest our Country, like MS-13. They can’t win on their terrible policies, so they view them as potential voters!
Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
June 19, 2018
I Really Don’t Care, Do You
On Thursday, First Lady Melania Trump made an unexpected trip to Texas to visit a shelter for immigrant children. She wore a short trench coat with a message written on the back: “I Really Don’t Care, Do U”
Melania Trump wore the jacket boarding the plane at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland and when she returned.
Social media users posted about the irony of what the first lady chose to wear to visit kids separated from their families.
Thought this was photoshopped but no, this is real. While visiting children thrown into internment camps, Melania Trump actually wore a jacket saying, I don’t really care, do U” That’s like Marie Antoinette ripping a piece of bread from a starving baby and spitting on it. pic.twitter.com/B8njYXtNs7
Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) June 21, 2018
East Wing communications director Stephanie Grisham said there was “no hidden message” behind the jacket.
Meanwhile, President Trump tweeted that the statement was against the “fake news media”:
I REALLY DON’T CARE, DO U” written on the back of Melania’s jacket, refers to the Fake News Media. Melania has learned how dishonest they are, and she truly no longer cares!
Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
June 21, 2018
Dining at Mexican Restaurants
In the middle of a crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border, Stephen Miller the senior White House adviser who orchestrated the “zero-tolerance” policy had dinner on June 17 at Espita Mezcaleria in Washington, D.C.
“Hey look guys, whoever thought we’d be in a restaurant with a real-life fascist begging [for] money for new cages” a customer at the restaurant said to Miller, according to
The New York Post.
Miller didn’t respond and left quickly, a witness said.
Homeland Security Trump Minister Kirstjen Nielsen then went to another Mexican restaurant in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday for dinner.
A group called the Metro DC Democratic Socialists of America approached Nielsen in MXDC Cocina Mexicana.
“If kids don’t eat in peace, you don’t eat in peace!” protesters chanted. They also shouted, “Shame!”
“Have you listened to it Have you heard the babies crying Do you hear them crying” activists asked, regarding a tape leaked earlier in the week of young children taken at the border crying.
“No borders, no walls, sanctuary for all,” they said.
Dining at Red Hen
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders took an almost 200-mile drive from the White House to rural Virginia on Friday night to eat at a tiny, 26-seat restaurant in Lexington, where residents overwhelmingly
voted against Trump in the 2016 presidential election, despite the rest of the county voting for him.
Huckabee was at the Red Hen with “her husband, three or four men and women of roughly similar ages, and an older couple,” according to
The Washington Post.
The chef contacted the co-owner, Stephanie Wilkinson, to let her know Huckabee was present and that the staff was concerned.
When Wilkinson arrived, she asked her employees if they’d like Huckabee to leave and they agreed.
Many of her gay employees were upset by Sanders’ defense for the administration’s ban on transgender service members and her praise of a Supreme Court ruling that sided with an anti-gay baker.
And earlier in the week, she defended the administration separating migrants from their children at the southern border.
Wilkinson asked Sanders to leave the establishment.
On Saturday morning, Sanders used her official press secretary account to tweet about being asked to leave because she works in the Trump administration:
Last night I was told by the owner of Red Hen in Lexington, VA to leave because I work for
@POTUS and I politely left. Her actions say far more about her than about me. I always do my best to treat people, including those I disagree with, respectfully and will continue to do so
Sarah Sanders (@PressSec)
June 23, 2018
