As the year got underway, national polling didn’t just show Donald Trump’s approval rating sinking to embarrassing lows; it also showed a more specific problem: Roughly two-thirds of Americans were convinced that the president simply had the wrong priorities.
This week, we saw fresh evidence that these attitudes have actually intensified: The latest CNN poll found that 73% of Americans — a record high — agree that Trump simply hasn’t paid enough attention to the country’s most important problems. This dovetailed with the latest Quinnipiac poll that found 68% of Americans believe he’s not focused enough on “addressing the problems most Americans are facing.”
The Republican incumbent could take steps to change people’s minds, but he apparently doesn’t want to. The Washington Post reported:
President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced a sweeping plan to remake Dulles International Airport, including building new terminals and doing away with the airport’s long-criticized shuttles, as part of his broader quest to remake Washington. […]
Trump has spent months considering how to overhaul Dulles, hearing pitches in the Oval Office from rival construction and design firms, and looking at mock-up designs. At the briefing, he said he reviewed more than 30 proposals.
At an Oval Office event, the president declared, “Whether you’re a Republican or Democrat, you don’t want to go and be subjected to this airport because this airport is a terrible place to be.”
It was an easy sentiment to agree with. I’ve flown in and out of Dulles many times, and I can charitably say it’s … not great. Trump’s goal of improving the airport is easy to agree with.
What’s problematic, however, is the trend 73% of Americans have noticed.
Ordinarily, one might expect a traditional president to delegate decisions about airport redesigns to assorted transportation officials. CBS News reported this week, however, that the president personally worked with design and engineering firms on plans to overhaul the D.C.-area airport, even asking the firms “to create three-dimensional models so that he could better picture the designs.”
The same report, which has not been independently verified by MS NOW, added, “The hefty tabletop models were taken back and forth to the White House multiple times for the president’s perusal and his edits to plans.”
CBS News’ report went on to note that Trump even “hosted charrettes” on the Dulles overhaul, “calling in executives from development and finance companies to the Oval Office to make pitches, and he hounded his advisers by phone with suggestions.”
Again, the point isn’t that the president’s assessment of Dulles is off base. Rather, the key question here is one of prioritization.
Just five days before the White House event on the Dulles plans, Trump was asked about the nation’s cyclospora outbreak. He appeared dumbfounded by the topic. Pressed on when Americans could start feeling comfortable about eating lettuce, the Republican replied, “I don’t know. I haven’t thought about it.”
It was not an uncommon response. In fact, Trump routinely plays the role of President Bystander, offering “I don’t know” responses to simple questions about day-to-day governance that he really ought to be able to answer.
But while Trump hasn’t “thought about” an intensifying public health issue that’s sickened thousands of people across nine states, he’s reportedly invested an enormous amount of time and energy on how best to redesign an airport he has repeatedly said he would like to attach his name to.
He’s similarly prioritized a variety of related projects, from the ballroom to the Reflecting Pool, the “triumphant” arch to his crusade to acquire Greenland, each of which has generated the kind of animated enthusiasm the president fails to muster for governing.
Nearly 3 in 4 Americans believe Trump has the wrong priorities. There’s no reason to assume that total can’t get worse.
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