The media and Democrats continue to grasp helplessly in the wind for some way to respond to the hurricane of actions the Trump Administration has undertaken — including snubbing them at their snobby Old Gridiron Dinner Saturday night.
The Old Gridiron, a cadre of self-congratulatory elites ensconced inside the Capital's beltway, far from the grubbies who make up most of America, hold this dinner each year to theoretically show comity among the D.C. rulers, but really to celebrate their puffed-up status in white-tie form. It's a 140-year ritual completely disconnected from average Americans, just as it is meant to be.
Usually, the President of the United States attends. Sometimes, the Vice President fills in. Once in a while, a high-ranking cabinet member is present to represent the administration. Judy Woodruff, President of the Gridiron Club, who attended the dinner, told fellow "journalists" at Politico that the annual dinner was about "good humor and fellowship."
But President Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the National Security Advisor and Interior Secretary all know that is not true these days and declined to be any part of the pretentious partisan hackery that would undoubtedly, and did, take place. Good on them! However, such a snub was not tolerated by the self-absorbed capitalist gentry, and so, for the first time in its 140-year history, they did not toast the president they hated anyway. They puffed up their little chests and, in the most high-minded fashion, toasted the First Amendment.
One could be forgiven for gagging on the chutzpah of that, considering their decidedly anti-First Amendment actions during Covid and the 2020 election. But you see, for these so-called journalists, the only important part of the First Amendment is not the freedom of speech or religion. It's sacred freedom of the press.
But Americans are on to them. Approval for Trump's policies and Americans' sense of the country's direction has reached record-high territory.
A national NBC News poll released Sunday found that 47 percent of registered voters approve of Trump's performance so far — which ties his previous all-time high. But far more striking, the poll found that 44 percent of voters believe the country is on the right track — the highest it has been in over two decades, stretching back to President Bush's first term. It is challenging for most Americans to say the country is on the right track. Even the media-beloved and feted Barack Obama topped out at only 40 percent.
In the most visible and supposedly controversial issue (to the Old Gridiron crowd, anyway), 55 percent of voters approve of Trump's handling of immigration and border security, while only 43 percent disapprove. That is plus 12 points on these supposed Hitlerian actions.
Across the aisle, a CNN survey found that Americans set the Democratic Party's favorability rating at an embarrassing 29 percent – a record low dating back to 1992 when this survey started and a decline of 20 points in the past four years. The Republican Party's rating currently stands at 36 percent, even with the relentlessly hostile coverage from the media.
Speaking of which, there may be a reason for that, as the media continues to earn the scorn of Americans right down there with the Democratic Party. According to the most recent Gallup Poll, Americans now register a record-low trust in the mass media, with 31 percent saying they have a "great deal" or just a "fair amount" of confidence in the media to report the news "fully, accurately and fairly," down a smidge from last year's 32 percent. However, 36 percent say they have no trust at all, and 33 percent of Americans express "not very much" confidence. Combined, that is nearly 70 percent.
The media has laid waste to its reputation with Americans and does not indicate trying to re-establish it.
All of this makes the Old Gridiron Dinner the perfect picture of how completely out of touch the media elite are in America and why their and Democrat ratings are in the toilet. They deserve to be.
