‘Criminals’: Trump lashes out as polls reveal sinking popularity
US President Donald Trump has lashed out at “criminals” in the media after a series of weekend polls showed his popularity sinking to a new low after 100 days in office.
Three polls found his approval rating had dropped: ABC News had his popularity at just 39 per cent, Fox News at 44 per cent and the New York Times/Sienna College at 42 per cent.
The ABC News poll showed Trump’s approval rating was the lowest of any president in the past 80 years after 100 days in the job.
There was public pushback on many of his policies, extensive economic discontent, and broad fears of a recession, the ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll found.
However, Trump was still trusted more than the Democrats in Congress to handle the nation’s main problems.
His 39 per cent approval rating was down 6 percentage points from ABC’s February poll. Fifty-five per cent of respondents said they disapproved of the president.
The Fox News results revealed Trump’s approval rating on the economy stood at 38 per cent, with just one-third of respondents approving of the job he was doing with inflation and tariffs.
Other recent polls have also shown Trump’s popularity slumping. The CNN poll had him at 43 per cent, Reuters/Ipsos at 42 per cent, Pew Research at 40 per cent and AP/NORC at 39 per cent.
In typical fashion, Trump jumped onto social media to explode at the “fake news organisations” and accuse them of suffering “Trump Derangement Syndrome”.
He called the media “cheats” and “corrupt” and said they wrote “bad stories”.
“They are Negative Criminals who apologise to their subscribers and readers after I WIN ELECTIONS BIG, much bigger than their polls showed I would win, lose a lot of credibility, and then go on cheating and lying for the next cycle, only worse,” he posted on Truth Social.
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“THEY ARE SICK, almost only write negative stories about me no matter how well I am doing (99.9% at the Border, BEST NUMBER EVER!)”
He also said: “These people should be investigated for ELECTION FRAUD.”
Trump’s shadow over Canadian elections
Hours later, Trump was back on social media and having his say on the Canadian elections, reiterating his call for Canada to become the 51st US state.
Voting is happening under the threat of Trump’s tariffs and musings about annexing Canada.
“Good luck to the Great people of Canada,” Trump wrote.
“Elect the man who has the strength and wisdom to cut your taxes in half, increase your military power, for free, to the highest level in the World, have your Car, Steel, Aluminum, Lumber, Energy, and all other businesses, QUADRUPLE in size, WITH ZERO TARIFFS OR TAXES, if Canada becomes the cherished 51st.
“State of the United States of America. No more artificially drawn line from many years ago.”
Trump’s threats have ignited a wave of patriotism that swelled support for political newcomer Liberal Prime Minister Mark Carney.
The campaign ended on a sombre note on Sunday after a man rammed an SUV through a crowd at a Filipino community festival in Vancouver, killing at least 11 people and injuring dozens.
Carney’s Liberals held a 2.7-point lead over the Conservatives in national support, according to a CTV News-Globe and Mail-Nanos poll released on Sunday.
The Liberals were pegged at 42.6 per cent support and the Conservatives at 39.9 per cent in the poll.
An EKOS poll projected the Liberals to win a majority of seats in the 343-seat House of Commons and not need to rely on a smaller party to govern.
Trump re-emerged as a campaign factor last week, declaring that he might raise a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian-made cars because the US does not want them. He said earlier he might use “economic force” to make Canada the 51st US state.
Giuffre’s death ‘a horrible thing’
Trump described the death of Virginia Giuffre, who settled a sexual assault lawsuit against the Prince Andrew, as “a horrible thing”.
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Giuffre died in Western Australia on Friday, aged 41, her publicist confirmed.
She was one of the most outspoken accusers of convicted sex offenders Jeffrey Epstein and his former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell.
Speaking to reporters on the tarmac at a New Jersey Airport, Trump said news of Giuffre’s death was “a very sad situation, the whole thing”.
“That whole situation is very sad – her and others,” he said.
“Certainly, that’s a horrible thing.”
American-born Giuffre had lived in Australia for years and became an advocate for sex trafficking survivors after emerging as a central figure in the prolonged downfall of disgraced paedophile financier Epstein.
She came forward publicly after the initial investigation ended in an 18-month Florida jail term for Epstein, who made a secret deal and was released in 2009.
In subsequent civil lawsuits, Giuffre said she was a spa attendant as a teen at Mar-a-Lago — Trump’s Palm Beach club — when she was approached in 2000 by Maxwell.
She was hired as a masseuse for Epstein and was flown around the world for meetings with men at Epstein’s behest while she was 17 and 18.
Prince Andrew paid millions of pounds to settle a civil sexual assault case with Giuffre, whom he said he had never met.
She sued him for allegedly sexually assaulting her when she was 17 after she was trafficked by Epstein.
She alleged they trafficked her to the Duke of York when she was 17, a claim Andrew denied.
Her family said in a statement Giuffre was a “fierce warrior in the fight against sexual abuse” but that the “toll of abuse… became unbearable”.
“She lost her life to suicide, after being a lifelong victim of sexual abuse and sex trafficking,” they said.
The statement added: “She was the light that lifted so many survivors. Despite all the adversity she faced in her life, she shone so bright. She will be missed beyond measure.
“Despite all the adversity she faced in her life, she shone so bright. She will be missed beyond measure.”
She is survived by her three children, whom the statement described as the “light of her life.”
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028
-with AAP
