OPINION: Cheers and Jeers

Jun. 19--Cheers to America being made great again

When he ran for president in 2016, Donald Trump promised to "Make America Great Again." Now that election time is approaching again, President Trump has announced his new campaign slogan, "Keep America Great."

Let's take a look at his presidency and examine all of the great things that Mr. Trump has accomplished.

Cheers to the way America was made great again by separating migrant children from their families, some as young as 4 months old. Cheers to numerous accusations of sexual assault, oodles of racist comments, and a plethora of inappropriate tweets. Cheers to the presidency that plans to hire a physicist who is not trained in climate science to insist that climate change is not an issue. Cheers to the first president in 40 years to withhold his financial information from the American public in the form of tax returns, despite Congress formally requesting them. Cheers to a presidency riddled with scandal and hate, accompanied by an investigation into Russian interference in Trump's favor in the 2016 election.

Cheers to policy that has lessened women's reproductive rights, threatened internet freedom by repealing net neutrality, and fostered discrimination through the Muslim travel ban. So yes, let's "Keep America Great." -- Maddie Everett, intern

Jeers to meaningless media poll comparisons between Republican presidential nomination hopefuls in 2015, and Democratic nomination hopefuls now

The national news media is currently comparing polls taken in 2015 to gauge voter support of the many Republican candidates at that time hoping to earn the party's presidential nomination with polls being taken now to gauge voter support for the many Democratic candidates hoping to be chosen as their party's challenger to President Donald Trump.

In 2015 around this time, Jeb Bush was the Republican front-runner with more than 20% support, and Trump was sitting with several other candidates at a lowly 1%. The national news pundits, in sharing current Democratic candidate poll numbers, are implying that anything can happen, and that a Democrat currently garnering little support and being left in Joe Biden's dust can still rally to win the nomination and even the White House, as Trump obviously did.

But these comparisons are pointless. Why? Because there isn't one candidate among the current field of 24 Democrats that the national news media will provide millions and millions of free campaign advertising to day after day after day, as they did for Trump in 2015.

Even though Trump's poll numbers were hopelessly low, everything he said on the debate stage and everything he tweeted was covered breathlessly by the national news media, likely more than the rest of the Republican field combined. As more disgruntled voters heard more about Trump's supposedly rebellious, anti-establishment message, and heard him accuse the media of constantly attacking him, the more his message resonated. He rose in the polls as a result of all the free advertising, courtesy of the national news media. That won't happen with any Democrats this time around. -- Mike Christopherson, managing editor

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