The two most important news stories you’ll read over the weekend are now running on CNN and Fox News. The trick is, you need to mix and match the reporting to understand what’s really going on.
Just as in the TV ratings, let’s put Fox News first (ha!). They released a new poll today: “New polls reveal what Americans think about Trump months into his second term.”
(Random observation: Not sure why Fox News pluralized polls. It was actually only one poll. Sure, there were multiple questions, but it was still the same poll. Anyhoo, just thought that was a little odd.)
At first blush, the results were lackluster: Trump’s approval is at 49% and his disapproval at 51%, leaving him a smidgen underwater.
But the real story is in the data.
In a lovely act of symmetry, the Republican voters and Democratic voters have become each other’s reflection. Democrats don’t like Trump and never will, with 92% disapproval and 8% approval. Republicans are the exact opposite, with 92% approval and 8% disapproval.
"The difference is largely a function of the consolidation of the Republican base," Daron Shaw, who serves as a member of the Fox News Decision Team and is the Republican partner on the Fox News Poll, noted.
"The party’s completely solidified behind him," added Shaw, a politics professor and chair at the University of Texas, who noted that Trump’s current rock-solid GOP support wasn’t the case at the start of the first term, when he had troubles with some Republicans.
Shaw highlighted that "Democrats were consolidated against Trump in 2017. They’re consolidated against him now."
Pointing to recent polls indicating Democratic Party favorability at all-time lows, he said "they don’t like their own party very much, but they all agreed that they don’t like Trump." [emphasis added]
On the liberal side of the ledger, the numbers are constant: Trump is, was, and will forever be Darth Vader, Thanos, Lex Luthor, Voldemort, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and “literally Hitler” all rolled into one. They called him a demon, and then they demonized him. That’s about as straightforward with your branding as you’re gonna get!
But on the conservative side, Trump is now leading a unified, energized army.
In 2019, 72% of Republicans had “very favorable” opinions of Trump. 14% either had an unfavorable opinion, or no opinion at all.
This matters greatly, because the United States of America is still a conservative country. Consolidating the conservative base gives Republicans a numeric advantage. Blue Rose Research is a pro-Democratic firm, and in their postmortem of the Harris-Walz debacle, they let the cat out of the bag (one hopes not in Springfield, lest the cat be eaten by immigrants):
Fundamentally, 40 percent of the country identifies as conservative. Roughly 40 percent is moderate, 20 percent is liberal, though it depends exactly how you ask it. Sometimes it’s 25 percent liberal. But the reality is that, to the extent that Democrats try to polarize the electorate on self-described ideology, this is just something that plays into the hands of Republicans.
In a battle between the left and right, the right has more people.
And this brings us to March 22, 2025: Donald Trump owns the GOP, and conservatives outnumber liberals. Meanwhile, the Democrats are in complete disarray. As we noted on Thursday:
[T]he Democratic Party is a dumpster fire that was bashed with a bat, drenched in battery acid, pushed off a cliff, and tossed into a volcano. According to NBC News, its approval rating is 27%; CNN has ‘em at 29%.
We’re reached the point where MORE than 70% of the country doesn’t approve of the Democrats!
In honor of Saint Paddy’s Day, here’s a fun fact: A higher percentage of Irish people believe in leprechauns than Americans who still have favorable opinions about Democrats. Or, you could look at it this way: Only 84% of Americans believe the world is round… which puts the flat-earthers just a few points behind the Democratic Party!
It doesn’t leave the Democratic Party with a lot of options. They’re out of power, out of position, and out of luck. Until a new leader emerges that reunites the left, they’re too fractured to battle MAGA directly.
Which means, they only have one card left to play: divide and conquer.
Here’s the second of your weekend articles, CNN’s: “‘It’s not what he expected’: Rubio has competition for the role of America’s top diplomat.”
It’s a long form screed: 50+ paragraphs! In today’s age of quick-hit, in-and-out reporting, an article like this — with FIVE different CNN reporters working on the byline! — clearly necessitated a ton of time, energy, and corporate resources. This wasn’t one journalist with an axe to grind, but a deliberate, orchestrated attempt by a “news organization” to promote a very specific narrative.
It's hilarious, too.
CNN was absolutely, 100% determined to report that Trump’s inner circle, namely Secretary of State Marco Rubio and billionaire advisor Steve Witkoff, were at each other’s throats. Here’s a small sample:
When Marco Rubio signed on as Donald Trump’s Secretary of State, he went into the job “with eyes wide open,” according to a person familiar with his thinking. He knew it wouldn’t be easy working for Trump. He knew that Trump had a track record of firing top officials by tweet. He also knew what it was like to be called, “Little Marco.”
Rubio still lobbied for the prestigious job of being America’s top diplomat after he lost out on being Trump’s vice president to JD Vance.
What Rubio didn’t count on was that he might run the risk of being overshadowed as secretary of state by one of Trump’s closest friends, real estate developer and billionaire Steve Witkoff.
Naturally, CNN’s intrepid reporters included quite a few salvos from their favorite Trump source: cowards who speak anonymously and off-the-record.
Witkoff is “flying all over the world playing secretary of state,” said a person familiar with the dynamic. “He has one thing that no one else has — he has Trump’s 100% confidence.”
“I think [Rubio] is frustrated,” a senator still in touch with Rubio told CNN.
“It’s not what [Rubio] expected,” said one person. “Witkoff came out of the blue,” they added. “Trump loves him.”
Trump’s public reliance on Witkoff has already led to speculation in Washington about how long Rubio will want to stay in the job.
[Rubio] will view his role as a success if he serves for 18 months to two years, the friend added, which would allow him time to plan for a potential presidential run in 2028, should that opportunity present itself.
“Marco Rubio is a real foreign policy guy,” said one former senior State Department official familiar with both Rubio and Witkoff. “The idea that Steve Witkoff is going to sit around with Putin in the Kremlin, I mean really. Come on, Witkoff is a golf buddy… it’s ridiculous.”
Okay, so we have a slew of anonymous sources saying nasty things. Does anyone wanna talk ON the record?
Turns out they do — beginning with Marco Rubio:
.@CNN is an anti-Trump gossip tabloid that uses thinly sourced stories to generate clicks and try to make trouble. Witkoff is one of the people I work with the CLOSEST on our team. These people are pathetic. https://t.co/y8xyJgWLLo
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) March 21, 2025
Indeed, the quotes CNN included in its own article undermine the story’s premise:
In a statement to CNN, Witkoff said he had a “wonderful working relationship” with Rubio.
“He is already a great Secretary of State and in my view will go down as one of the greatest,” Witkoff said. “Where the media gets these nonsense stories I will never know so I have now learned to dismiss them. Every single issue I am working on comes with the collaboration of Marco Rubio.”
Rubio’s allies in the administration argue he and Witkoff are complementing each other rather than dueling, and both the State Department and the White House pushed back on the notion that he is in any way being overshadowed by Witkoff.
“Nothing could be further from the truth,” National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes said in a statement to CNN. “Secretary Rubio is a pivotal leader on President Trump’s national security team having spearheaded a number of foreign policy initiatives, especially as it relates to negotiating a peaceful resolution to the war in Ukraine and driving policy in the Western Hemisphere. President Trump has amassed a talented team who are working around the clock to deliver results for Americans.”
State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a statement, “Your premise is false. Secretary Rubio and Special Envoy Witkoff have a fantastic relationship, and are working together to advance President Trump’s agenda.”
On Friday morning, the president praised Rubio’s work ethic, telling reporters unprompted in the Oval Office, “He’s worked so hard. He’s gone to so many different countries already.”
“He’s a fantastic person – a great man,” Trump said. “I think he has a chance to be our best secretary of state.” [emphasis added]
Hmm. Very interesting.
Which means, in CNN’s own story(!) about Marco Rubio feuding with Steve Witkoff in Donald Trump’s White House, the premise was flatly rejected ON THE RECORD by all the key participants, including Marco Rubio, Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump, the National Security Council, and the State Department!
Yet CNN is still pushing a story that was entirely sourced by anonymous names.
Usually in journalism, sources who go on the record are more credible than those who are unwilling to put their names on the line. But for some weird, mysterious reason, CNN seems to be making an exception.
Hmm.
The mainstream media has given up on the Democrats (for now), but they haven’t given up on dividing the GOP. They’re sowing the seeds of division and conflict, hoping to split the movement. Doesn’t matter if it’s true or not, because it’s not about the truth.
It’s about the reacquisition of power.
And it’ll only work if we let it.
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