West Wing Reads: Gallup: Trump leadership rating jumps, beats Obama on issues, ideology

Gallup: Trump leadership rating jumps, beats Obama on issues, ideology Despite constant negative coverage from the liberal-leaning mainstream media, “Gallup found that 47% [of Americans] agree with Trump on the issues, edging Obama at the two year mark of his presidency,” Paul Bedard reports for the Washington Examiner. “And Trump was graded more in line with the political ideology of Americans than Obama and former President George W. Bush.” Over the past two years, as the results from President Trump’s policies—from economic growth to better national security and trade deals on the world stage—have come in, his ratings have steadily gone up. Click here to read more.

“U.S. consumer confidence rose by more than expected to the highest level since November as Americans felt the best about current economic conditions in 18 years, highlighting the effects of a robust labor market and rising wages,” Katia Dmitrieva reports for Bloomberg. “The broad-based gain in sentiment bodes well for consumer spending, which makes up the majority of the U.S. economy, amid unemployment near a five-decade low, sustained wage gains and more affordable mortgages.”

“Recently, President Donald Trump presented Congress with the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade deal (USMCA) that, if passed, will give Texans a major economic victory,” Rep. Roger Williams (R-TX) writes in the Dallas Morning News. “There should be nothing partisan about a deal that adds fuel to our economy, puts money back into consumers' pockets and keeps Main Street booming. We must accept and celebrate a win for America when we get it and push partisan fights aside.”

“The skies are growing dark and increasingly ominous for dirty officials at the top of Obama-era law enforcement and intelligence agencies,” Charles Lipson writes in RealClearPolitics. “These defenders of the old guard are sliming Attorney General Bill Barr, who heads the investigation into their actions . . . Barr won’t be deterred. He did not return for a second stint as AG to pad his résumé or protect Donald Trump. He returned to clean out the Augean Stables.”

“American exporters face systematically higher tariffs in the markets of more than 100 U.S. trading partners,” White House Director of Trade and Manufacturing Policy Peter Navarro writes in The Wall Street Journal. “Whether you’re a pure free trader or a fair, reciprocal and balanced trader like the president, if you live in a relatively low-tariff country like the U.S., you should oppose an international trading system that helps institutionalize nonreciprocal tariffs.”