Historically unpopular Donald Trump does not even have a tiny mandate

Photos: the crowd at Donald Trump’s inauguration vs. Barack Obama’s https://t.co/zA3nRJeu0C pic.twitter.com/yu2KFZYv95

— Vox (@voxdotcom) January 20, 2017

That did not stop the corporate media from trying to gaslight the American people, as Eric Boehlert noted:

ha. Wolf Blitzer won't stop talking abt how huge the Inauguration crowd is–it's abt 1/5th size Obsma's. #talkingpoints

— Eric Boehlert (@EricBoehlert) January 20, 2017

The fact is that, no matter what the corporate media tell you, President Donald Trump taking office is not normal, and neither is his historic unpopularity. Just hours before his inauguration, a new poll shows Trump has sunk below his already-dismal approval ratings:

Just over a third of Americans approve of President-elect Donald Trump, according to a new poll released hours before his inauguration.

The survey from Fox News showed that 37 percent of Americans approve of Trump ahead of his inauguration, while 54 percent do not.

The Hill goes on to note that “In 2009, 80 percent of Americans approved of then-President-elect Barack Obama.”

In their effort to normalize Inauguration Day, the corporate media have cast opposition and resistance to Trump as purely partisan, but that 37 percent figure tells the truth: It is support for Trump’s abnormal and ill-gotten presidency that is partisan.

There are countless substantive and observable reasons for adamant resistance, and they are not subtle: Trump’s policies and his racist rhetoric will harm, and have harmed, millions of Americans; his narrow victories in several key states were obviously abetted by the criminal intrusion of the Russian government, and the unprecedented and baseless intrusion of the FBI; there is mounting reporting on possible collusion between Trump associates and the Russians; and the cabinet he is trying to ram through is demonstrably unqualified and destructive to the government they seek to run, making them even less popular than he is.

Noting that Trump possesses no governing mandate is not a point of petty satisfaction — it is an act of patriotism in favor of the large majority of Americans who rejected this president. Trump and his cronies will continue to pressure the media to insist that he has the political capital to upend the will of the people, and those in the resistance will need to stiffen their spines against that.

This presidency is not normal. And the American people will continue to loudly and clearly reject this illegitimate travesty.