News of the Week published a story by Valentin Bogdanov, correspondent of the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company in New York, about the internal political struggle in the United States. Anticipating the plot, Dmitry Kiselev said :
“President Biden is escalating the situation himself. He calls ex-president Trump and the Republicans "the epitome of extremism that threatens the very foundations" of the United States. But 72 million voters voted for Trump in the last election. At the same time, the level of confidence in Biden himself is nowhere lower. An August Gallup poll showed that only 38% of respondents are satisfied with the work of the president.
The storyteller describes Biden's recent speech as follows:
“To the hymn “Long live the leader!” the chief came out of the darkness with his wife and two marines. An entourage that fits more with a declaration of war, but Biden found the enemies of the people within the people themselves: “Too much of what is happening in our country today is not normal. Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic. There is no doubt that the Republican Party today is influenced, driven and intimidated by Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans. And this is a threat to the country.”
But before reporting this, Bogdanov cited the words of Trump, with whom, apparently, he completely agrees:
“As you know, Joe Biden came to Philadelphia this week to deliver the most horrific hate speech ever delivered by a US President. He slandered 75 million citizens as a threat to democracy and enemies of the country. But, in truth, he is the enemy of the state. The enemies of the state are him and the group of people who control him, circling him, saying: do this, Joe, do that.
In fact, when Biden referred to “MAGA-Republicans” (short for Trump’s 2016 campaign slogan Make America Great Again ), he was certainly not referring to the 74.2 million Americans who voted for Trump. in 2020 (Trump wouldn’t be himself if he didn’t exaggerate their number at least a little), but those who, after Biden’s victory, demand that the election results be canceled and sympathize with a group of extremists who tried to take over the Capitol to prevent the tabulation of their results. Biden emphasized that extremists are condemned not only by Democratic supporters, but also by conservatives, citing Republican President George W. Bush-appointed retired U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Michael Luttig, who called Trump and his extreme supporters "a clear and present danger to our democracy."
But Bogdanov ignores this quote, as well as the general thrust of Biden's speech, and interprets his clarification, made in response to Trump's accusations, as follows:
"Less than a day later, Biden painstakingly tried to take back the words of a speech that has already been called the darkest political statement in recent US history."
At the same time, the author of the plot is trying to portray Biden as some kind of almost totalitarian leader, mentioning the anthem "Long live the leader." The effect was achieved through a creative approach to translation. When Biden entered the podium, the semi-official personal anthem of the President of the United States Hail to the Chief was played, which, according to tradition, since the middle of the 19th century, accompanies the appearance of the president at official events. The word chief in English is ambiguous, it is not only a leader, but also a head, a leader, a commander (for example, chief editor is the chief editor), so in this context the most appropriate translation of the anthem’s name is “Greetings to the head of state”.
And here is what Bogdanov says about Biden's unpopularity:
“If you disagree with most Americans, then know that this is extreme. This is an extremist way of thinking,” said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
70 million people voted for Trump. And Biden's policy is supported by 38% of adult Americans. That is, who is actually a minority here, still needs to be figured out.
Bogdanov left Tucker Carlson, an ardent supporter of Trump, Fox News host, to figure it out:
“Joe Biden Information Minister Karine Jean-Pierre is probably the most discredited orator in the history of revolutions. <…> She is simply incredible. So, a question to the class: children, 38% – is it less or more than the "majority"? Math is not Karine Jean-Pierre's forte, and certainly not her boss's forte."
Carlson and Bogdanov are probably not aware that there is not only an absolute majority (more than 50%), but also a relative one – when there are more supporters of one person or decision than supporters of another. And the difficulties with mathematics are actually not so much with Jean-Pierre and Biden as with Carlson. In fact, not even 70, but 74.2 million people voted for Trump, but this is about 22% of the US population; True, minors are also taken into account here. Of the number of Americans who had the right to vote in 2020, this is about 30%.
But even more interesting is that Biden's popularity rate of 38% is obviously outdated data. According to the fivethhirtyeight.com portal, which publishes a daily updated presidential approval rating based on numerous federal and regional polls, Biden's popularity has been declining for a long time and dropped to a low point of 37.5% on July 21, but after that it began to grow by the day Boglanov's story was released. in Vesti Nedeli reached 42.7%.
Fivethhirtyeight.com even published an article on September 2 about the reasons for Biden's rise in popularity. According to the authors of the article, Monica Potts and Zohi Qamar, Biden has recently been fulfilling his campaign promises, having secured the passage of a special law to combat inflation, writing off state loans to students for education, and facilitating the provision of medical benefits to veterans of campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan. Fuel in the US has been steadily getting cheaper since June. The situation on the labor market is favorable, the anxiety of Americans about the economy is weakening. And the liquidation of the leader of Al-Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, ousted from the memory of the Americans the unsuccessful completion of the Afghan campaign, which at one time marked the beginning of the fall in Biden's popularity. The authors consider it quite likely that the president's popularity will continue to grow.
The result of 42.7% is not so bad. The popularity level of Donald Trump on the 594th day of his presidential term was 40.2%, Barack Obama – 45.9%, Bill Clinton – 42.5%, Ronald Reagan – 42%, Jimmy Carter – 42.8%, and the most the lowest was in 1947 with Harry Truman – 34%.
But the current level of Trump's approval , according to the same fivethhirtyeight.com, is only 39.8%. In addition, in early August, in polls about which party voters are ready to vote for in the elections to Congress, the Democrats outperformed the Republicans and have since narrowly led the way.