Trump flees Washington as he seeks a reset

February 17, 2017
Since Donald Trump became president last month, Robert Rabon says his company selling mobile homes in Conway, South Carolina, is booming — and he credits Trump. "I've sold 50 mobile homes since the beginning of the year because the people feel good about the country, they feel excited about it again."

He expects to pay less for insurance when the Affordable Care Act is repealed and says his friends are hurting because of high fees and deductibles; the owner of a local barbecue restaurant is paying $3,200 per month because he has diabetes, Rabon said. He thinks taxes will drop because he won't have to "pay for all these other people who have never worked and sit on their butts for their whole lives," even though Trump has resisted some calls to rein in entitlement spending."If Hillary Clinton had won, I was going to shut down my business
. I really was," Rabon said. "We just had to have a change after the last eight years. We have a president who's pro-America, not anti-America. I just thought Barack Obama hated America. He wanted to do everything he could do to destroy America."

Trump travels to South Carolina Friday, ostensibly for the rollout of Boeing’s new 787-10 Dreamliner jet, but it will probably be just as much an ego boost for a president pummeled by Washington.

Not only will Trump likely face rapturous applause as he crows about American-made products, but it will also give him a chance to revel in his victory — one of his favorite topics. He won 55 percent of South Carolina’s vote to Hillary Clinton’s 41 percent in the general election, and about 32 percent of the primary tally, besting his nearest rival by 10 points.It will be a welcome respite for Trump, who has largely been holed up in the White House, careening from one controversy to the next during his first month in office. In a stunning sign of his frustration, Trump unloaded on the “dishonest media” during an hour-plus-long news conference on Thursday for not giving him the credit his administration deserves. And while Trump cited a recent Rasmussen poll during the news conference that shows his approval rating at 55 percent, the average has hovered more around 46 percent — a historic low for a new president.

But in South Carolina, he’s getting rave reviews.

Interviews with lawmakers, activists and political observers in the state indicate they aren't nearly as concerned about his erratic phone calls with foreign leaders, his Twitter attacks on senators, celebrities and others, his shifting and sometimes uninformed opinions on issues, his campaign's questionable ties to Russia, and his administration's struggles to fill the government and effectively implement his policy ideas.

The biggest problem, Republicans here say, is the Charleston event is private and they all can't get in. "The people who supported him support him more than ever," said Joel Sawyer, a Columbia consultant with deep ties across the state.

Trump has told allies it is important to be among "my people" and that the "dishonest" news media needed to see his support. After South Carolina, he will head to Florida for a campaign rally, even though his re-election bid is four years away.

That workers at the Boeing plant Trump is visiting overwhelmingly rejected an attempt this week to unionize has further energized Trump's supporters, say Cindy Costa, a Lowcountry Republican and national committeewoman. "Unions have served their purpose and are no longer needed," she said. "They protect lazy people and keep them hired when they need to be fired. You have these union bosses and criminal elements that run unions, and I think the president would agree with me." Trump recently met with unions in the Oval Office and often dealt with them as a New York billionaire.During the campaign, religious conservatives, which dominate the state, were skeptical about Trump, a thrice-married, philandering billionaire. Now, they believe he will stand up against abortion and for the rights of churches.

South Carolina Republicans have also learned to love the unilateral power of the presidency. Republicans, Sawyer said, hated President Obama's executive orders and called them "overreach" but now embrace Trump's orders. Consistency, he joked recently on Twitter, is so 2012. While Trump’s executive orders were widely derided in Washington for being vague, symbolic and ill-crafted, supporters saw them as proof he would get to work immediately.

While South Carolina Republicans derided Obama for playing golf, Trump's trips to the course don't seem to bother them. "He is working his butt off," Rabon, a lifelong Republican who had never attended an inauguration before Trump's, said. "He will figure it out but he is getting battered at every turn."

Supporters also say they liked his Cabinet choices, which they deemed conservative. Asked about various allegations that have swirled around nominees, from not paying taxes to domestic abuse allegations, supporters shrugged and in some cases, blamed the media. "These are people who know the world, not the academics that Obama appointed. None of these people were based on identity politics. They were just the best people for the jobs," said Larry Kobrovsky, chairman of the Charleston County Republican Party. "In the media, you have this relentless over-the-top hysteria. No matter what he does, the media says he's terrible. Every time he opens his mouth, he's the worst in the world. You just learn to discount it."

Allegations about Russia are largely overblown, too, his fans say, and are an attempt to de-legitimize his victory. They largely agree with Trump over the executive order travel ban that has since been frozen by the courts. "He was smacked down by an activist judge," Sawyer said, of how Trump's supporters see it.

And whereas many inside the Beltway are cringing at Trump’s rhetoric, his impolitic or unpolished remarks are expected in South Carolina. "You hear people saying they wish he wouldn't tweet, but I think 98 percent of the people here think he's doing great," Costa said. "I wish some of his tweets were better crafted and had a better message, but I'm in politics. They're not being written for me."

Streets remain lined with Trump signs in Horry County, a conservative bastion on the count. Billboards have kept his face along the interstate. While some in Washington joke about his impeachment, many here say they are looking forward to Trump's second term.

Mehmood

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