Capitol Journal: The more Trump trumpets and tweets, the more he turns people off

Reporting from Sacramento —  President Trump repeatedly exhibits two traits that are self-defeating. But he apparently can’t help himself.

One, he’s compulsively drawn to two provocative words from an old TV gig: “You’re fired.”

Two, he’s addicted to tweeting and the combative sound of his own voice. But the more he tweets and thunders, the less persuasive he becomes.

Trump’s trumpeting may entertain and enthuse his political base, but the notes sound sour to many millions of Americans, including some Republicans in Congress and especially voters in California. It’s counterproductive.

The real estate tycoon clearly loved his 14-season run as host of “The Apprentice,” where the highlight of each episode was his barking to the loser contestant they had been “fired.”

In Washington, it’s doubtful any president has ever fired or pushed out more top aides in the first year than Trump.

So it shouldn’t have been surprising when the president told an Alabama political rally that owners of professional football teams should fire players who refuse to stand during the national anthem in a protest against racial injustice.

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“Get that son of a bitch off the field right now,” Trump declared. “Out! He’s fired. He’s fired.”

The crowd appeared to agree, but Trump’s shots at the National Football League backfired. Although previously only a handful of players had been sitting or taking a knee during the anthem, on Sunday around 200 did just that, or chose not to show up until kickoff. And they were backed by the owners, some of whom had donated $1 million each to Trump’s candidacy last year.

“I am deeply disappointed by the tone of the comments made by the president,” said New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, a friend of Trump.

Actually, I agree with Trump that refusing to stand for the anthem or salute the flag is disrespectful to America. There are better, more productive ways to protest against the nation’s flaws. Start with voting, which the originator of these kneeling protests, former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, has never bothered to do. That smacks of hypocrisy.

But the way to get players on their feet is not to call one a profane name. That just further lowers respect for the presidency.

In California, public support for two longtime Trump targets, immigrants and Obamacare, has never been higher, a new poll shows.

“The more that the president has shined a light on these issues, the more California has said, ‘We want to go in another direction,’” Mark Baldassare, president and pollster of the Public Policy Institute of California, told me.

Those polled were asked whether they thought immigrants “are a benefit to California because of their hard work and job skills” or “are a burden because they use public services.” The response: 76% considered immigrants a benefit. Only 20% called them a burden. That’s the highest pro-immigrant mark ever recorded by the poll, which does not single out immigrants who entered the country illegally.

But concerning Trump’s pet infrastructure project, a border wall to block entry of undocumented immigrants, 73% opposed that and just 24% favored it.

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Also, 78% favored the “Dreamers” program to protect from deportation young people brought into the country illegally as children by their parents. Only 19% opposed it.

Trump has given Congress six months to pass a law replacing the program, known as DACA, for Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals. President Obama enacted it on his own by executive order.

Obamacare, formally called the Affordable Care Act, has never been more popular in the policy institute’s polling, despite years of attacks by Trump and GOP congressional leaders. They’ve given up, at least for this year, trying to repeal it.

The poll found it favored by 58% and viewed unfavorably by 37%.

“Trump’s tweets are getting long in the tooth,” said Barbara O’Connor, former director of the Institute for the Study of Politics and Media at Sacramento State University. “His base cheers, but he motivates the opposition at all levels.

“Taking a knee is happening everywhere. DACA kids have become poster children for the [Trump] resistance. He is incapable of persuasion because blurting out insults is not the way.”

Trump’s job performance was approved by only 31% of likely voters in the poll and disapproved by 66%. That hasn’t changed much. He lost California to Hillary Clinton by nearly 2 to 1 last November.

But in a weird way, Trump’s polarizing may be hurting two of California’s most prominent Democrats, U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Gov. Jerry Brown. Both enjoy high job approval ratings among likely voters: Feinstein 54% and Brown 55%.

Yet, 50% think Feinstein, 84, shouldn’t run for reelection next year; just 43% say she should. And 49% think the next governor should “mostly change” Brown’s policies; only 43% want to continue them. Brown is termed out after next year.

With Feinstein, this has nothing to do with the voters’ ages. Young and old think essentially the same. Brown’s policies, however, are supported significantly more by voters under 35 than those over that age.

Baldassare attributes it to the roily political atmosphere that Trump rode into the White House. The same thing that inspired many Democrats to vote for Sen. Bernie Sanders. That public angst “now is amplified by Trump,” the pollster said.

At least Trump is causing more people to pay attention to politics — and now also to pregame ceremonies.

george.skelton@latimes.com

Follow @LATimesSkelton on Twitter

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