[BostonCard]

Trump has been building his wall and clamping down on immigration despite congress consistently approving less funding than requested and a stream of negative news articles about it.  It is something that he and his supporters feel very strongly about, his opponents hate and a majority of Americans oppose (or at least, do not support) but don't feel super strongly about.

(this data is from last summer, but the polling has been pretty consistent: https://www.pollingreport.com/immigration.htm)

You can see similar patterns around things like environmental regulation where his supporters support, his opponents are horrified, and the middle thinks it is a bad idea but aren't uniquely motivated about it.

The point is that if an issue is important enough to the President, he has enough discretion and tools where he can go a long way to make it happen.  This president didn't prioritize pandemic responsiveness (it is the sort of usually boring nitty gritty government thing that is not usually very visible and not especially interesting to the president), but that has real world consequences.  Maybe 9 in 10 Presidents are occupied by more immediate concerns, but the idea that there really wasn't much the president could do is not accurate.

BC

[BostonCard]

Trump has been building his wall and clamping down on immigration despite congress consistently approving less funding than requested and a stream of negative news articles about it.  It is something that he and his supporters feel very strongly about, his opponents hate and a majority of Americans oppose (or at least, do not support) but don't feel super strongly about.

(this data is from last summer, but the polling has been pretty consistent: https://www.pollingreport.com/immigration.htm)

You can see similar patterns around things like environmental regulation where his supporters support, his opponents are horrified, and the middle thinks it is a bad idea but aren't uniquely motivated about it.

The point is that if an issue is important enough to the President, he has enough discretion and tools where he can go a long way to make it happen.  This president didn't prioritize pandemic responsiveness (it is the sort of usually boring nitty gritty government thing that is not usually very visible and not especially interesting to the president), but that has real world consequences.  Maybe 9 in 10 Presidents are occupied by more immediate concerns, but the idea that there really wasn't much the president could do is not accurate.

BC