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LEE CARTER: Trump's approval ratings reveal what legacy media refuses to see

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20.01.2026

Fox News host Brian Kilmeade discusses Democratic criticism of President Donald Trump and how the president is shifting his approach to China on ‘One Nation.’

Tuesday, Jan. 20 marks one year since Donald Trump returned to the Oval Office. One year of executive orders, foreign policy shock waves, immigration crackdowns and a governing style that never once tried to soften its edges.

And for one year, the same headline has seemed to be everywhere: Trump is unpopular.

Approval in the low 40s. Disapproval in the mid-50s. The verdict, according to the polling-industrial complex, is clear.

FROM WASHINGTON: THE PRESIDENT’S FIRST YEAR ‘REPORT CARD’

But one year in, it’s worth asking a more uncomfortable question: What if the polls aren’t telling us Trump is failing? What if they’re telling us he’s delivering — and the country is splitting in response?

Because Trump is not like other presidents. And that means we’re reading his first year through the wrong lens.

Most presidents spend their first year recalibrating. They discover the limits of power. They soften the rhetoric. They explain why campaign promises were harder than expected.

They govern in beige after campaigning in bold color. Trump never did that.

He governed exactly as he campaigned — and dared the country to react.

He promised to get tough on immigration. He did.

He promised to put America........

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