The Daily Signal - Historic Poll Shift, Harvard to Lose Contracts, Trump & King Charles on Canada | May 28, 2025

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Starting point is 00:00:25 We'd love to talk. Business. According to a new poll, the majority of Americans believe the nation is headed in the right direction for the first time. The Trump administration threatens to cancel existing contracts with Harvard University over its continued discriminatory policies. And both President Trump and the King of England talk Canada. I'm Tony Kennett, host of the Daily Signals Tony Kenned cast, syndicated nationally at 7 p.m. Eastern. It is Wednesday, May 28, 2025. This is the Daily Signal's top news in 10.

Starting point is 00:00:57 According to the latest Rasmussen poll, for the very first time in the organization's polling history, a majority of the United States electorates say that the country is headed in the right direction. Here's Mark Mitchell. I said this a couple weeks ago. I said, I never thought we would see it. We've been polling since 2006. Every day, we've been asking presidential job approval, and we've been asking right direction and wrong track. Donald Trump's doing pretty well from a presidential approval perspective, considering the Biden.

Starting point is 00:01:30 administration. But the right direction number has been the sleeper hit. It's been setting records left and right. Only now in Trump 2.0 was the very first time we ever had more people who say the country was on the right direction than on the right track. And there is this stunner from this morning. And this is not some like single nightly overnight number. This is five nights. This is about 2,000 U.S. likely voters. So it is a very big and very accurate poll. And for the first time in our polling history, a majority of the electorate says the country's headed in the right direction. Absolutely stunning. Net plus five. Never seen anything like that. I'm sorry. I have to stop you that. Mark, this is the first time ever in Rasmussen's polling? Going back, yeah,

Starting point is 00:02:13 going back to 2006. The highest we had ever seen before Trump 2.0 was, I believe, 47 percent, tied 47 percent right direction, wrong track, net plus zero. But in the Trump administration, we broke net plus zero. We had net plus one. We had net plus four last week. And here it is at net plus five. And we've never had a 50 handle ever, period. Going all the way back through the beginning of the Obama administration, going all the way back through Trump one. Trump one had some high numbers. He set a lot of records back then to, you know, six or seven consecutive weeks about 42. We're at like 17 now. So I mean, this is just something, listen, I'm a public opinion an aficionado. I'm a pollster. I want voters to get more of what they voted for.

Starting point is 00:02:59 And this looks like the report card for that. It looks like they're getting what they voted for. While according to the real clear polling aggregate, Donald Trump's approval rating is still slightly underwater with a disapproval of 49.7 and an approval of 47.7. The polls are, in fact, trending more towards the favorable side of things. And the U.S. consumer confidence had its biggest monthly increase in four years, leaping to 98.0, a 12.3 increase from April. Yes, and there are some surprises here. This is our May read on consumer confidence from the conference board.

Starting point is 00:03:35 On the headline number, we're expecting a number somewhere north of 87. Comes in strong, 98.0. That is the best number since February of this year. While U.S. District Court Judge Allison Burroughs has blocked the Trump administration from revoking Harvard University certification to enroll foreign students, something that is very likely going to find its way up to the appellate court if the Supreme Court doesn't strike down that particular injunction. The Trump administration is now suggesting that all federal contracts with Harvard will be

Starting point is 00:04:06 canceled based on discriminatory actions, including allowing anti-Semitic protests and riots on their campus, up to and including discriminatory equity-based standards for students different based on their particular demographic. These contracts reportedly worth about 100. million dollars would in fact be in trouble if Harvard University failed to uphold the standards set by the federal government of the United States. Things like, again, following non-discriminatory policies, which Harvard does not appear to have done. Here's our president, Rob Lewy, on Meet the Press. What is your sense of how that is going? Well, I think this is a losing battle for Harvard, the longer this plays out. Students are going to probably choose other Ivy League schools because they don't

Starting point is 00:04:47 want to be caught in the crosshairs of this battle between Trump and Harvard. I also think Harvard has has a huge stake that they're going to lose, particularly if that 27% of foreign students are no longer allowed to go there. And I know that the judge has put the temporary restraining order, but that's not the end of this fight. And then the additional piece of this is the research dollars that he's pulling from Harvard. And so there are big implications for Harvard's bottom one. But is he going too far? Because these are well-established institutions of scientific study. And when you pull the money back, that break in the continuity could, have long-term impact. If I was in the position of Harvard's president, I would say, I don't want

Starting point is 00:05:25 the federal money. I'm going to go the route of Hillsdale College. I'm going to do things on my own, so the federal government has no say in how I run my operations. Journalists on the other side of the aisle didn't take this too well on MSNBC, former conservative David French made much ado about the situation. Well, again, this is political retaliation. I mean, look, there are good reasons to fund trade schools, but one of the reasons, one of those good reasons is not to punish. other academic institutions. So fund trade schools on their own merit, fund Harvard on its own merit, but there's one thing I think we really need to drill down on. What the administration has done a very good job of selling, at least part of the public on, is this idea that they're holding

Starting point is 00:06:08 Harvard accountable for anti-Semitism, that they're the ones taking action to hold Harvard accountable for anti-Semitism. It is very important to note that there are ways to hold Harvard accountable. And in fact, there is a lawsuit working its way through the federal system right now holding Harvard accountable for anti-Semitism on campus after October 7th. But there are specific legal processes for this. It is not simply the case that the administration can decide, well, we saw anti-Semitism in, say, the Middle East Studies Department, now we're going to defund pediatric cancer research. That's not the way this system works at all. You target the entity or the individuals within the university who are engaging in the problematic behavior.

Starting point is 00:06:52 You target the departments, the programs that are engaging in the problematic behavior. There's due process. There's an opportunity to be heard. These are words we've been hearing a lot of lately, due process. That's words that Americans have probably heard more in the last three months than they heard in the previous 30 years. But it's a vital American value. And essentially what he's doing is he's doing the old sentence first verdict afterwards,

Starting point is 00:07:16 where he is holding the punishment. He is imposing punishment prior to the trial. And that is directly contradictory to our constitutional principles. And lastly, both the President of the United States and the King of England had much to say in Canada yesterday. President Trump posted on Truth Social, quote, I told Canada, which very much wants to be part of our fabulous Golden Dome System, that it will cost $61 billion if they remain a separate but unequal nation.

Starting point is 00:07:46 but will cost zero dollars if they become our cherished 51st state. They are considering the offer. Some took this seriously, some did not. But what no one is taking seriously are the words of King Charles, who in a speech in Canada made a land acknowledgement to a tribe who he suggested Canada had not unseeded land to. Honorable senators, members of the House of Commons, It is with a deep sense of pride and pleasure

Starting point is 00:08:17 that my wife and I join you here today as we witness Canadians coming together in a renewed sense of national pride, unity and hope. I would like to acknowledge that we are gathered on the unseeded territory of the Algonquin and the Shinnabeg people. This land acknowledgement is a recognition of shared history as a nation.

Starting point is 00:08:47 While continuing to deepen my own understanding, it is my great hope that in each of your communities and collectively as a country, a path is found toward truth and reconciliation in both word and deed. Of note, the tribe in particular that King Charles is referencing, in fact, took that particular territory by violence, conquering a previous tribe, likely conquering a previous tribe before that.

Starting point is 00:09:17 In fact, almost all Native American tribes on the North American and South American continents participated in violence and conquering and nation building, just like the European nations that would eventually conquer and nation build. To quote the teapot from Beauty and the Beast, Tale as Old as Time. Before you go, check the description to make sure you're subscribed to the Tony Kennedcast, and join us tonight at 7 p. for an excellent conversation with Dr. Joe Rigney, author of The Sin of Empathy,

Starting point is 00:09:48 and a discussion about some of the faux compassion that's been brought to bear throughout the Biden scandal. I'm Tony Kennett, and this has been The Daily Signals, Top News in 10. Take care.

The Daily Signal - Historic Poll Shift, Harvard to Lose Contracts, Trump & King Charles on Canada | May 28, 2025

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