The Daily Signal - Trump’s Approval Rating, Mitch McConnell Makes Big Announcement, Nikki Haley Defends Ukraine | Feb. 20

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Starting point is 00:00:25 We'd love to talk, business. Today marks one month since President Trump was sworn in as the 47th president. New polling shows his latest approval rating. I'm Virginia Allen, and this is the Daily Signal's top news in 10 for Thursday, February 20th. Today we are at the conservative political action conference in Washington, D.C., and today also marks exactly one month since President Trump's inauguration. So how is the president doing so far in the eyes of the American people? Well, there is a new CNN SSRS poll that finds that 62% of Americans feel that the president has not done enough to try to reduce the price of everyday goods.

Starting point is 00:01:16 52% of those polled say that Trump has gone too far and using his presidential power. But overall, Trump has a strong approval rating. Right now, Trump's approval rating is at 47%. Here with us to discuss is the executive editor for The Daily Signal and our president, Rob Louis. Rob, thanks for being with us here at CPAC. It's going to be with you. It's exciting to be here at CPAC. Of course, we had Vice President Vance here, and Donald Trump will be here himself in a couple days. It's a big deal, a very, very pack schedule we have here at Cthac. So we're one month in. Trump has a 47% approval rating. Your reaction to that, is that higher than you thought?

Starting point is 00:01:52 Well, it depends on the poll that you're looking at. Of course, the CBS News poll came out not long ago, and it had him at 53%. Scott Rasmussen, who we often cover his work at the Napoliton Institute. had him at 55% last Friday. And so I think when you average all these polls out, it shows that the American people have a higher approval of Donald Trump today than they historically have had in the past. And I think that's probably because he's delivering on so many of the promises that he campaigned on. And so he's not missed a beat over this past month in terms of whether it be immigration and border security and carrying out the deportations and beefing up the efforts there on the border, or whether it be other things that the American people have lost. But you just haven't had a leader willing to cut government spending as he's done with Doge.

Starting point is 00:02:37 Yeah, we're exactly one month in. What stands out to you from Trump's actions over this first month here at The Daily Signal? We've always been very busy trying to keep up with the president as we cover all of it. But there's certainly been quite a few actions that have been bigger than the others. What sticks in your mind? Yeah, so definitely. There are some things that he can do without Congress. So for instance, making sure that he is utilizing the Department of Homeland Security

Starting point is 00:03:03 and immigration and customs enforcement to the maximum capacity to carry out our immigration laws is one thing that we saw the previous administration completely ignore. And so I have been heartened to see that Tom Holman and so many who are working on that issue have been given their resources. They need more from Congress, which is why they're going through this budget reconciliation debate, and they want, obviously, the resources, the funding, more beds to carry out their plans. I'd say the other thing, this was a sleeper issue. It was men playing in women's sports.

Starting point is 00:03:35 And so the moment that he brought all of those young athletes to the White House and signed that executive order, I mean, that just stands out to me as one of those iconic images that is so emblematic of Donald Trump. But, I mean, there have been so many executive orders and executive actions that he's taken. It's hard to pick just a couple. Yeah, it is.

Starting point is 00:03:54 It's hard to keep up. Well, we will obviously keep following all of it here at The Daily Signal. But, Rob, thanks for your work and your coverage here to see back. Thank you, Virginia. One of America's longest serving senators announced today that he won't seek re-election in 2026. Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky says he will not run again when his term is up in January of 27. Today is McConnell's 83rd birthday, and he made the announcement of his decision to not run again on the Senate floor. Seven times our fellow Kentuckians have sent me to the Senate.

Starting point is 00:04:32 Every day in between, I've been humbled by the trust they placed in me to do their business right here. Representing our Commonwealth has been the honor of a lifetime. I will not seek this honor an eighth time. My current term in the Senate will be my last. The announcement comes after several concerning health incidents for McConnell, including falls and freezing while speaking to the press. McConnell was first elected in 1984, meaning that he has served in the Senate for 40 years. Former ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, has been very critical of President Trump in recent years, and this week she didn't hold back any of that criticism.

Starting point is 00:05:30 Haley said that when the president has been critical of Ukraine and Ukrainian president, Vladimir Zelensky, Trump is giving Putin exactly what he wants. This week, Trump said that Ukraine's president, Vladimir Zelensky, has done a terrible job leading his country and also called him a dictator, criticizing him specifically for not holding national elections. Haley warns that this rhetoric that Trump is using is classic Russian talking points. Trump and Zelensky's verbal sparring appears to, in part, be driven by a disagreement over a mineral agreement between the two countries. Last week, America gave Ukraine a draft agreement for the cooperation on mining of minerals. The U.S. draft said that 50% of the mineral revenue would go to the U.S.

Starting point is 00:06:21 Axios reports that the U.S. wanted Ukraine to agree to the deal right away, but Zelensky pushed back. Now the U.S. has given Ukraine an updated draft of the agreement and it appears that Zelensky might be willing to view this version in a more favorable light. Stay tuned. Up next is today's newsflash. The Senate has confirmed Cash Patel to be the next director of the FBI. Patel was confirmed in a vote of 51 to 47. Moderate Republican senators Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins joined Democrats to vote against Patel's confirmation.

Starting point is 00:07:00 In Israel, the bodies of four slain hostages were returned today, including Shiri Bebus and her two young sons. Israel will run forensic exams to confirm that these bodies are indeed Shiri and the Bebis' children. The fourth body that was released was Odette Lifshitz. He's a gentleman in his 80s. And a doctor who ran the forensic exams on Lifshitz did confirm that it was indeed his body. and said that he was killed in captivity more than a year ago. Before we go today, I want to, of course, mention again, as I did earlier,

Starting point is 00:07:39 that we're here at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C. And if you're not able to attend this year, don't worry. We are bringing you all the inside scoop here at the Daily Signal. Make sure that you're following along on our website, dailysignal.com to get the latest. And you can also get exclusive interviews and access across our social media platform. forums by checking out the Daily Signal's YouTube channel, of course, following us on X, Instagram, and Facebook. With that, that's going to do it for today's episode. Thanks so much for joining us here on the Daily Signal podcast. Today's show was produced by Tim Kennedy. Don't forget to hit that

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The Daily Signal - Trump’s Approval Rating, Mitch McConnell Makes Big Announcement, Nikki Haley Defends Ukraine | Feb. 20

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