By David L. Snelling

Miami – In political office for one month, President Donald Trump’s approval rating is high among the American people for the swift action he has taken, in contrast to his first term when his popularity was on the decline in 2019.

And Blacks who voted for Trump in 2024 at 20 percent said he’s still their guy despite ending DEI programs and cutting federal funding for programs that empowered the African American community.

According to a TFPP Wire poll, most Americans (53 percent) so far approve of Trump’s performance including his illegal immigration operation, border control and placing tariffs on Canada, China and Mexico.

About 47 percent disapprove of his work.

Trump being a convicted felon after a jury found him guilty on 36 counts during his hush money trial didn’t affect their support for the polarizing figure.

However, some say inflation continues to rise, impacting their costs of living for food, gas and consumer products.

Inflation picked up for a fourth straight month in January amid another rise in food and energy costs, which could last throughout 2025 with the tariffs placed on China, Canada and Mexico.

Consumer prices overall increased 3 percent from a year earlier, up from 2.9 percent the previous month, according to the Labor Department’s consumer price index, a measure of goods and service costs across the U.S.

That’s the most since June and above the 2.9 percent expected by economists surveyed by Bloomberg.

Nevertheless, most Americans support Trump’s policies as he’s making good on his campaign promises, even causing controversy over comments of taking over Gaza, the Panama Canal and Greenland.

He takes his work so seriously that he banned AP reporters from the White House for declining to call the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America, which also drew praises from his supporters who see a lot of positive changes for America during his second term.

For Blacks, 42 percent approve his performance, mostly African-American men, according to a Cygnol survey.

Apparently, the approval rating from the Black community doesn’t sit well with Democrats who are trying to shift their loyalty over to Blue.

They fear it could impact the next midterm elections in 2026 when they are seeking to flip seats for governors, senators and House of Representatives after suffering crushing defeats in 2024 and 2022.

State Rep. Ritchie Torres, a Democrat from New York, said the party is still trying to figure out how it lost ground with Black male voters.

“I am going to state the obvious here: vilifying voters of color as white supremacists will not attract them back to the Democratic Party,” he wrote on X. “It will drive them further into Trump’s camp. The purpose of politics is not to repel but to attract. Condescension is the most powerful repellant in politics. Voters viscerally resent condescension and will punish you for it at the ballot box.”

Brock McCleary, Cygnal vice president of polling, said 42 percent of black men approving of Trump’s job is a huge blow to the Democratic Party.

“Unlike Democrats’ approach previously, this isn’t about placation or offering new attractive policies with no follow-through,” he said. “His popularity and approval surges because he does the things he says he’ll do, and that’s a breath of fresh air for everyone.”

McCleary, who polled for Trump in 2016 and Vivek Ramaswamy last year, added, “In the pre-Trump era, these numbers for a Republican would be aspirational rather than realistic. In the thicket of this new Trump era, these gains among black Americans are noteworthy and certainly beyond a threshold of statistical normality. It boils down to follow-through, which is the most elusive of traits for politicians.”

But Trump’s critics say eliminating the Department of Education could have harmful impacts on kids’ education. Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has proposed $900 million in cuts for the agency.

The department oversaw a series of long-term studies to evaluate students’ performances from kindergarten through high school and strategies for teaching elementary school reading.

The DOGE also evaluates the effectiveness of support for youth with disabilities, including autism.

Education advocates said the cuts could hurt the accountability of America’s education system including lowincome students who need programs to keep up with their counterparts from wealthier neighborhoods.

U.S. Rep. Fredrica Wilson, who was a longtime educator before she became an elected official, said eliminating the Department of Education is a travesty.

“Dismantling the U.S. Department of Education is an attack on educators, students, and our future,” she said on social media. “Financial aid for college students, public schools, equal access to education, student safety, support for students with disabilities, it’s all on the chopping block.”

Trump’s approval rating is a happy song with cheery lyrics for him and his supporters but there’s a sour note.

Like his first term, Trump is facing a threat of impeachment being initiated by Texas state Rep. Al Green, a Democrat.

Two weeks ago, he announced the Article of Impeachment against the president for backing ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Gaza, the territory out of which Hamas terrorists are operating.

During a joint press conference last week, Trump said the U.S. will move to use troops to take the war-torn Gaza Strip “if necessary” as Palestinians are moved to neighboring countries.

“I rise to announce that I will bring Articles of Impeachment against the president for dastardly deeds proposed and dastardly deeds done,” Green said in House floor remarks.

During his first term in the White House, Trump was twice impeached by the Democrat-controlled House, the first time in 2019 over his alleged attempt to pressure Ukraine to investigate then-candidate Joe Biden and the second in January 2021 over his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

He was acquitted by the U.S. Senate in both cases.