The New York Post on Tuesday called out President Donald Trump over the Justice Department’s settlement to resolve his IRS lawsuit, stressing that it “looks terrible” and there’s “no two ways about it” after the department’s launch of a $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund.
The typically pro-Trump editorial board at the Rupert Murdoch-owned tabloid used the opinion piece to argue that the president’s team has “hit a rough patch, with bad polls and big worries about the November elections.”
The board claimed that while the administration is “doing a lot of good,” it’s overshadowed by “some ugly optics and confusing-or-worse communications.”
The board highlighted that the settlement kills ongoing audits of Trump and his family, adding that the fund’s claimants could receive taxpayer money with no need to provide evidence that they were victims of the government “lawfare.”
Slush Fund and Stock Trades
The news of what critics have described as a “slush fund” arrived on the same day that Trump disclosed thousands of stock trades he’s made while in office that total to at least $220 million, amid other ethics concerns.
“None of it is a good look, however legal or above board it may in fact be,” the board wrote in the piece.
Poll Numbers Decline
The board later emphasized some of Trump’s souring poll numbers, turning to a recent CBS/YouGov survey that found 63% of Republicans approved of the president’s handling of inflation in April, a double-digit drop in percentage from the same figure in March (74%).
“Loyal Trump voters think the president is doing great, but should be aware of how this looks,” the piece read.
“We are going backward on inflation, despite the stock market, and while Democrats are crazy, the conflict-of-interest stuff is going to stick, especially if they come away from November with oversight powers.”
