Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff. 

This Saturday is a big day. Four big things will happen on April 29. It’s President Donald Trump’s 100^th day in office, it’s the annual White House Correspondent’s Dinner in D.C., it’s the date of the president’s next political rally to be held in Pennsylvania, and a deadline for the possible shutdown of the U.S. government unless Congress approves a stop-gap spending measure to keep the wheels of Washington turning.

Weeks ago President Trump, staff and family said none of them would be attending the White House Correspondent’s Dinner, an event that traditionally includes an appearance by the president, but not this year. Reason being is mainstream media’s obvious and sustained negative coverage before, during and after this presidential election cycle that produced a surprise win last November for the billionaire from New York City that never held an elected office before.

In a mainstream media survey of CNN, CBS, ABC, NBC and MSNBC released Saturday by FOX News political commentator Jesse Watters, it showed an 89-percent negativity rating for all on-air stories concerning President Trump that were broadcast during the campaign, the transition period and since his inauguration. Print media such as the Washington Post, New York Times and the Wall Street Journal fared even worse at 93-percent negative.

This continuing negativity is evidenced by poll averages compiled by Real Clear Politics that they claim show President Trump’s approval rating at 42.4-percent while 50.9-percent disapprove of the president’s first few months in office. These polls are suspect as they show about the same numbers as they did during the presidential election with Democrat Hillary Clinton leading Trump right up to Election Day and then the seemingly impossible occurred which left the Democrats picking up the pieces of a lost campaign. Just what are these polls supposed to measure with a new president barely three months into his presidency? You either like President Trump or you don’t – there is not a lot of middle ground when it comes to this president.

However, according to a new ABC News/Washington Post poll released Sunday during ‘Good Morning America,’ 96 percent of Trump’s voters would vote for him again. The poll also claimed Trump would beat Clinton again if the election was held now, said ABC News. 

It’s best that President Trump stay away from the upcoming Correspondent’s Dinner which is sure to be nothing more than a bash President Trump event which will be featured endlessly on main stream media and be fodder for liberal late-night comedians for days to come. If President Trump did attend he would probably address the reporters with a one-finger salute, say nothing and leave the building. President Trump is doing that exact same thing being the first president since Reagan not to attend the dinner in recent memory. President Reagan had a good reason not to go – recovering from gunshot wounds. There’s no need for President Trump to go and get shot down and ridiculed by the hostile press.

But the political play of the week will go to President Trump for holding an alternative event – a political rally at the huge Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex and Expo Center in Harrisburg at 7:30 pm ET Saturday at the same time as the reporter’s dinner at the Washington Hilton hosted by ultra-liberals Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein of Washington Post and ‘All the President’s Men’ fame. Mainstream media will also be forced to cover President Trump’s rally. More than likely FOX News will broadcast this rally live to the nation and score huge ratings for doing so.

This liberally biased media combined with the Democrats — in both houses of the U.S. Congress — are showing no signs of letting up on the constant assault upon this new president by demonstrating no effort to work with him to pass a new national healthcare bill, tax reform, budget reform or cutting back on the sheer size of the federal government.

If by April 29 there is no congressional spending approval and the government shuts down it will look bad for the Democrats and of course they will blame the Republicans and so it goes in Washington. The latest RCP poll averages are dismal for congressional job approval – only 18.6-percent approve of their work performance while 66.2-percent disapprove. The U.S. Congress has not seen decent approval ratings for years, long before President Trump took office. These polls can be believed.

At this point is it a risk for President Trump to keep holding political rallies? What if no one came? Since President Trump took office he has held three political rallies all in states he won last November. If attendance at his past rallies is any indication, Saturday’s rally will be packed with enthusiasm for this new president and his agenda for America while the Democrats and the libber press laugh the night away.

Britt Nelson relocated to Costa Rica in 2011 from Florida, where he served as news editor for the Palatka Daily News, a newspaper owned by the New York Times Regional Newspaper Group (NYT-RNG) for 20 years.

Nelson served the NYT-RNG for 18 years in Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida as a correspondent, reporter, staff writer, senior staff writer training new reporters, copy editor, page designer, editorial writer, editorial page editor and editorial board member.