Good news! Trump lied!

Today's does of cognitive dissonance is brought to you by arstechnica.

On May 29, President Trump said his administration would take immediate action to withdraw the US from the World Health Organization.

[...]

But now, two weeks later, there's nothing to indicate that Trump has followed through on his plan. In an article yesterday titled "US hasn't taken action to withdraw from WHO despite Trump pledge," The Hill wrote that "no steps toward a formal withdrawal have been taken," and that "a WHO spokesman told The Hill that the agency had received no formal notification that the United States would withdraw."

Maybe he just forgot?

On a more serious note, for the U.S. to withdraw from WHO was always a stupid idea, and there were real questions as to whether Trump even had the authority to do so unilaterally (i.e. without Congressional action). Even if WHO had been, as Trump claimed, totally under China's control (also a lie, but really, who's even still counting, at this point?), withdrawing from WHO doesn't make that situation any better - it just removes the one level that the U.S. had to try to reform the international organization.

And, of course, there's the reality, which is that the United States' working relationship with WHO is actually pretty good, Trump's rhetoric notwithstanding. But then, actually withdrawing from WHO was never really the point of Trump's May 29th posturing -- it was pure "Yellow Peril" propaganda, a morsel of China-bashing red meat intended entirely for his most ardent, and most racist, supporters. Because, as we all know by now, Trump cares not at all for actual policy, while caring deeply about his poll numbers.

And how are those poll numbers? Currently 13.5 points underwater, with 41.1% approving of him, while 54.6% disapprove, his lowest point since January 25th, 2019, when:

1. the government was 35 days into a shutdown,
2. Roger Stone had just been arrested by Muller investigation prosecutors, and
   
3. Michael Cohen had been invited to testify to Congress about Trump's dodgy dealings.

Donald Trump's all-time low approval rating, by the way? December 17th, 2017, when he was 20.4 points underwater, with 37.0% approving and 57.4% disapproving. But never fear: he's got lots of time between now and election day, and I'm sure he can beat that delta by November.