President Donald Trump is one of the most corrupt, amoral, and vacuous human beings on the planet. Yet he was successful at running for office because, for all of his many faults, he had good political instincts and knew how to exploit Americans’ fears and desires.
But now, more than a year into his second term, it's clear that juice is gone.
Time after time, Trump has made mind-bogglingly stupid decisions and taken such obviously unpopular positions that he is now flirting with approval ratings not seen since former President George W. Bush after he crashed the economy in 2008.
“Turn up the crazy” by Mike Luckovich
Trump's dismal negative 18-point approval rating is setting up an electoral doomsday scenario for his party in November's midterms, with control of the House likely gone and even the Senate severely at risk.
And he only has himself to blame, as he has time and again made moves that betrayed his campaign promises and left Americans worse off than they were before he, unfortunately, took charge.
Had Trump taken office and merely coasted, he could've been shepherding his party to victory in the midterms. The economy was doing well, inflation was falling, wages were rising, and Trump's approval was, for the first time ever, above 50%, according to The New York Times’ average.
Instead, he has turned American cities into authoritarian war zones, with masked immigration goons terrorizing, brutalizing and even killing immigrants and citizens alike—so much so that his immigration stance is now a political liability for him and his party.
He is also crashing the economy with his idiotic and illegal tariffs, as well as the ill-conceived war in Iran that Americans do not support. All the while he’s saying the United States cannot afford to help Americans pay for their astronomical health care and child care costs, while demanding trillions for his military boondoggles and White House renovation projects that are marring the historic building.
Things are so bad that even Republicans are starting to turn on their Dear Leader, with his approval rating among self-identified GOP voters falling since the Iran war began. The only group that has stuck with him are self-proclaimed MAGA supporters, which are not a large enough percentage of the electorate for Republicans to win in November's midterms.
Related | Trump’s support is dwindling to just the MAGA die-hards
It’s easy to see why. From the moment he took office, his first moves were political malpractice.
He embraced utterly bizarre and socially inept billionaire Elon Musk, allowing Musk to make chaotic and cruel cuts to federal spending that threatened Americans' Social Security, health care, and safety.
Trump then used his political capital to help Republicans pass an immensely unpopular piece of legislation that slashed Medicaid and other social safety net programs in order to pay for tax cuts that overwhelmingly benefit the richest few—a bill that will likely be his only legislative accomplishment if Democrats win control of the House.
Then Trump came for the economy when he announced his idiotic "Liberation Day" tariffs that spiked inflation and caused so much uncertainty that businesses began shedding jobs—sending an economy that had been humming along on a downward trajectory.
Meanwhile, as he refused to tackle affordability—the issue that got him reelected in the first place—he was simultaneously focused on redecorating the White House, gilding it in tacky and cheap Home Depot ornamentals and even razing the entire East Wing of the historic building to build an ostentatious ballroom most Americans will never get to see or enjoy in their lifetimes. It was a move so out of touch it rivals Marie Antoinette.
Trump's approval really took a tumble, however, when he decided to launch a war in Iran—which he has never been able to offer a coherent rationale for. Trump was wildly unprepared for the war, underestimating Iran's capability to cause economic pain by blockading a critical waterway that transports a large percentage of the world's oil, petrochemical, and fertilizer supply, as well as attacking other critical oil infrastructure in the region.
Now, shortages of those critical commodities have raised fuel prices both at home and abroad, and are likely to once again spike inflation as rising input costs for farmers and manufacturers due to a lack of fertilizer and plastics will be passed down to consumers.
And as the war goes south and Americans' support for the conflict declines, Trump made another head-scratching decision, releasing a budget in which he called for $1.5 trillion in defense spending while at the same time saying the United States cannot afford to help Americans pay their health care or child care costs. So much for "America First."
Ultimately, Trump's moves are directly responsible for the economic pain and suffering Americans are feeling. Whatever punishment voters rain down on Republicans will be because they refused to stand up to their mad king and his horrible political instincts.
