Week 91 - The Return
If Trump doesn't care about the polls, what does he care about?
Experts in authoritarianism advise to keep a list of things subtly changing around you, so you’ll remember.
This week Trump finds himself hitting all sorts of unenviable records for lowest approval, least public support for a war, and lowest approval on economic issues, even as midterm elections are now just three months away. Trump dismissed the polls as fake — a tactic he used during his first regime — but there is also a vast difference in his sentiment and approach this go-round. In his second regime, Trump does not seem to care about his polling data or Republican losses; rather, he has other priorities.
An NYT reporter explained that Trump’s major focus now is on his legacy projects: putting his name and image wherever possible, especially in Washington D.C., before his time in office runs out. Since he has also been reported as saying he will pardon his entire regime before leaving office, he is less worried about what Democrats can do with control of the House and potentially the Senate. He has also shown little interest in actual policy or governing in this second year of his second regime. His cabinet likewise has little to show for their time in power. Other than his legacy, Trump continues to focus on personally enriching himself, and raising hundreds of millions to pay for all his pet projects.
Trump is facing some pushback this week, although minor, and hardly a profile in courage given that most of it is coming from outgoing members of Congress. U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro dropped charges relating to Trump’s Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, raising his ire while revealing his lies and his regime’s incompetence. Federal judges continued to rule against Trump’s efforts to federalize midterms and other extreme measures. Trump’s Iran war is a complete mess, and risks turning into an endless quagmire, which will further mar his disastrous performance.
An AP-NORC poll found approval for Trump’s Iran War was declining: just 28% approved of the way he was handling the war, 33% said the war was worthwhile, and 23% said the U.S. should continue military action, while 72% said it was more important to keep gas prices down.
NYT reported polls also showed Trump’s approval hitting new lows with three select pollsters: 34% at CNN-SSRS, 33% for AP-NORC, and 32% for Quinnipiac, making him the most unpopular second-term president at this stage other than Richard Nixon days before he resigned.
Unlike past presidents, Trump did not change his approach or course correct; rather, he claimed the polls were fake, and that his approval was the highest it had ever been. Trump was the only president in modern times to take the country to war without public support.
On Monday, Trump posted on Truth Social, “My REAL Polling Numbers, not those made up by the Fake News Media, are the best they have ever been,” praising all his alleged accomplishments, and adding, “don’t believe the Radical Left’s Fake Poll numbers.”
Reuters reported that although Trump campaigned on bringing back free speech, federal judges had ruled against him and his regime for infringing on First-Amendment rights, including freedom of speech, religion, and the press, in 75 rulings across 93 cases.
WAPO reported that after Judge John McConnell, a chief federal judge, ruled against Trump, he was subject tocredible death threats, his daughter was doxxed, two GOP House members tried to impeach him, and an insurance company canceled his homeowners policy.
U.S. Treasury yields surged to the highest level since 2007, just before the Global Financial Crisis, after Trump’s hand-picked Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh failed to give sufficient feedback to Wall Street. Trump had bullied the former chair over rates being too high.
WSJ reported on Trump’s unprecedented fundraising operation: as the first sitting president to take control of fundraising, he had raised over $800 million for his pet projects, while at the same time he had inserted himself directly into regulatory decisions impacting donors.
Trump speaks to his fundraiser Meredith O’Rourke daily to get an update on donations, and to give her names ofdonors, lobbyists, and executives to call, directing her to ask for $5 million to $50 million. In exchange, some donors are offered access to Trump.
Newsweek reported corporations, many of whom were major donors to Trump, had received billions of dollars in tariff refunds, including Apple receiving $2.2 billion, Ford and General Motors $1.3 billion, and Amazon $600 million, part of which was passed to consumers.
Attorneys general from 25 states sued the Trump regime over its new tariffs, calling them a pretext for replacing the tariffs that were ruled illegal by the Supreme Court, saying Trump was trying to “illegally raise taxes on families and businesses with a new round of tariffs.”
Truth Social’s “Truth API” went live on Saturday, launching a paid subscription service for $100,000 per month that gave users access to Trump’s market moving posts before the general public sees them. Former SEC officials said the scheme appeared to be illegal.
