Why reality is finally catching up with Trump

President Donald Trump has been a very polarizing figure in U.S. politics, but he has also been quite resilient. Despite facing four criminal indictments in 2024 — one of which found a Manhattan jury convicting him on 34 felony counts — Trump won not only the GOP presidential nomination, but also, narrowly defeated the Democratic nominee, then-Vice President Kamala Harris, in the general election.

It was a close election; Trump won the popular vote by roughly 1.5 percent. But he expanded his appeal, aggressively reaching out to Latinos, independents, swing voters, tech bros, the Manosphere and Generation Z.

Fourteen and one-half months into his second presidency, however, Trump is suffering from weak approval ratings in poll after poll. And The New Republic's Michael Tomasky, in an article published on April 6, stresses that "reality" is a major liability for Trump at this point.

"The presidency of Donald Trump is now officially in collapse," Tomasky argues. "His war is not exactly a disaster, but it sure isn't the cakewalk he envisioned when he sprang it on the American people and the world with no notice on February 28. His firing of Attorney General Pam Bondi because she wasn't sycophantic enough indicates a man who is utterly incapable of understanding anything about how democracy is supposed to work. His economy is a wreck and may well get worse. His proposed budget, especially the half-trillion-dollar increase to the Pentagon, is wildly out of whack with the priorities of the public."

Tomasky adds, "I could go on — and on. But on top of all that, Trump's purchase on reality, tenuous at the best of times, is slipping fast."

The New Republic editor notes that Trump has a been an "unusually durable" figure in U.S. politics because of his "support structures" — which include: (1) Americans who are "fine with nativist, authoritarian politics," (2) evangelical Christian fundamentalists like Pastor Paula White who believe "that Trump is basically Jesus," (3) "right-wing propaganda networks," and (4) "Republicans in Congress."

"These were and are Trump's four pillars," Tomasky explains. "There is considerable overlap between the first two groups, but they're somewhat different. They have sustained him in and out of power for more than a decade, and they've proven stronger than the two things that in theory have the power to bring Trump down: the political opposition, and plain reality. But take a good, contemplative whiff of the zeitgeist right about now, and you'll smell change in the air."

Tomasky adds, "The opposition is stronger. And I don't mean chiefly the Democrats in Congress. We all know that some of them are effective, others not so much, but even those who do speak to the anger so many Americans feel don't have much institutional power to do anything about it. No — the opposition arose not in Washington, but in Chicago and Minneapolis, and in the thousands of No Kings Day marches that brought 8 million Americans out into the streets…. We may finally be reaching the point where even Trump's blind supporters and his vast propaganda network can't defeat the facts on the ground. They're almost relentlessly grim."

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