SIGNS OF GROWING STRONG DISAPPROVAL
Donald Trump’s popularity is tanking with national surveys showing lower approval and trust. Analysts indicated softer views among conservative-leaning independents and concerns over tariffs and inflation, fueled by criticism regarding economic strain. Pew Research Center has reported overall approval at 38 percent and disapproval at 60 percent.
Among Americans with strong views of Trump, disapproval now far outpaces approval. Forty-seven percent strongly disapprove of his performance—more than double the 23 percent who strongly approve. The divide is sharply partisan: 83 percent of Democrats strongly disapprove of Trump, compared with 54 percent of Republicans who strongly approve. [Newsweek]
Disapproval makes sense.
Trump is doing a lot to wreck our country and even if he pretends otherwise, and everyone around Dear Leader praises him. But Americans aren’t fools. They know what they are experiencing. They are beginning to feel the affects of Trump’s chaos, corruption, and the lack of skilled, capable, fact based leaders in charge of our government.
- His trade war (tariffs) are about to make almost everything cost more (admittedly the price of gas is currently down which will make Americans happy with Trump over the Labor Day holiday until they see the price of meat and try to buy Christmas presents) but the uncertainty Trump always injects into systems because he is a micromanaging meddler who changes his mind, is making businesses confused and unable to plan ahead which results stalled growth.
- His war on immigrants is causing a scarcity of workers to do things like build houses and pick fruit which is setting us up for a stagnant housing market, higher food prices and businesses without the manpower to move forward.
- His refusal to face climate change as a real thing is coming back to bite Americans. Insurance companies know better and are leaving hurricane alley Florida, and imposing rate hikes in hard hit states as the growing threat of hurricanes, tornadoes, fires and flooding ramps up.
Trump is doing a lot to crush our freedoms. He is banning dissent. He has at this point installed himself as dictator-in-chief– threatening blue cities with military take overs, rounding up immigrants and some citizens as well, (people who are not criminals), and sending them to gulags with cute names like Alligator Alcatraz. He is purging anyone in government who doesn’t agree with him-the CDC is losing its top scientists because they won’t condone RFK’s dangerous limitations on vaccines that contradict fact based science. He is using extortionate tactics to force companies like Intel to sell stock to the government like they do in China and other socialist countries.
Trump says he plans more of those government “investments” (take overs) of controlling interests in companies. This ought to be a bridge too far for the Wall Street Journal crowd. Let’s see if they call this out as the socialism it is and that they claim to hate. Trump is on a mission to control and micromanage anything and everything in this country including overriding the mayors of blue cities (spoiler alert that is so he can station his military at city polling places to scare away voters in the coming mid-term elections) taking over the Fed, the CDC, The Kennedy Center, Union Station and much more.
TRUMP IS DESPERATE TO STAY IN POWER
Above all, Trump is trying to stay in power to avoid being held accountable, just as all corrupt autocrats do. He will try to keep the House majority in the hands of his MAGA loyalists. He knows that if the Dems get into power in the House there will be a check on all the crazy, destructive stuff he is doing. His imperial highness will be challenged. He could be investigated for corruption. He could be impeached for the 3rd time.
To keep the House under his thumb he has a few tricks up his sleeve:
- He wants to re-gerrymander all the red states. (Unless the courts put a stop to this, this is the most likely to happen.)
- He is calling for a new census without immigrants being counted–which would throw out the old maps (This is a longshot because the Constitution plainly says ALL PERSONS must be counted)
- He wants to end mail-in voting and maybe voting machines too. The real plan here is to force everyone to have to vote in person and then put ICE and military guys at the polls to scare away voters in Democratic districts. (He is getting push back from his own party about this one because it would make it hard for many of Trump’s own aging and rural voters to vote.)
More governors and civic leaders, clergy and rabbis and business leaders need to stand up to him the way JB Prizker did in Chicago.
This is not about fighting crime. This is about Donald Trump searching for any justification to deploy the military in a blue city in a blue state to try and intimidate his political rivals. This is about the president of the United States and his complicit lackey Stephen Miller searching for ways to lay the groundwork to circumvent our democracy, militarize our cities, and end elections. There is no emergency in Chicago that calls for armed military intervention. There is no insurrection.
[T]hirteen of the top twenty cities in homicide rates have Republican governors. None of these cities is Chicago. Eight of the top ten states with the highest homicide rates are led by Republicans. None of those states is Illinois.”
Republicans, cut more than $800 million in public safety and crime prevention grants. “Trump,” Pritzker said, “is defunding the police.”
The state of Illinois is ready to stand against this military deployment with every peaceful tool we have. We will see the Trump administration in court. We will use every lever in our disposal to protect the people of Illinois and their rights.”
“[T]o the Trump administration officials who are complicit in this scheme, to the public servants who have forsaken their oath to the Constitution to serve the petty whims of an arrogant little man, to any federal official who would come to Chicago and try to incite my people into violence as a pretext for something darker and more dangerous, we are watching, and we are taking names. This country has survived darker periods than the one that we are going through right now. And eventually, the pendulum will swing back, maybe even next year. Donald Trump has already shown himself to have little regard for the many acolytes that he has encouraged to commit crimes on his behalf. You can delay justice for a time, but history shows you cannot prevent it from finding you eventually.
“If you hurt my people, nothing will stop me, not time or political circumstance, from making sure that you face justice under our constitutional rule of law. As Dr. King once said, the arc of the moral Universe is long, but it bends toward justice. Humbly, I would add, it doesn’t bend on its own. History tells us we often have to apply force needed to make sure that the arc gets where it needs to go. This is one of those times.”
WHERE IS MORE PUSH BACK COMING FROM?
TRUMP AND THE MAGAS ARE LOSING GROUND IN SPECIAL ELECTIONS
Heather Cox Richardson reports: Democrat Catelin Drey won a special election for the Iowa state senate, breaking a Republican supermajority and flipping a seat in a district Trump won by 11.5 points in 2024. Drey won the seat by 10.4%, showing a swing of more than 2o points to the Democrats. And in a seven-way race in Georgia for the state Senate in a deep red district, the lone Democrat, Debra Shigley, came in first with 40% of the vote. Since no candidate won 50% of the vote, Shigley will face whichever Republican candidate comes out on top—the top two are currently hovering around 17%—in a runoff on September 23.
In townhall meetings in red districts, Republican representatives are getting booed and shouted down.
There are peaceful protests across the country that mainstream media is not paying much to but they reflect a growing dissatisfaction with Trump and the MAGAs. Labor Day is the next big protest: more than 900 events are planned in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. Check out mobilize.us.
WHAT HELPS TO PUSH TRUMPTY DUMPTY OVER THE EDGE?
- First, the Dems have to show they have what it takes to win. Two early governors races will be crucial. Virginia and New Jersey elections for governor need to be won by Abigale Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill. Those elections will both be on November 4, 2025, and they will be tight races.
- Next, Dems must take back the House. Despite Trump’s efforts to cheat to keep the House, he and the MAGAs can lose if more people who don’t like what Trump is doing rise up and vote in the midterm election. There needs to be a strong anti-Trump reaction in the midterms like we are seeing in special elections with more Americans who disapprove of Trump getting out to vote.
- Next, voters need to change red state legislatures blue especially in purple (battleground) states. Until and unless the Dems control a majority of state houses our country will be bedeviled by Trump and the MAGAs who have taken over state houses and do whatever Trump tells them to do. Once the Dems have more state house control, they can put a stop the re-gerrymandering efforts Republicans have to resort to to stay in power because they have an unpopular agenda. States could then return to independent commissions that establish fair districts.
- Dems must pull together despite having a big tent with many factions. The Dems must run authentic, articulate, sane, realistic, fearless, pro-democracy, pro-working American candidates who appeal to younger voters, to Black and Hispanic men (who are leaving Trump in droves after voting for him in 2024), and to independent voters and are palatable to conservatives. Their message must be “a rising tide carries all boats” or “we all do better when we all do better”. The messengers matter too. People like Governor Andy Beshear and James Talarico in Texas come to mind, and there are many others.
- Pro-democracy grassroots groups are important. People need to join together and form those groups so Americans are not alone when they go to peaceful protests, write post cards to remind voters to vote, and engage politically. Many of these groups consist mostly of Democrats currently. But Democrats alone will not save our democracy without independents and Republicans joining them to reject Trump and Trumpism.
- We need to envision a new kind of government. Ideally, one that is nonpartisan. I like what Unify America is building. Google that group and take a look at what we might be able to have some day: a future nonpartisan functioning government! The goal is to replace political infighting with nonpartisan problem solving. Unify America brings citizens together to solve problems in partnership with government leaders who want to finally break through gridlock. These citizens function as a jury does- they are provided with accurate information and asked to solve community problems. Turns out these groups are darn good at problem solving! Unify America is currently implementing their model in Ohio and it is remarkably effective.
Most Americans are better people than Trump is and they want to Make America Sane Again. It is the power of peaceful protest by at least 3.5 million people- that could ultimately make the difference.
WATCH THIS TED TALK TO FIND OUT HOW YOU CAN HELP TRUMPTY DUMPTY HAVE A BIG FALL
https://tedxboulder.com/speakers/erica-chenoweth
