The moniker of "Teflon Don" doesn't seem to be holding up for President Donald Trump anymore.
Tuesday morning's "Daily Blast" podcast brought together The New Republic's Greg Sargent and senior editor Alex Shephard to discuss the ways in which Trump's political strength has collapsed under the weight of his bad economic decisions.
Recent polls show just how bad things are for Trump as his approval continues to drop. When it comes to approval on specific issues, things paint an even worse picture.
Trump is sometimes referred to as "Teflon Don," a nickname that highlights his ability to weather scandals, criticism, lawsuits and political controversies because they all slide off of him without seriously weakening his support.
That's no longer accurate after the president started a war with Iran and implemented economic policies that are increasing costs. Trump’s approval on inflation is around 50 points underwater, a level the interview describes as unprecedented for a president in modern polling. Other recent polling likewise shows widespread disapproval of Trump’s handling of the economy.
Sargent and Shephard discussed a key reason that voters returned Trump to office: they wanted lower prices and believed he could manage the economy better than Democrats.
"I don’t think anyone’s seen anything like this before. I think the big story of this presidency is that Trump was elected because voters were mad about inflation after the pandemic, and they blamed Joe Biden and his party, the Democratic Party, and they had rosy visions of Trump’s presidency and they brought him back to office," assessed Shephard.
"Then Trump and the people around him — and I should say many Democrats as well — saw that victory not as a rebuttal, or a refutation against the Democrats. They saw it as an endorsement of his entire cultural, non-economic program," he added.
Now, voters can directly connect Trump’s choices to their own rising bills for groceries, health care and electricity.
"If there’s anything that Donald Trump has proven, it’s that voters forget about what he’s done to the United States of America very, very quickly," said Sargent. "And you’ve got to drive it home over and over ... Trump did this to you. Trump did this to you. Say that, Democrats, right?"
Shephard agreed, noting it's an "over-interpretation of Trump’s return to power."
Both men agree that Democrats must argue a need to offer a clear alternative while tying the affordability crisis, the Iran war, corruption and Trump’s governing record together into one message: prices are high, and Trump’s decisions helped make them that way.