During his first month back in the White House, President Donald Trump has generated plenty of controversy — from mass layoffs of federal workers to divisive administration appointees to an executive order calling for an end to birthright citizenship. And Trump's poll numbers, according to the Washington Month, are "historically bad" for a president who has only been back in office for a little over a month.
In an article published by the Washington Post on February 26, reporters Naftali Bendavid and Maeve Reston emphasize that the "broader resistance to Trump is beginning to wake up."
"Rowdy crowds are showing up at lawmakers' town hall meetings to protest President Donald Trump’s actions," Bendavid and Reston observe. "Some people are launching into chants like 'No king!' or shouting down Republican House members. Sen. Bernie Sanders is drawing overflow crowds of his own as he seeks to mobilize voters against Trump's budget cuts. At the same time, a coalition of Democratic state attorneys general is methodically filing lawsuits against Trump's orders, and in six out of seven cases, it has been successful in persuading judges to halt them."
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The Post reporters continue, "The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the Democratic Governors Association and liberal groups are seeing a surge in fundraising. And Democratic members of Congress are seizing on a budget clash as an opportunity to coalesce against the president's plans."
Bendavid and Reston point out, however, that 2025's "resistance" to Trump is "taking a different form than it did in 2017." Instead of "mass street protests," Trump's "adversaries" are "aiming their fire more selectively" by "directing political and legal attacks against specific Trump policies they believe are both damaging and unpopular."
Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Ken Martin told the Post, "This energy is, of course, organic, but it's coming from a place of deep, deep displeasure with the government right now. It's not only the cuts they've been seeing from Elon Musk and Donald Trump, but the federal funding freeze on programs that people are relying on.”
According to polls, the economy — especially inflation — played a key role in Trump's narrow victory over then-Vice President Kamala Harris in the United States' 2024 election. But Democratic strategist Andrew Bates believes that the economy is now a major liability for Trump.
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Bates told the Post, "Republicans’ biggest 2024 asset — the false promise that they would stand up to the rich establishment and deliver lower prices on 'Day One' — can become the liability that discredits them in 2025 and 2026."
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