'Honeymoon over': James Carville warns Trump’s 'public support' will 'fall through the floorboard'

25 February

A month into his second presidency, Donald Trump is encountering more opposition than support from voters. Polls released in late November find Trump's approval at 44 percent (Ipsos/Reuters) or 45 percent (Gallup). A Morning Consult poll, however, looked better for Trump, with approval of his job performance at 50 percent.

Veteran Democratic strategist James Carville, in an op-ed published by the New York Times on February 25, predicts that Trump's approval ratings will seriously tank in the weeks ahead. And he stresses that Republicans are their own worst enemy.

"The Republican Party is all too often effective at campaigning and winning elections," Carville argues, "but there's another fact about it that a lot of Americans forget: The Republican Party flat out sucks at governing. Even Tucker Carlson agrees with this…. For Round 2 in office, instead of prioritizing the problems he campaigned on — public safety, immigration and the border, and most of all the economy — President Trump is hellbent on dismantling the federal government. To accomplish this, he has put his faith in the most incompetent Cabinet in modern history."

From "enormous tax cuts for the wealthy" to "Medicaid cuts" to mass layoffs of federal workers, Carville argues, Republicans' "lousy governing" will doom them to unpopularity.

"It won't take long: public support for this administration will fall through the floorboard," Carville writes. "It's already happening: Just over a month in, the president's approval has already sunk underwater in two new polls. The people did not vote for the Department of Education to be obliterated — they voted for lower prices for eggs and milk. Democrats, let the Republicans' own undertow drag them away."

Carville adds, "At this rate, the Trump honeymoon will be over best case by Memorial Day but more likely in the next 30 days."

According to Carville, an important election to keep a close eye on in 2025 is Virginia's gubernatorial race — which, he says, will be a referendum on GOP policies and Trump's second presidency.

"From tax enforcers, to rocket scientists, bank regulators or essential workers — the Trump Administration is hellbent on drastically firing the federal work force despite the fact that federal civilian employees represent just 3 percent of the federal budget," Carville explains. "These workers are highly concentrated in the state of Virginia, home to around 144,000 civilian federal employees. It looks set to be a resounding Republican defeat. This will be the first moment where we can take the offensive back and begin our crusade again."

James Carville's full New York Times op-ed is available at this link (subscription required).

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