Republicans are bleeding support as Trump flounders big time
09 April
U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) listens to House Oversight Committee Ranking Member Rep. James Comer (R-KY) during a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing.
Massive protests across the country this past weekend turned out millions of energized Americans unified in opposition to Donald Trump. They came just as Trump had dropped a megaton bomb into the global economy, forever altering free trade, and shaking even his most staunch defenders.
Markets will rebound, because that’s what they do. But Trump will not.
He has caused lasting damage to the economy. Prices were rising before, and will rise more, with some experts saying inflation could soon go up to 4%. Consumer confidence has crashed. The Federal Reserve’s Jerome Powell warned of high inflation and a slowdown in economic growth because of Trump’s huge global import taxes, and so did J.P. Morgan’s chief Jamie Dimon. And several financial barometers now point to a Trump-induced recession. Some GOP members of Congress are speaking out. Even if it’s not enough to stop Trump now, it’s enough to torpedo the GOP and MAGA coalition.
Elon Musk broke with Trump, calling for a free trade zone with Europe, in a battle that escalated in three days and got pretty ugly. Bill Ackman, the hedge fund manager who went all in on Trump, joined other billionaires in slamming him this week, saying the economy will head into a “economic nuclear winter.” Only three months ago, this guy, who’d previously backed Democrats, said of Trump, “We’re stepping into the most pro-growth, pro-business, pro-American administration I’ve perhaps seen in my adult lifetime.”
How does a hedge fund manager who’s made billions for himself and others get so conned by a guy who filed for bankruptcy four times, including with casinos he owned? Blinded by reality, whipped up by sheer madness over DEI in the workplace and driven by a “wokeness” witch hunt—all of which pales in comparison to what they’re facing now—people like Ackman deluded themselves. We’ve seen it repeatedly.
But no more, not when they’re losing billions. Having thought that Trump would never really inflict this much damage—it was all a negotiating tool, right?—they now see that Trump will do exactly what he promises to do.
Just as Trump said during campaign rallies, he’d use the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport migrants, even though it’s only to be used in wartime. Just as he said he’d deport between 11 and 18 million people, which would have to include millions of hard-working, law-abiding people who’ve been in this country for decades, even though defenders said it would only be criminals—”the worst of the worst.”
We’ve now had Venezuelan migrants, people who committed no crimes, sent to the brutal El Salvador mega-prison CECOT. And the conservatives on the Supreme Court that Trump himself created just ruled that, yeah, it was wrong, that those people deserve due process—but told plaintiffs they made a procedural error in challenging it in Washington rather than Texas, and have to start over, while Trump can attempt to resume the deportation flights. As if we’re in normal times.
The women on the court—the three liberals and Amy Coney Barrett—offered a blistering dissent, with Justice Sotomayor suggesting this was opening the door to sending any of us to a mega-prison outside the country and then have the courts deal with it when they get around to it.
That abominable action itself doesn’t spare the Trump defenders-turned-critics from the harsh criticism they should receive at having helped elect this madman. But it’s still a good thing we’re seeing them breaking. It may not last, but fractures are always an opportunity through which opponents can drive a wedge.
And Democrats are taking advantage. Coming off of a big win in Wisconsin and over-performing in Florida, they’re aiming for Virginia’s general elections later this year and are now targeting many more House seats on the map held by Republicans, including in districts Trump won by double digits.
On top of the recent surge by Democrats at the polls, the nationwide protests on Sunday sent a clear message. Millions in big cities and small towns across rural America spoke up. And it came as Trump is losing the support of some of his previously most ardent defenders.
Even as he’s engaging in horribly dangerous actions in these first 100 days, and as the GOP sits by or cheers him on, we should recognize that Trump is floundering big time. The opportunity is there for Democrats to hit him hard, and band together with others to take Trump and the GOP down.
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