White House staffers failing to keep Trump’s messaging on track: GOP insiders

U.S. President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 27, 2026. REUTERS/Evan Vucci

President Donald Trump continues to suffer from low approval ratings in poll after poll, including, in late May, an Economist/YouGov poll showing his approval down to 34 percent and a CNN poll showing him at 36 percent approval. And GOP insiders interviewed by MS NOW are pointing the finger at Trump White House staffers, who, they argue, are failing to keep him on track from a messaging standpoint.

Jake Traylor and Soorin Kim, reporting for MS NOW, explain, "President Donald Trump's numbers on job approval and the economy have sunk to record lows. His aides know it. His former advisers are saying so publicly. And yet, the president keeps talking about what he wants to talk about, not the issues voters say are driving their discontent — much to the White House's chagrin. As the U.S. war with Iran stretches into its fourth month — driving up gas and grocery prices and stoking inflation — Trump has instead devoted time to topics that make some of his own staff wince."

The reporters continue, "There's his latest construction projects, including the new White House ballroom and the renovation of the reflecting pool on the National Mall. There's the purge of Republican lawmakers deemed insufficiently loyal, most recently four-term Sen. John Cornyn of Texas. The SAVE America Act."

A former Trump adviser, interviewed on condition of anonymity, told MS NOW that the president's current White House advisers are "no longer effective" when it comes to keeping him on message.

The ex-adviser argued, "I think it's a failure on the part of his staff. They're not focused on the issues that Americans are focused on, which is obviously, affordability."

That MS NOW source lamented that the Trump Administration's $1.7 billion "anti-weaponization fund" and the proposed White House ballroom aren't helping Trump's popularity a bit.

The former Trump adviser complained, "While obviously, the president is going to do what the president is going to do, his staff has just so ill-prepared him or ill-informed him of the political consequences of what he's doing. It's malpractice.”

Another former Trump White House staffer, also quoted anonymously, told MS NOW, "While beautifying our nation's capital is surely important and appreciated, if you don't live, work, or visit DC, you don't really reap the benefits of the president's passion projects. What people do feel is $4.50 gas, and that's the real passion point for Americans."

A current Trump White House official told MS NOW, "There's no new messaging approach. There can be no new approach. You can't do that with (Trump)."

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