One expert says President Donald Trump "knows he's in trouble" given how voters are perceiving his management of the economy, and that Republicans in Congress are fighting an uphill battle to stay in power after this fall's midterm elections.
In a Friday segment on MS NOW, former CNN host John Harwood – who is now a distinguished fellow at Duke University — said Americans connect the poor economy "directly" to Trump's tariffs on U.S. trade partners. He noted that despite Trump campaigning to undo economic conditions under former President Joe Biden "on day one," most Americans' conditions "have gotten a little worse" since Trump's second term began. He added that Trump's lack of focus on kitchen-table issues has only built up more resentment among the public.
"People can seethat they've gotten worsebecause of things he has done.He has done including thesetariff policies. And they alsosee that he's not focused ontheir issues," Harwood said. "... He'sfocused on pardons, on startinga war with Venezuela, onrenaming the Kennedy Center anddoing all sorts of things thatare not about the pocketbook ofthe average person."
Currently, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is weighing whether to uphold Trump's tariffs that he imposed under the International Economic Emergency Powers Act (IEEPA) of 1977. Harwood predicted that Republicans would secretly "be delighted" if SCOTUS invalidated Trump's tariffs, as it would improve the economy and " reduce some of the crazy uncertainty that businesses have to deal with." Still, Harwood observed that the jobs market would likely remain difficult for Americans looking for full-time employment in 2026, and that those Americans would hold that against the GOP majority in November.
"Americans knowthat jobs are harder to get nowthan they were a year ago. Thelabor market has cooled downconsiderably. There hasn't beenmuch job creation lately," he said. "You can't talk peopleout of that, just like youcan't talk them into thinkingthat their grocery costs havegone down."
"We're not in awhat economists calla recession because the GDP isstill growing," he continued. "But for allpractical purposes, a jobsrecession is what ordinary Americans think of as arecession, right? ... It's going in the wrongdirection and it's going in thewrong direction as they headinto an election year.Republicans know it. This isone of the reasons why Democrats are headed for astrong midterm election unlessthings change."
Watch Harwood's segment below: