Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene attends pro-Trump supporters rally at New York criminal court on April 4, 2023 during appearance by Former President Donald Trump Jr, Image via Shutterstock.
As President Donald Trump's approval ratings plummet, "one of the greatest and most destructive cons in American history" is about to fall, writes USA Today's Rex Huppke.
This fall, Huppke says, is "going to be spectacular" as Trump remains "horrendously unpopular and [a] swiftly deteriorating lame duck focused more on building a glitzy ballroom or possibly invading Venezuela than on making life better for Americans."
According to the most recent Gallup poll, Trump’s approval rating was at 36 percent and his disapproval rating was at 60 percent —a new second term low.
"Anywhere you look, this is the second worst for a president of either party at this point in their second term, dating all the way back since the 1940s," CNN data analyst Harry Enten said Monday.
The worst, Huppke notes, was Richard Nixon.
"As Trump’s decade-plus time as captain of the MAGA cruise ship winds its way into infamy, it appears the rats are either fleeing the ship or gearing up to fight over scraps in the galley," Huppke writes.
Noting the breaks between Trump and former loyalists like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Huppke lists Republicans who won't be seeking reelection including Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX), Sens. Joni Ernst (R-IA), Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Mitch McConnell (R-KY).
"GOP Reps. Elise Stefanik (NY), Nancy Mace (SC), Andy Biggs (AZ) and Byron Donalds (FL) are just some of the Republican lawmakers bailing to enter their states’ gubernatorial races," Huppke adds.
Huppke says they're all looking for the exit signs.
"It’s clear Republicans are fearful of a midterm elections wipe out, and with good reason. Even the popular bro-oriented podcasters who boosted Trump in the 2024 election are losing faith," he notes.
"Theo Von and Joe Rogan have railed against Trump’s cruel deportation push," Huppke explains. "And podcaster Andrew Schulz said: 'I voted for none of this. He’s doing the exact opposite of everything I voted for.'"
Meanwhile, Trump remains isolated from the actual reality of what is happening around him.
"Trump is oblivious to all this, and it appears he either doesn’t care or his handlers are keeping him in a good-news-only bubble, fooling the 79-year-old into believing that everything he does – from possible war crimes in international waters to bulldozing one-third of the White House to make room for an absurdly massive ballroom – is wildly popular," Huppke writes.
The MAGA movement, he writes, "has always been a fragile coalition of grifters and opportunists who only care about the attention economy," and that means there is a breaking point for the president.
"A point at which there’s more attention to be gained from opposing or abandoning him than there is from kissing his butt," Huppke says.
Greene, for instance, didn't suddenly sprout a conscience, he writes, but instead "placed her bet that the attention economy is going to shift away from the president, and I think she’s right."
And more will follow her, he says, "as Trump spirals and the scoundrels surrounding him delude themselves into thinking they’ll be the next MAGA king."
The end for MAGA is nigh, Huppke says, as Trump, "the singular head of the MAGA snake," withers in popularity.
"Without Trump, or with a Trump made small by decisive public disapproval, MAGA is a pack of largely untalented, utterly unqualified and decidedly unappealing snake-oil peddlers. Its 'leaders' will devour themselves, and it will be fun as the dickens to watch," he says.
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