Brutal chart shows 'grim' issue that 'finally' caused Trump’s ratings nosedive

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U.S. President Donald Trump holds a model of an arch monument during a ballroom dinner in the East Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., October 15, 2025. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

“Unherd” writer Richard Hanania on Friday noticed a strong correlation between President Donald Trump’s recent collapse in popularity and another pertinent event in Washington, D.C.

“Trump approval finally beginning to really decline,” said Hanania on X. “Turning point was around October 27. What has been the cause?” he posted.

For X users, the connection was obvious.

“It’s actually so funny, and so grim, that it seems like the East Wing/ballroom stuff really did it lmao,” posted X user Cassie Pritchard, a union member with Starbucks Workers United since 2022.

“Demolition of the East Wing started on October 22nd. Would take a few days for that to show up in polls,” said another X user.

Former Bloomberg, Daily News and New York Post writer Robert A. George also suggested the “combination of shutdown continuing, focus on missed paychecks and SNAP benefits — plus coverage of White House ballroom/East Wing demolition.”

Critics howled as excavators and demolition teams began ripping down the East Wing in mid-October, with graphic images splashing across social media and providing a visual of perceived damage that Trump’s critics say the president was similarly doing to the nation. In her October 25 opinion column, New York Times' Maureen Dowd pointed to the demolition of the East Wing as symbolic of Trump’s broader problem.

“Trump has so little respect for this 123-year-old symbol of American history that he didn't check with federal planning officials or Congress before he obliterated one side of the White House," Dowd argued. “… Build a $300 million, 90,000-square-foot gilt ballroom — which will overshadow the central edifice — while the government is shut and people have been thrown out of work.”

“You don’t have to be a wild-eyed leftist to think all of this has a pre-French Revolution vibe,” said conservative writer William Kristol, speaking on lingering economic dissatisfaction. “… The Old Regime in France led to the Revolution of 1789. And that revolution in turn quickly produced the Reign of Terror. It was one of the architects of the Terror, Pierre Gaspard Chaumette … who … famously cited the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau: ‘When the people shall have nothing more to eat, they will eat the rich.’”

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