President Donald Trump gestures after returning from attending a rally at Macomb Community College to mark his 100th day in office, at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, April 29, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
President Donald Trump's "staggeringly corrupt" new push to release "slopaganda" ads is not a sign of his power, according to a new analysis from The New Republic; it is actually him realizing that if his "goose isn’t cooked yet, the pot is at least boiling."
Trump raised alarms over the past few weeks with a new wave of ads touting little more than himself and his own image, all funded by the government using tax dollars. The ads were widely condemned as illegal, given the use of government funds to create political messaging, and poorly conceived in the run-up to the midterms, given that voters are keen to punish Republicans for Trump's failures.
Digging into the situation in a new piece published Saturday, New Republic deputy editor Jason Linkins argued that these ads should not be seen as "some kind of flex, or one more scandalous abuse of the public trust" from Trump. Rather, he suggested that they exposed Trump's "desperation" in the face of impending failure.
"I also think, if anything, this fusillade of propaganda will likely backfire," Linkins wrote. "These ads haven’t generated good news for Trump; very few people outside of the administration and its obvious sycophants have tried to defend them. Moreover, the media seems resistant to give this story the 'both sides' treatment. As with Trump’s 25-minute prime-time ramble last July, the political press seems wise to what’s going on. Of that aforementioned speech, TNR editor Michael Tomasky said, the overall reaction to the president’s attempt to shine us on 'tells us that that power he had over people and institutions a year or 15 months ago has evanesced.' I think these PSAs do little else than advertise that fact."
These ads, Linkins continued, are also just another part of the gradually building storm that looks set to wipe out the GOP in the midterms. Among the other issues, he explained, is Trump's plan to hold midterm rallies in states typically considered "bastions of conservatism," exposing the "tremendous peril" that the party faces as voter revolt becomes evident all over the country. These issues, along with the president's tumbling approval ratings and leaks exposing how frustrated Republicans have become with him, are "all adding up to defeat."
"The Cook Political Report says a Democratic takeover of the House is a 'done deal' and that winning the Senate is 'very realistic,'" Linkins concluded. "The Quinnipiac generic poll of the House has Democrats opening up a 51 percent to 39 percent lead, which are bloodbath numbers. The only headwind Democrats face is that while voters seem willing to give them their vote this year, they’re not as ready to give them their affection. Still, you’d rather be the Democrats right now than the GOP, who like Vice President JD Vance, have been left begging voters for a 'second chance' without understanding that they’ve already received that second chance— and they’ve blown it."
