Trump increasingly 'detached from reality' as he lives 'isolated existence'

In contrast to first presidency — which found him often clashing with traditional GOP conservatives he appointed to his administration — Donald Trump has made a point of surrounding himself with loyalists since returning to the White House roughly 19 and one-half months ago. This has led to what the New York Times' Maggie Haberman describes as "unusually isolated existence" during his second presidency. And according to the Daily Beast, Trump's isolation is making him increasingly "detached from reality."

The Daily Beast's Ewan Palmer reports, "Donald Trump has shielded himself from hearing about a voter backlash by being surrounded by a small group of yes-men, according to a report … He has scaled back on the rallies that have defined his political career while choosing to surround himself with a select cadre of advisers and officials. This inner circle does not tell him about his dire poll numbers, with Trump becoming increasingly unaware of how unpopular he is, (Haberman) added."

Palmer adds, "Even negative information from polling and focus groups conducted by his own team — showing how unhappy voters are with Trump's handling of the economy and rising gas prices, the war in Iran and the botched release of the Jeffrey Epstein files — is not getting through to the president."

Palmer notes that Trump is making a "frantic attempt to stop a GOP wipeout in November's midterm elections." And that includes an unprecedented midterms convention set for Wednesday and Thursday in Dallas. But "scores of Republican lawmakers," according to Palmer, are "avoiding" the event "because they believe distancing themselves from the president will improve their election chances."

"It has previously been reported that Trump is considering holding near-daily rallies in competitive states and districts in the run-up to the November 3 elections to drum up enthusiasm among his MAGA base and get voters out to the polls when he is not on the ballot," Palmer reports. "Trump told his advisers, soon after he returned to the White House, that he did not want to keep holding rallies and that part of his political career was effectively over, the (New York) Times reported."

Palmer adds, "When Trump has left the White House for domestic travel this year, some trips were tacked onto visits to places like Florida or Sterling, Virginia, or Bedminster, New Jersey, where his private golf clubs are located so that the president could play a few rounds. However, with the GOP expected to suffer brutal midterm defeats and potentially lose control of the House and the Senate, Trump is rolling the dice and returning to face a public overwhelmingly unhappy and frustrated with his performance as president."