Trump's desperate 'gimmicks' are crashing 'like a lead balloon': analysis

President Donald Trump has become reliant on big "gimmicks" as the midterms look increasingly like a disaster for the GOP, as a new piece from MS NOW detailed, but these ideas are crashing "like a lead balloon" as voters and lawmakers soundly reject them.

Writing for the outlet on Monday morning, journalist Paul Waldman detailed the various ideas Trump has tossed at the wall in order to entice people to vote Republican in the midterms, as almost every poll and metric indicates that the party will be wiped out by Democrats, and with many voters explicitly planning to vote in a way that punishes the president.

"It was only a couple of weeks ago, at the Republican Party’s midterm convention, that President Donald Trump made a dramatic promise," Waldman wrote. "If Republicans retain control of Congress in November, he will deliver a $5,000 check to every American adult. Yet even though 99.99 percent of people could use an extra five grand, GOP candidates aren’t talking about it in their speeches, putting it in their TV ads or recording social media videos about it. In fact, Trump himself seems to have realized that the idea went over like a lead balloon. And even as he continues to search for a last-minute gimmick to reverse Republicans’ midterm fortunes, reality may be setting in, even in the Oval Office."

He continued: "The latest idea Trump expressed interest in was a temporary ban on diesel exports. That proposal, pushed primarily by Republicans in the Midwest, at least has the benefit of identifying a genuine problem. Diesel prices are at their highest point in history — averaging more than $6.50 per gallon — and the increased fuel costs affect prices for just about everything Americans buy."

This new idea, as well, immediately crashed into reality, with experts warning that an export ban would not move diesel prices and would have the knock-on effect of creating more global energy turmoil. As Waldman explained, it joined the checks and the beef import gambit on the list of desperate Trump ideas that either "backfired" or "were simply shoved to the back burner."

Explaining the situation further, Waldman proposed two reasons why these ideas were not working. Firstly, he argued, voters have finally gotten wise to the fact that Trump's many rosy promises are largely empty.

"After all, in 2024 he stood in front of a table full of groceries and said, 'When I win, I will immediately bring prices down, starting on Day 1,' and promised that in his first year in office, 'I will cut the price of energy and electricity in half,'" he explained. No surprise then that two years on, one poll finds only 13% of voters believe Trump genuinely intends to send Americans $5,000 each."

Waldman added: "Second, it’s hard to overstate just how disgusted the American electorate is with the president right now. Not only are his overall approval ratings in the 30s, but in some polls, a majority of voters say they strongly disapprove of his performance. In the latest Strength in Numbers/Verasight poll, for instance, 50% of respondents strongly disapprove of Trump’s performance, while only 15% strongly approve. Even the MAGA base is apparently struggling to retain its enthusiasm."