A Second Term We Might Regret Forever

Trump hails six months of chaos as history-making. But the numbers don’t lie; his second term isn’t a revival. It’s a slow-motion collapse in real time.

Guest article by Michael Cohen

Six months. That’s all it took for President Trump to once again declare himself the savior of a broken nation—one he insists was “dead” just a year ago. I wish I could say I was surprised. I wish I could tell you this was new. But I’ve seen this movie before; hell, I helped co-write the damn script the first time.

Yesterday, Trump took to his self-congratulatory echo chamber, Truth Social, to mark what he considers a historic milestone. “Wow, time flies!” he posted. “Today is the sixth-month anniversary of my second term. Importantly, it’s being hailed as one of the most consequential periods of any President.” And because no Trumpian word salad is complete without apocalyptic flair, he added: “Six months is not a long time to have totally revived a major country. One year ago our country was dead, with almost no hope of revival.”

Let me stop you right there, Donald. Revived? According to whom? Because while your inner circle is busy popping champagne corks and flooding cable news with talk of your “unmatched accomplishments,” the numbers—the ones that weren’t pulled out of some poll conducted poolside at Mar-a-Lago—paint a much grimmer, more honest picture.

Let’s look at the facts—real ones, not “alternative” ones. Approval ratings across the board tell a very different story:

• Taxes: 44%

• Immigration—your so-called signature policy: 42%

• The Economy: 40%

• Foreign Affairs: 40%

• Tariffs: 39%

• Health Care: 38%

• The Federal Budget: a dismal 37%

Even with a generous margin of error, every single metric falls short of a majority. In other words: most Americans don’t approve of what this administration is doing—and why would they?

You can spin the numbers, cook the books, slap gold trim on it and scream “greatest ever!” from the top of Trump Tower, but a bad deal is still a bad deal. And this second-term reboot is looking more and more like a rerun of failure.

Now, to be fair—something this administration has no interest in—six months isn’t a long time. But it is long enough to identify a pattern. And if Trump’s first term was chaos disguised as leadership, the sequel is the same stunt, just more of it with less competent personnel.

Let’s start with immigration—because God knows Trump won’t stop talking about it. Despite Kristi Noem’s photo ops at the border, razor-wire theatrics, and promises of “roundups,” approval for Trump’s immigration policies sits at 42%. Turns out, Americans aren’t as thrilled about using the military and FEMA buses as deportation tools or shuttling asylum seekers into legal limbo zones as Fox News would have you believe.

On the economy, Trump claims he’s a “builder.” Well, right now he’s building fear and uncertainty. Tariffs—which he swore would “hurt China, not us”—are costing American families more at checkout and businesses more at the port. With approval on tariffs at a dismal 39%, the truth is bleeding through the spin: tariffs are taxes. And consumers? They’re footing the bill.

Health care? You mean the Frankenstein’s monster of deregulation, privatization, and broken promises? Thirty-eight percent approval. That’s it. Remember Trump’s line: “I alone can fix it”? Turns out he alone can break it too.

And don’t get me started on foreign affairs. From withdrawing from global partnerships to embracing authoritarian regimes while insulting our allies, his approval in this area mirrors his grasp of diplomacy: questionable, self-serving, and rooted in bravado.

Then there's the federal budget. With approval at 37%—the lowest of any issue—it’s clear Americans see through the hypocrisy. The so-called “fiscally responsible” GOP just signed off on a bloated budget riddled with corporate giveaways, defense contracts for donors, and slashed social programs for the rest of us.

But none of this—none—will be reflected in the headlines churned out by Trump’s media arm, be it Newsmax, OANN, or his ever-loyal minions on Truth Social. That platform, by the way, is less a communications tool and more a digital diary for narcissism. Trump says it's “the most consequential period of any President.” He calls his first six months a “revival.” Well, sure. A revival—for cronyism, corruption, and cult-like delusion.

What’s terrifying isn’t that he says these things. It’s that his MAGA base still believes him. I used to be one of those people; hell, I used to help him sell the fantasy. But now I see what I helped build: an empire of delusion propped up by sycophants, spineless enablers, and an audience that confuses volume for truth.

We are six months into a second term. A term born not from a mandate, but from fear, misinformation, and a broken political system that rewards spectacle over substance. The warning signs are everywhere, and yet too many Americans are shrugging their shoulders, clinging to the fantasy that this is normal.

But it's not normal. It’s dangerous. And unless we wake up, it won't just be six months lost to delusion. It'll be four more years of irreversible damage.

Remember, just because he says it’s great doesn’t make it true.
Just because he posts it doesn’t make it real.
And just because we survived the first six months doesn’t mean we’ll survive the next.

Because truth be told… if this continues, we are in trouble.

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