By Ben Meiselas
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This morning, I’ve been tracking the Trump regime, and officials appear increasingly under strain, defensive, and at odds with the public as they face headwinds from multiple fronts.
At a Turning Point USA event over the weekend, House Speaker MAGA Mike Johnson warned the crowd that if Republicans lose their House majority, Democrats will move to impeach the president and “create absolute chaos.” It was a message meant to frighten the audience into action, but it also sounded like something closer to panic.
That anxiety is borne out by the numbers. New CBS/YouGov polling shows Trump with a 41 percent approval rating and 59 percent disapproval, placing him once again at the bottom of presidential approval rankings. The most striking data point, however, is the collapse of his standing among Hispanic voters. As recently as February, Trump’s approval among that group hovered near parity, with 49 percent of Hispanic voters saying they approved of Trump compared to 51 percent disapproving. Today it has cratered to 29 percent approval and 71 percent disapproval, a net swing of roughly forty points in less than a year. That is seismic.
The cracks are not limited to polling. At the same Turning Point USA gathering, now led by Erika Kirk, a telling Freudian slip occurred. While honoring a student, Kirk stumbled over her words and briefly referred to the operation as a “grift” before quickly correcting herself: “Despite the devastating loss of Charlie Kirk, my incredible husband, at UVU, Caleb has persisted with the same grift, excuse me, grit…”
That verbal slip is now going viral. It was an accidental moment of truth from a movement that has become more about self-enrichment and power preservation than about governing.
Inside the Republican Party, the fallout is accelerating. On Friday, Elise Stefanik abruptly exited New York’s gubernatorial race and announced she was leaving politics altogether. She is not alone. Other MAGA-aligned figures are quietly signaling their intent to step away, disillusioned by what even some insiders now describe as an imploding movement.
Public anger is also being fueled by economic reality. According to the same CBS poll, only 5 percent of Americans currently rate the economy as an “A.” Roughly 70 percent give it a C or worse, with a quarter assigning it a failing grade. Yet Republican leaders continue to insist that everything is going exceptionally well. Senator Markwayne Mullin went so far as to award his party a “solid A+” for its stewardship. Trump, of course, recently gave the economy a grade of A++++. The disconnect between that rhetoric and lived experience is jarring, particularly for families grappling with rising prices and renewed inflationary pressure. And when people complain about the economy, their talking points suddenly change. Suddenly, it becomes “Biden’s economy.” Huh? Sorry MAGA, but you can’t have it both ways. This isn’t Schrödinger’s economy.
Nowhere is that disconnect more dangerous than at the Department of Justice. Under Trump’s direction, the administration has openly violated the Epstein Files Transparency Act by producing only a fraction of the required records related to Jeffrey Epstein. Roughly 5 percent of the files have been released, heavily redacted, despite a clear legal mandate to produce all unclassified materials while protecting victims’ identities.
Even within that limited release, there were notable “mistakes.” Photos showing Trump in Epstein-related materials briefly appeared before being quietly removed from the DOJ website. When NBC’s Kristen Welker pressed Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche about why those files disappeared, his explanations shifted repeatedly. He insisted the removal had nothing to do with Trump, even as he conceded that no victim had been identified in the images that prompted their takedown.
Blanche’s role raises additional concerns. He is Trump’s former criminal defense lawyer, now effectively overseeing the day-to-day operations of the Justice Department, including the Bureau of Prisons. After Blanche interviewed Ghislaine Maxwell in federal custody, Maxwell was transferred from a high-security facility to a minimum-security prison camp. Blanche declined to answer direct questions about the move, citing “security issues,” while simultaneously acknowledging that all such decisions ultimately fall under his authority.
These incidents fit a broader pattern of political interference. Career prosecutor Erik Siebert resigned after refusing to pursue baseless prosecutions of Letitia James and James Comey. He was replaced by a Trump-aligned attorney, Lindsey Halligan, whose appointment was later ruled unconstitutional by a federal judge. This Justice Department isn’t in power to protect the victims, or the American people. They are there to act as Donald Trump’s personal protection racket.
Layered onto all of this are mounting foreign policy and economic risks. The administration has seized multiple oil tankers near Venezuela, including vessels not subject to sanctions, a deliberate provocation in the region. On TV this morning, Trump’s own economic adviser Kevin Hassett accidentally conceded on national television that American companies, not foreign governments, pay tariffs, before stumbling over his words to do damage control.
The MAGA movement has never been as fragile as it is in this moment. The nation, including many Trump voters, are turning on the administration. Now it’s our job (that includes you) to continue to expose this lawless regime. The fact that we are where we are today is a testament to your resilience. So let’s keep going.
