He's acting as if the presidency is a personal platform, not an office
A presidency once defined by its disruptive energy now drifts under the weight of its own contradictions, as Donald Trump's approval collapses to 35 percent and two major diplomatic gambits — in Gaza and Iran — unravel against the hard geometry of irreconcilable demands. Where history asks a leader to reckon with consequence, Trump appears instead to be constructing monuments: to himself, to grievance, to the theater of power rather than its exercise. The midterms approach, the wars continue, and the distance between the Oval Office and the actual work of governing grows wider with each passing week.
- Trump's approval has cratered to 35 percent, with negative net ratings in 44 states including Republican strongholds Texas, Florida, and Ohio — a collapse that signals something beyond ordinary political turbulence.
- Both his Gaza peace deal and his Iran nuclear framework are dissolving, built on conditions no party has accepted and contradictions no amount of negotiating theater can paper over.
- Rather than confront these failures, Trump spent cabinet time discussing a reflecting pool renovation, while his defense secretary strained to connect the vanity project to geopolitical resolve.
- His war against political enemies is backfiring — purging John Cornyn in favor of indicted extremist Ken Paxton has placed a safe Republican Senate seat, and possibly Senate control itself, in genuine jeopardy.
- Democrats are already cutting ads using Trump's own words — 'I don't think about Americans' financial situations' — as consumer confidence hits record lows and November midterms loom.
- From a cage fight arena on the South Lawn to a proposed $250 note bearing his likeness, the presidency increasingly resembles a monument-building exercise conducted while the machinery of governance idles.
Donald Trump's presidency is buckling. His approval rating has fallen to 35 percent, and in 44 of 50 states — including Republican strongholds like Texas, Ohio, and Florida — he is now underwater. The numbers tell a story of eroding trust across every major domain: foreign policy, the economy, inflation. Yet the president appears less interested in reversing the slide than in pursuing personal projects and political vendettas.
The most consequential failures are diplomatic. The Gaza peace deal, signed with great fanfare, has stalled — Hamas remains armed, Israel has expanded territorial control, and no resolution is visible for the millions caught in the conflict. Trump is now attempting a comparable grand bargain with Iran, demanding full reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, surrender of enriched uranium, and a permanent renunciation of nuclear ambitions. Iran has not accepted these terms and is demanding the unfreezing of tens of billions in assets. Simultaneously, Trump wants Saudi Arabia and several other nations to sign the Abraham Accords — a condition the Saudis have tied to progress toward Palestinian statehood, which Netanyahu has explicitly ruled out. The architecture of the deal is built on contradictions.
What is striking is not the complexity of these failures but Trump's apparent indifference to them. During a cabinet meeting on the ongoing wars, he spent ten minutes on a reflecting pool he is rebuilding near the Lincoln Memorial. When asked about November's midterms — which will determine congressional control — he shrugged: 'I don't care about the midterms.' Days earlier he told reporters he doesn't think about Americans' financial situations. Democrats are already turning both statements into campaign material.
His domestic political maneuvering is faring no better. He purged Senator Bill Cassidy for voting to convict him over January 6, then ended John Cornyn's career by endorsing Ken Paxton — a figure who has survived impeachment, indictment, and public abandonment by his own wife. Paxton's extremism has put a reliably Republican Senate seat at risk. Republican senators, furious at Trump's decisions, left town and denied him the votes for a $1 billion White House ballroom. A judge froze a $1.776 billion fund his acting attorney general created to compensate those prosecuted for the Capitol attack.
Elsewhere, the Justice Department opened a perjury investigation into E. Jean Carroll — the woman who won a civil sexual assault case against Trump — while a cage fight arena appeared on the South Lawn and Trump sought congressional approval to put his face on a new $250 note. A judge ruled his name cannot be placed on the Kennedy Centre without legislative consent.
What accumulates across all of this is a portrait of a president increasingly untethered from governance, absorbed in monument-building and score-settling while wars grind on and public confidence drains away.
Donald Trump's presidency is collapsing under the weight of failed diplomacy, plummeting approval ratings, and a president who seems almost willfully indifferent to the wreckage accumulating around him. His approval has fallen to 35 percent, and in 44 of the 50 states—including Republican strongholds like Texas, Ohio, and Florida—his net approval rating has gone negative. Yet rather than confront these crises, Trump appears absorbed in personal grievances and vanity projects, as if the machinery of government were a stage for his own theatrical impulses.
The clearest evidence of his detachment lies in his handling of two major diplomatic initiatives that have both unraveled. His Gaza peace deal, signed last year with great fanfare, is already failing. Hamas remains unarmored. The Board of Peace has stalled. Israel has expanded its physical control over the territory, and there is no visible path toward resolution for the millions of people caught in the conflict. Now Trump is attempting a similar grand bargain with Iran, demanding that the country fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz, surrender its highly enriched uranium to the United States, and pledge never to pursue nuclear weapons. Iran has not publicly accepted these terms and is demanding that the US unfreeze tens of billions of dollars in frozen assets—a condition Trump has rejected. To complicate matters further, Trump has demanded that Pakistan, Egypt, Turkey, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia all sign the Abraham Accords and recognize Israel. The Saudis made clear after the Gaza deal that they cannot do this without progress toward a Palestinian state. Netanyahu has no intention of moving toward Palestinian statehood; his stated vision is Israeli control of all land from the river to the sea. The deal, in other words, is built on contradictions that no amount of Trump's negotiating theater can resolve.
What is striking is not the complexity of these failures but Trump's apparent indifference to them. During a cabinet meeting about the ongoing wars, Trump spent ten minutes discussing the reflecting pool he is rebuilding between the Washington and Lincoln monuments. His secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, attempted to tie this vanity project to Trump's broader claims about standing up to Iran, but the disconnect was glaring. Only 30 percent of Americans believe the decision to go to war with Iran was correct. Consumer confidence has hit a record low. On every major issue—foreign policy, the economy, inflation—Americans have lost trust in Trump's judgment. Yet when asked about the midterm elections coming in November, which will determine whether he retains control of Congress, Trump shrugged. "I don't care about the midterms," he told his cabinet. Days earlier, he told reporters, "I don't think about Americans' financial situations." The ads are already being cut for Democrats to use against him.
Beyond foreign policy, Trump is waging a second war—against his political enemies—and losing that one too. He has purged two sitting Republican senators. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who voted to convict Trump for his role in the January 6 insurrection, was defeated in pre-selection by Trump's chosen candidate. Last week, Trump ended the career of veteran senator John Cornyn by endorsing Ken Paxton, a figure who has endured impeachment, indictment, and erasure by his own wife from their marriage. Paxton's extremism has put what should be a safe Republican seat—and Senate control itself—in jeopardy. Trump's acting attorney general, Todd Blanche, established a special fund of $1.776 billion to compensate political victims, including those prosecuted for the Capitol attack. A judge has frozen the fund. Republican senators were so angered by Trump's decisions that they left town, leaving his $1 billion request for a new ballroom at the White House without the votes to pass.
Meanwhile, the Justice Department announced that E. Jean Carroll, who won a civil case against Trump for sexual assault and was awarded tens of millions in damages, is now being investigated for perjury—by the same man whose own testimony under oath did not prevent his conviction for assaulting her. Trump has also erected a cage fight arena on the South Lawn of the White House, the first violent combat spectacle on those grounds since the British burned the mansion in 1814. He wants Congress to change the law so his face can appear on a new $250 note commemorating 1776. A judge has just ruled that Trump's name cannot be affixed to the Kennedy Centre without congressional approval.
What emerges from this catalog of failures and obsessions is a portrait of a president untethered from the actual work of governance, consumed instead by personal vendettas and the construction of monuments to himself. The midterms are coming. The wars are not ending. The American people have lost confidence. And Trump, it seems, has stopped paying attention.
Notable Quotes
I don't care about the midterms— Trump, to his cabinet
I don't think about Americans' financial situations— Trump, to reporters
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does Trump seem so detached from the failures piling up around him? Is he in denial, or is something else happening?
I think it's both, but also something stranger. He's built his entire identity around winning and dominance. When reality contradicts that—when deals collapse, when approval ratings crater—the easiest thing is to simply not look at it. To redirect attention to something he can control: a reflecting pool, a cage arena, his face on currency.
But that's a luxury most presidents don't have. Congress needs him. The military needs direction. People are suffering in Gaza.
Exactly. And that's what makes this moment so precarious. He's acting as if the presidency is a personal platform, not an office with actual constraints and consequences. When he tells his cabinet he doesn't care about the midterms, he's essentially saying he doesn't care whether he can actually govern after November.
The Iran deal seems designed to fail from the start. Why would he pursue it if he knows the terms are impossible?
Because he needs a win. The Gaza deal is collapsing. His approval is in free fall. An Iran deal—any Iran deal—would let him claim victory, at least for a moment. The fact that it won't hold doesn't matter to him. The announcement is the thing.
And the purging of Republican senators? That seems like self-sabotage.
It is. He's choosing loyalty and revenge over Senate control. Ken Paxton is so extreme that a safe Republican seat is now competitive. Trump would rather have a Senate he can't control but filled with people who worship him than a functional chamber with independent voices. It's the logic of a cult leader, not a president.
What happens in November?
That's the real question. If Democrats take the Senate, Trump loses what little legislative power he has left. But he seems almost indifferent to that possibility. He's already moved on to the next spectacle.