Trump’s poll – As President Donald Trump’s approval rating drops into the 30s, congressional Republicans say he is hanging them out to dry—fueling anger over projects they view as corrupt and out of touch, including a Justice Department plan for a $1.8 billion slush fund for
President Donald Trump may still talk like he’s certain he’s wildly popular—but the political math around him is getting harsher by the day.
He has long insisted his poll numbers are fantastic. bristled at any survey that suggests otherwise. and framed his claims as consensus: “When people hear me say it. everybody agrees.” Yet the current reality in Washington is different. Congressional Republicans are increasingly feeling that Trump is leaving them exposed. making himself less popular “on an almost daily basis” for what they see as increasingly personal. petty. and strategically costly reasons.
Trump’s approval rating has “plunged into the 30s,” and the frustration isn’t confined to Democrats. Americans, the piece notes, think the economy is terrible—and Trump appears indifferent to that mood. Instead. he is backing a cluster of initiatives that two-thirds of the public oppose or that critics paint as questions of corruption and disconnect.
The list starts with what it calls his “gold-plated ballroom,” which two-thirds of the public opposes. It continues with a “gargantuan arch” he wants to build in Virginia. Then comes the Justice Department announcement that has become the sharpest point of conflict inside the party: the creation of a $1.8 billion slush fund for supporters who say the government was mean to them.
The plan goes further than Republicans—and even some of Trump’s allies—can comfortably ignore. It is described as including people who “rampaged through the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.” For many in Congress, that crosses a moral line.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell reacted with blunt scorn. saying: “So the nation’s top law enforcement official is asking for a slush fund to pay people who assault cops?” He followed up with a judgment that the proposal was “Utterly stupid. morally wrong — take your pick.” When Blanche met with Republican senators to discuss it. the response is described as “incredibly hostile. ” with the account adding that the meeting played out amid deep skepticism.
Add those fights to an already unpopular backdrop—an unpopular war and unpopular gas prices—and the message from within the Republican ranks is starting to sound less like disagreement and more like panic. One Republican senator, quoted in the piece, put it plainly: “Our majority is melting down before our eyes.”.
What makes that melting-down feel urgent is the sense that Trump isn’t trying to protect Republican leverage. Instead, the piece argues that Trump has chosen revenge over stabilization—using political discipline against fellow Republicans who cross him.
The account traces that discipline through specific purges. It describes state senators in Indiana who declined his order to redraw their congressional maps. It points to Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, saying he voted to remove Trump after Jan. 6. It also cites Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, described as a far-right libertarian who helped force the release of the Epstein files. In each case, the article frames the action not as routine politics, but as punishment for defiance.
The piece also suggests that Trump’s approach is winning—at least electorally in the way primaries work—because the most intense partisans dominate and voters with doubts about Trump are more likely to sit out. But the cost. in the view of the Republicans described here. is being paid by everyone else: by the incumbents who now have to defend a party message that looks to many like it’s being driven by Trump’s personal agenda. even as his numbers fall and the public’s attention turns sharper.
Donald Trump approval rating congressional Republicans Justice Department slush fund Jan. 6 Mitch McConnell gold-plated ballroom Virginia arch Indiana redistricting Bill Cassidy Thomas Massie