Changing fortunes of President Trump

President Trump has become a liability to his own party and indeed country.

A dark shadow is hanging over the prospects of Republican candidates in the November 4 midterm elections to the US Congress. This is the omnipresence of President Donald Trump in the campaign. The Trump administration in its second term has lost its earlier connect even with US voters who have consecutively voted for Trump three times, his first and third successful Presidential bids and his second bid, in which he lost to Joe Biden.

There is a disenchantment and discontent with Trump as a consequence of several factors. The first is the high rate of inflation across the grocery shelves that has been caused by his quirky tariff and trade policies. The other is the reality of his war with Iran all but lost, in the sense that the IRGC has been able to spike up the prices of fuel, principally diesel, by its hold over the Strait of Hormuz and by the Houthi hold over the lower chokepoint for sea transportation of fuel. The Houthis are a proxy of Iran, as is Hezbollah in Lebanon.

High prices and static, if not reduced, pay checks have generated substantial unease even among the diehard backers of President Trump. Another is his loss of credibility, prophesying that the Strait of Hormuz would open “in three days” or “immediately” and nothing of the sort thereafter happens. Florid and bombastic language projected into the homes of voters through television cannot compensate for the lesser pay checks and greater costs of living of the average US consumer. As for President Trump, from the financially lofty heights of his billionaire status, he sees no “Affordability Crisis” at all. If he can afford higher prices, so should the average US voter, is his logic.

You Might Be Interested In

It is not a perception but reality that the Trump administration is run by the billionaires for the billionaires, a fact visible in real time to all voters. The peripatetic Trump shuttles everywhere in the luxurious Air Force 1 gifted to him by the Emir of Qatar. Much of the time of the US President is spent not on the ground in the Oval Office of the White House but in the air. Judging by his speeches, President Trump is in denial about the factual economic situation, and constantly talks up his policies and the effects they are having on the US economy. In matters of foreign policy, he had promised to end the Russia-Ukraine war in a single day when he was campaigning for the US Presidency in 2024.