The Guardian reports that President Donald Trump has appeared to struggle to stay fully alert at public appearances, as new polling suggests voters are souring on his presidency and some Republicans are already positioning themselves for a difficult set of congressional midterms next November.
“This is a guy whose legacy may well be the political collapse of Republicans in this era,” said Larry Jacobs, director of the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at the University of Minnesota. “Put another way, rather than asking who is going to be the inheritor of the Trump mantle and the so-called MAGA movement, we may be talking in a year or so about which candidates can escape the odious distinction of having been connected with Trump.”
According to the Guardian, Trump moved quickly after his 2024 victory. The paper says that on his first day back in office he issued pardons for most people involved in the January 6 attack at the U.S. Capitol, while also pursuing a broad expansion of executive authority, retaliation against perceived opponents, and major shifts in both domestic and foreign policy.
But the Guardian describes a government-wide shakeup under DOGE that brought mass federal layoffs and the dismantling of widely supported agencies such as USAID—before DOGE ultimately “flamed out.” The report also says Trump’s immigration crackdown, despite being one of his stronger issues in polling, has begun to lose support.
Brown University political scientist Wendy Schiller argued that Trump’s tariffs have become “the greatest self-inflicted wound that the president has brought on himself and Republicans.”
“In this administration they are so much broader and more sweeping and it’s showing in supply chains, in consumer purchasing, in pricing, in every corner of people’s lives,” Schiller said. “Whether it’s a supermarket or it’s holiday gifting or whatever it is, they’re feeling it.”
The Guardian also points to rising public resistance to what it characterizes as the administration’s pressure on free speech, noting nearly 500 federal lawsuits filed during the first 11 months of Trump’s term. The report adds that the administration has suffered setbacks in court, including in cases decided by judges appointed by Republicans and by Trump himself.
“For months Trump appeared unassailable as the opposition Democratic party struggled to find its feet and protests appeared muted compared with his first term,” the Guardian reports, but says Democrats have since “appeared to regain their mojo.”
The paper suggests Republicans face a familiar political trap: assurances that the economy is strong may not match voters’ everyday experiences—especially with prices. The Guardian notes Trump has dismissed affordability concerns as a “con job,” “hoax,” and “scam” pushed by Democrats, while simultaneously planning what it describes as a $400 million White House ballroom.
Hovering over all of this, the Guardian says, is the continuing “long shadow” of the Epstein files, which it argues increasingly link Trump through his past association with a convicted sex trafficker and add to perceptions that he is out of touch. The report cites a Gallup poll from last month showing Trump’s approval at 36%—the lowest of his second term—while disapproval rose to 60%.
“The omens for November 2026 are grim,” the Guardian writes, pointing to the historical pattern of the president’s party losing ground in midterm elections. It says Democrats appear newly energized to limit Trump’s power—and that some Republicans are already distancing themselves from a president they worry could drag them down.
Patrick Gaspard, a former aide to Barack Obama and a former director of the White House office of political affairs, told the Guardian that “Trump has run out of runway on Joe Biden,” after benefiting early on from blaming his predecessor.
“But now, by a margin of two to one, voters hold Trump rather than Biden responsible for the outcomes in the economy and that’s got to be pretty scary for [House speaker] Mike Johnson and company,” Gaspard said.
