{"id":12215,"date":"2026-04-24T05:17:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T05:17:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2026\/04\/24\/trumps-presidency-is-crumbling-the-gop-will-as-well-opinion-usa-today\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T05:17:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T05:17:08","slug":"trumps-presidency-is-crumbling-the-gop-will-as-well-opinion-usa-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2026\/04\/24\/trumps-presidency-is-crumbling-the-gop-will-as-well-opinion-usa-today\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump’s presidency is crumbling. The GOP will as well. | Opinion – USA Today"},"content":{"rendered":"

Updated April 23, 2026, 9:16 p.m. ET<\/p>\n

\n

There has always been one thing, and one thing only, that President Donald Trump<\/a> is good at: lying. He has conned and audaciously dissembled his way into a fortune and into two terms as president, always leaving chaos in his wake.<\/p>\n

Well, it appears the tornadic chaos of the moment \u2013 war with Iran<\/a>, high gas and food prices<\/a>, a president with a Caesar complex<\/a> \u2013 has finally overwhelmed Trump\u2019s lies, rendering him impotent against collapsing poll numbers<\/a> and setting the Republican Party up for disaster in the coming midterm elections.<\/p>\n

A poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research<\/a> released April 21 showed only 30% of Americans approve of Trump\u2019s handling of the economy, something that was once his strong suit. That\u2019s down from only 38% approving in March.<\/p>\n

In the same poll<\/a>, a whopping 72% of Americans say the country is heading in the wrong direction, and the president\u2019s overall approval rating is a dismal 33%.<\/p>\n

Many Americans feel betrayed by Trump’s lies and unmet promises<\/h2>\n
\"President<\/figure>\n

In a story about its poll, the AP quoted<\/a> Kathryn Bright, a 60-year-old retired U.S. Air Force captain who supported Trump in the last election: \u201cI feel disgusted with myself, I feel betrayed, like he was a wolf in sheep\u2019s clothing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ouch. Accurate, but still ouch.<\/p>\n

A new Strength In Numbers\/Verasight poll found<\/a>: \u201cTrump\u2019s net approval on prices\/inflation has fallen to -46, the worst rating on any issue we have ever recorded.\u201d<\/p>\n

That poll also found that voters prefer Democrats over Republicans<\/a> by a 7-point margin.<\/p>\n

Trump’s poll numbers are circling the drain<\/h2>\n

Trump has turned Americans against his deportation policies, with a Reuters\/Ipsos poll released April 22 showing<\/a> 52% of Americans less likely to support a candidate who embraces Trump\u2019s mass deportation plans. Only 42% said they\u2019re more likely to support a candidate who is in line with the president\u2019s draconian approach to immigration.<\/p>\n

With approval ratings in the mid-30s, Trump is well into the dreadful range of George W. Bush<\/a> during his second term, another president who got the United States embroiled in a war in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/a><\/p>\n

But what stands out in this particular moment is the failure of Trump\u2019s usually reliable ability to convince a large swath of America that up is down or that bad is good.<\/p>\n

Lying worked so well for Trump. Now it’s failing him.<\/h2>\n
\"A<\/figure>\n

He keeps telling us that the war in Iran is going swimmingly<\/a>, that we have dominated the enemy, that he is in complete control and that everything will be over soon. But none of that is true, and Iranian leaders appear to be playing him like a fiddle<\/a>, leveraging their control over the Strait of Hormuz to spike gas prices here at home and outmaneuver Trump in ceasefire talks.<\/p>\n

He keeps telling Americans that things have never been better, like in this April 17 social media post<\/a>: \u201cThe U.S.A. is the \u2018HOTTEST\u2019 Country in the World right now. Just a short time ago, under Sleepy Joe Biden, IT WAS DEAD, LAUGHED AT ALL OVER THE WORLD!!! But not anymore \u2012 Nobody\u2019s laughing!!!\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s right that nobody\u2019s laughing, but that\u2019s certainly not because we\u2019re the \u201cHOTTEST\u201d country in the world. Americans are struggling. Trump hasn\u2019t brought down food prices as he promised, and his unnecessary and wildly unpopular attack on Iran has pushed gas prices through the roof.<\/p>\n

Even our once-strong allies in Canada have turned on us, with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney saying recently<\/a>, “Many of our former strengths, based on our close ties to America, have become weaknesses. Weaknesses that we must correct.”<\/p>\n

Tucker Carlson is latest of Trump’s supporters to flee like rats<\/h2>\n
\"Republican<\/figure>\n

Meanwhile, a quick stroll through the president\u2019s Truth Social page<\/a> shows he\u2019s primarily focused on posting self-aggrandizing artificial intelligence slop, worrying about his precious White House ballroom project and insisting everything is perfect.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Trump is now seeing high-profile departures from his clown car of avid right-wing supporters. Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson<\/a>, the thing you would get if the word \u201cdisingenuous\u201d took human form, recently said he regrets supporting Trump: \u201cWe’ll be tormented by it for a long time. I will be. And I want to say I’m sorry for misleading people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has bailed, as have Megyn Kelly and Candace Owens<\/a>. Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene saw the light<\/a> before most and hopped off the Trump Train, her opportunistic finger sensing which way the political winds would blow.<\/p>\n

As more Americans turn on Trump, Republicans face likely midterm doom<\/h2>\n

There\u2019s a point when even the most deluded among us, those Trump pulled so effectively into his vast web of lies and false promises, cannot reconcile their reality with the president\u2019s fiction. I think we\u2019ve reached that point, which explains why Trump has recently seemed more unhinged than usual. The magic trick isn\u2019t working. He\u2019s flailing.<\/p>\n

That spells almost certain doom for Republicans in November\u2019s midterm elections. GOP candidates now face a choice of either siding with a broadly disliked president who has suckered the American people, or running from that president and being torched by his ire and the hate and threats that will invariably come from the dwindling-in-number-but-still-loud MAGA loyalists.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll pardon me if I don\u2019t feel bad for the Republicans. They invited a liar extraordinaire into their parlor and let him sell them the politics of cruelty, dishonesty and scams.<\/p>\n

But when the lying stops working, it all crumbles. And it\u2019s looking increasingly likely the GOP will be well and deservedly crumbled come November.<\/p>\n

Follow\u00a0USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke\u00a0on Bluesky at\u00a0@rexhuppke.bsky.social<\/a>\u00a0and on Facebook at\u00a0facebook.com\/RexIsAJerk<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Updated April 23, 2026, 9:16 p.m. ET There has always been one thing, and one thing only, that President Donald Trump is good at: lying. He has conned and audaciously dissembled his way into a fortune and into two terms as president, always leaving chaos in his wake. Well, it appears the tornadic chaos of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12215\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}