There’s no way to redeem Trump’s dismal second presidency

The Trump presidency is over. Those words seem harsh and, perhaps, overstated. But Donald Trump is governing without the consent of the governed. Most polls show Trump’s approval hovering around the 40 percent mark. But behind these numbers is a presidency in distress. On handling inflation and the cost of living and immigration — issues that matter to voters — Trump has dismal scores. 

In 2024, voters elected Trump to do four things: curb inflation, restore the economic conditions that prevailed before the COVID-19 pandemic, deport individuals living in the U.S. illegally with criminal records and keep the U.S. out of any possible forever wars. He has failed on all counts. His tariffs have raised prices, inflation persists, Immigration and Customs Enforcement is deporting people indiscriminately and Trump has started a war of choice with Iran.  

Trump’s first term ended when he proved unable to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic. Just a few weeks after the country shutdown, Trump promised that by Easter there would be “packed churches all over our country.” Even though Trump knew the virus was easily transmittable, he sought to bend reality to his liking. It didn’t work. 

Today, Trump is doing the same thing. In his 2026 State of the Union Address, he bragged that “prices were plummeting downward.” That does not comport with the stark realities of drivers who must get to work, the truck drivers completing their runs or farmers purchasing diesel fuel. Rising prices posted on gas stations are a daily advertisement of Trump’s failures.  

Presidents are remembered by the images the public associates with them. Think of Lyndon Johnson’s haggard appearance upon leaving office. Or a beleaguered Richard Nixon announcing that he wasn’t a crook. Or a worn-out Jimmy Carter declaring a crisis of confidence. 

The images associated with Trump have now come into focus. Renee Good and Alex Pretti were murdered on the streets of Minneapolis by federal immigration officials. Persons of color are fearful of being seized by masked ICE agents. Terrorized children are held in cages. Dead and wounded soldiers are returning from a war Trump started in the Middle East.  

Those images will be forever associated with Trump. While he still wins support from true believers, most Americans have turned on him. Hispanics who supported Trump in 2024 are repelled by his immigration policies and have deserted the Republican Party in places like Texas. Sixty-seven percent of independents, the group of voters that decides elections, disapprove of Trump’s performance. 

An old rule of politics says how you win determines how you govern. Trump’s strategy has been to rely exclusively on GOP support. But the Trump coalition is fracturing. Only 1 in 4 Republicans approve of Trump’s actions in Iran. According to an analysis by G. Elliott Morris, young, non-white and low-income members of Trump’s coalition are between 2 and 5 times more likely to disapprove of Trump’s job performance than Republicans.  

Some presidents with low ratings recover because they can change the subject. Following the Iran-Contra affair, Ronald Reagan returned to his value-laden themes of family, work, neighborhood, peace and freedom. The public’s affection for Reagan helped restore his standing: In 1987, 66 percent said they liked Reagan personally, according to the Roper Center Polling Library. Bill Clinton took a leaf from Reagan’s playbook after the drubbing he received in the 1994 midterms and declared that “the era of big government is over.” In 1996, he won an easy victory over Bob Dole. 

Presidents who don’t recover can’t change the subject. Johnson couldn’t get the public’s mind off the Vietnam War. Nixon was undone by the daily revelations of the Watergate scandal. Carter couldn’t get the public’s mind off the hostages in Iran. George W. Bush became mired in Iraq. Joe Biden couldn’t escape the harrowing images of U.S. troops and refugees leaving Afghanistan. 

Try as he might, Trump finds himself unable to turn the public’s attention away from surging gas and grocery prices, masked ICE agents patrolling the streets, the Epstein files and now, the war in Iran. Ever the salesman, Trump likes to pitch an ideal version of reality that compels the prospective buyer to enter his world. But the reality Trump creates in his own mind is at odds with what voters know to be true.  

For the next two years, Trump will retain the powers of the presidency. He can veto bills, issue pardons and executive orders and even wage war. But he will govern without the consent of the governed. As Abraham Lincoln famously observed: “Public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment, nothing can fail; without it nothing can succeed.” 

Trump cannot recover his political standing. His presidency is over. 

John Kenneth White is a professor emeritus at The Catholic University of America. His latest book is titled “Grand Old Unraveling: The Republican Party, Donald Trump, and the Rise of Authoritarianism,” and he can be found on Substack @johnwhite272113.