Is Trump losing the plot?
This story appeared in The Logoff, a daily newsletter that helps you stay informed about the Trump administration without letting political news take over your life. Subscribe here.
Welcome to The Logoff: One year after returning to the White House, Donald Trump is more unconstrained — and unpopular — than ever.
What’s happening? Trump dedicated nearly two hours on Tuesday to a rambling, dishonest press conference touting his record over the past year and free-associating about everything from gas prices to his childhood in Queens. Tonight, he will depart for Davos, Switzerland, where he will speak to many of the leaders of a world order in shambles.
Why does this matter? About a month ago, Trump gave an equally strange primetime address, albeit in a different register (shouty, rather than mumbling). At the time, my colleague Zack Beauchamp wrote that it revealed Trump was flailing against political gravity. That remains objectively true — Trump’s approval ratings are abysmal — but whether Trump realizes he’s losing the public (or cares) is less certain. And a delusional Trump may be even more dangerous than a flailing one.
What’s the context? Over the weekend, Trump reiterated his threats against Greenland in a message to Norway’s prime minister, citing the Nobel Peace Prize as part of his rationale. He also threatened tariffs against European nations that opposed his move on Greenland. We additionally learned more details about Trump’s proposed Board of Peace, which would resemble a quasi-UN with Trump at its head; and on Tuesday, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney warned about a “rupture” of the US-led world order.
What’s the big picture? In the short term, Trump clearly feels that he can do what he wants. This is as true for Greenland as it is for his attack on Venezuela, or his heavy-handed use of force against Minneapolis residents.
But his increasingly total assertions of power at home and abroad can distract from the fact that there’s a lot Trump can’t change, including how the country feels about him (on Tuesday, he suggested maybe his “bad public relations people” were at fault). With the midterms approaching, it doesn’t seem like he has any plans to figure it out.
And with that, it’s time to log off…
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Lastly, a good thing: It is Penguin Awareness Day. Did you know this is what Magellanic penguins sounds like?