Trump's Power, Voter Disillusionment, and Societal Anxiety

Key Quotes

"We're at the 532nd second episode of Donald Trump is finished and so I look a lot of people are seeing some things that are really bad for Donald Trump his polls are down slightly the Republicans have lost every major election in the last year there was the Indiana representative standing up to him with impunity hanging together and to me one of the most interesting facts is that 20 of Trump voters think Donald Trump is responsible for the economy."

David Brooks observes that despite a narrative of Donald Trump's imminent downfall, the evidence suggests a more nuanced picture. Brooks highlights that while polls may be down and Republicans have lost elections, a significant portion of Trump voters still credit him with economic success, indicating a resilience in his base.

"I think there is a reasonable majority in the country one of the reasons I use that phrase is because a lot of people out there who voted for Trump were not part of the MAGA base were not kind of fooled in quotes by Donald Trump they were people who were mad about the cost of living and in some cases angry about immigration particularly what was happening at the southern border they weren't necessarily sold on Trump and most of those people have taken a look at what has happened in the last year and they have just moved away they've said this is not what we voted for."

E.J. Dionne argues that a "reasonable majority" of Americans, including some who voted for Trump, are disengaging from him. Dionne suggests these voters were motivated by economic concerns and immigration, not necessarily by deep-seated support for Trump, and have since been alienated by his actions and focus.

"The more I'm around young people the more terrified I get and there's a fair bit of evidence that we used to think bigotry is on old people old people are bigoted but now there's more bigotry among young people 25 of young adults say they have an unfavorable opinion of Jewish people 20 say that Jews have too much power and if this is not about Israel they're not saying Israelis have too much power and so they're saying Jews have too much power and so somehow they're in online spaces and my son tells me about this all the time that are just rabidly anti-semitic and it becomes a norm and that's become a norm."

David Brooks expresses concern about rising antisemitism, particularly among young people. Brooks notes that data suggests a growing unfavorable opinion of Jewish people and a belief that they hold too much power, indicating a normalization of antisemitic views, potentially fueled by online spaces.

"The more common word is anxiety yes no I think that's right it's interesting you say that a friend of mine was talking to a CEO he works with and the CEO said you know besides Trump of course giving himself a a on the economy he doesn't inspire people to feel that things are great that things are good he tends to have very angry negative rhetoric that I think actually hurts I think there's enormous anxiety in the country and some of it and David has written about this quite a lot about there's a lot of loneliness social isolation in the country but I also think that there's an economic component."

Robert Siegel, reflecting on the national mood, highlights widespread anxiety that is not alleviated by current leadership. Siegel points to negative rhetoric and social isolation as contributing factors, alongside economic concerns, suggesting a general unease that transcends specific policy issues.

"And I think, you know, but I do think there are some real things you mentioned the data centers driving up the cost of electricity Cheryl in New Jersey ran on promised to freeze electricity prices for a while while they get a handle on it that's real I think housing in especially in the big metros which tend to be blue is a real problem but childcare healthcare and in some cases transportation that is a real problem the price of cars is a real problem higher education and higher ed has been and so I think that while it's true that we had high inflation for about a year and then it started to dissipate but prices tend not to go down on a lot of things and so these are real concerns and they are things that I think are potentially responsive to policy and to political arguments."

E.J. Dionne acknowledges that while overall inflation may have decreased, specific costs remain a significant concern for Americans. Dionne identifies housing, childcare, healthcare, transportation, and higher education as areas where prices are still high, suggesting these are tangible issues that policy can address and that are driving political debate.