Opinion
Commentary
America Gets Trump Fatigue
His frenzied pace and lack of focus leave many voters worried and confused.
By Karl Rove
April 16, 2025 3:56 pm ET
We aren’t 100 days into Donald Trump’s second term and many Americans are already exhausted. They’ve had way too much thrown at them.
Voters made crystal clear what they sought during the 2024 election. They wanted prices to come down and the economy revved up. The Southern border had to be closed, our military strengthened and a strong leader installed in the Oval Office.
Some of that we’re getting, especially regarding the border. Other things—the rebuilding of the military—appear to be in the works.
But on the key issue of the economy, Americans aren’t happy. Mr. Trump’s campaign promise to break inflation has been replaced by a fixation on raising tariffs, which nearly three-quarters of Americans expect to hike prices. We’re also confused: Is the goal getting trading partners to lower their tariffs on U.S. goods and services? Or replacing our income tax with high tariffs on foreign goods?
It isn’t only inflation and tariffs. Every week the White House throws its weight behind a new issue that went largely or entirely unmentioned during the campaign. Rename the Gulf of Mexico! Acquire Greenland! Take back the Panama Canal! Make Canada the 51st state! Americans find themselves asking, “Where did that come from?”
Message discipline has never been Mr. Trump’s strength. He doesn’t avoid drama; he relishes creating it. Not a real surprise from the man behind “The Apprentice.” Mr. Trump seems to feel he’s winning only if he dominates the coverage, sets the story line, advances the narrative and pulls a surprise or two.
It won’t matter then to White House aides if some headlines are bad. They can always create another controversy in which Mr. Trump is the center of attention and, they believe, therefore comes out on top.
His policies will almost certainly continue to be a mixture of deliberately planned, well-executed ideas and those concocted on the fly. The former include his undoing of the Biden administration’s excessive regulatory rules and red tape. The latter: the Department of Government Efficiency and removing fluoride from drinking water.
The Oval Office and the Mar-a-Lago dining room will remain arenas where advisers, cabinet officials and presidential pals fight over policies and process. It’s like ancient Rome’s Colosseum, without the bloodletting and lions.
It’s clear Mr. Trump believes in governing by executive order more than by legislation. The massive downside is that future presidents can undo his actions just as quickly by their own executive orders.
And there’s something shocking about this White House to an old-school politico like me: It doesn’t spend much time drawing attention to the president’s successes. Rather than patiently explaining his actions and why they’re good for Americans the president and his advisers move from one thing to another, seemingly at random. I still don’t understand why the president has yet to visit the Southwest border, the site of his greatest policy success to date.
There’s way too much retribution. Most of the president’s revenge attempts will end badly for him. Republicans could rue the day they set a new justification for retaliation from Democrats.
One of the more unusual aspects of the Trump presidency is that it often helps parties in foreign countries that oppose him. Mr. Trump’s attacks on Canada revived the fortunes of Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party in the upcoming national elections. He’s done the same thing in Australia, where the conservative party’s numbers have dipped because voters see it as too much in sync with Mr. Trump.
Back at home, Democrats still aren’t an effective opposition. That isn’t likely to change until Democrats get a better mainstream message and messengers and even then maybe not. Which is why having AOC and Bernie Sanders as the party’s most prominent faces now is helping Republicans.
April 30 will be 100 days since Mr. Trump’s inauguration. It’ll be marked by a slew of polls on what Americans think of his second term.
We already know the country remains highly polarized. Democratic and Republican true believers are locked in. It’s the 15% to 20% of voters who didn’t like their choices last year that matter most. Mr. Trump started with 50.5% approving, 44.3% disapproving in the RealClearPolitics polling average a week after he was sworn in. Those RCP numbers went upside down March 13 and today stand at 46.9% approving, 50.3% disapproving, a nearly 10-point margin shift in the wrong direction. My hunch is things will get worse before they get better.
That won’t matter for Mr. Trump’s ardent fans. For them, the past eight weeks have been exhilarating. But in the non-MAGA world—which includes independents and Republicans—the start of Mr. Trump’s second term has been exhausting. They aren’t used to this pace, confusion and incessant combat. Theodore Roosevelt’s daughter said her father wanted to be the corpse at every funeral and the bride at every wedding. So does Donald Trump. It isn’t obvious that America wants that, too. But we know he won’t change.
Mr. Rove helped organize the political-action committee American Crossroads and is author of “The Triumph of William McKinley” (Simon & Schuster, 2015).
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