Transcript: Bad News for Trump as Brutal New Polls Show Musk Tanking
That also leads us to a different line of thinking, which is a lack of defined political alternative. There are lines of argumentation about Trump as an authoritarian or as an executive overreacher or whatever you want to call it, there are lines of argumentation about his policies, and there are lines of argumentation in favor of the other side. But what’s missing is a movement that really defines all of these things and brings them together and talks about how, for example, pardoning January 6 people has broader policy implications in some ways, that lawlessness leads to poor policy outcomes or to things that people don’t like. It’s an attenuated connection between pardoning January Sixers and egg prices. In fact, there’s a reason that people like democracy—and it’s not just theoretical. It’s also about better policy outcomes when you have more people expressing input about what the country should do.
Sargent: Yes, I think that’s right. What’s been missing is a big argument about why Trump’s authoritarianism is bad. On the other hand, we are seeing this polling here, which shows majorities are troubled by the authoritarian rule they’re seeing. I would like those numbers to be higher and maybe they’re not higher because of what you’re pointing out, which is the lack of the counternarrative explaining it all. Nonetheless, majorities are unhappy with it, and that seems significant to me. What do you think, Julia? Should we take at least a tiny bit of solace from the fact that majorities are already seeing Trump as an overreacher and potentially even an abuser of his powers?
Azari: I think that what Democrats should be looking at is building power toward the midterms. In some ways, this is really a situation in which the questions are now not about legitimacy or authority. They’re now not about constitutional boundaries—those are questions for the courts, they’re questions for people to ponder. For Democrats thinking about concrete ways to intervene in the broader Trump agenda, the task is power building. That involves looking forward, looking ahead to the 2026 midterms and looking at areas where there is a lack of popular support for Trump generally, and also for specific actions. That’s the game that we’re playing now. These approval ratings, these polls that we’ve just seen are crucial tools in that power-building task.
