'Half the country still dislikes him': Trump warned he could 'find himself in trouble'

Donald Trump is being warned he needs to tap the brakes on some of his most prominent initiatives lest he find himself alienating voters who gave him the benefit of the doubt.

In a blunt editorial from the Wall Street Journal opinion page editors, the president-elect, who will assume power on Monday, was admonished that "half the country still dislikes him" and that he is on a short leash.

According to the editors, "Mr. Trump has political running room, though it’s not unlimited. His victory was solid but no landslide," before adding, "... the GOP majority in the House is so narrow that a couple of willful Members can kill anything. Mr. Trump could quickly find himself in trouble if he exceeds his mandate from voters."

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Applauding his plan to expel criminal undocumented immigrants, the editors stated he runs the risk of overreach if his plans also "means midnight raids on busboys, or separating mothers from children," in which case, "the politics could turn fast."

"The biggest risk in our view is Mr. Trump’s desire to court adversaries in search of diplomatic deals for their own sake. He won’t settle the Ukraine war in a day as he promised, but an ugly deal that favors Russia could be his version of President Biden’s flight from Afghanistan," the editors warned before suggesting, "Most important will be his courtship of Chinese dictator Xi Jinping. Former Trump security adviser John Bolton writes in his memoir that Mr. Trump said in his first term that a U.S. defense of Taiwan was implausible, and Mr. Xi can read. China could react to Mr. Trump’s tariffs with a blockade of Taiwan, or perhaps by taking nearby islands now controlled by Taiwan. How would Mr. Trump respond to avoid the risk of war? Would he cede Taiwan to Mr. Xi?"

They concluded, "If Mr. Trump focuses on settling scores rather than raising incomes, Democrats will sweep the 2026 midterms and progressives will return to power with a vengeance in 2028," before cautioning, "A second presidential chance would be a terrible thing to waste."

You can read the entire editorial here.