Frustrated White House insiders who are looking at Donald Trump’s cratering approval numbers and have been attempting to get him to address issues that are causing his collapse have been warned off by powerful White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles.
According to a report from MS NOW, while voters are consumed with anger over exploding costs of living and the unpopular Iran war, Trump has instead devoted his energy to pursuits that make his own staff cringe: a new White House ballroom, renovation of the National Mall reflecting pool, purges of insufficiently loyal Republican lawmakers including four-term Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), and a $1.776 billion "Anti-Weaponization Fund" that could compensate Capitol riot participants.
In response to staff concerns, Wiles has implemented a stark directive: "let Trump be Trump."
"There are two tracks: There is what the president says, and then there's what you as a staff member message on," a White House official lamented while speaking anonymously about internal strategy.
Cabinet secretaries have scrambled to fill the messaging void by grafting affordability language onto unrelated initiatives — the Small Business Administration reducing loan fraud and the EPA rolling back refrigeration requirements, for example — both sold as cost-cutting measures.
According to MS NOW, the two-track approach is failing spectacularly. A New York Times/Siena survey found just 38 percent of Americans approve of Trump's performance — a record low for his second term. A Gallup poll found economic confidence at a nearly four-year low, with only 16 percent rating the economy as "excellent" or "good," and three in four Americans saying conditions are worsening.
One recent moment crystallized the problem. During a ballroom construction site visit, Trump dismissed rising gas prices as "peanuts" and thanked people for "putting up with it for a little while."
"While beautifying our nation's capital is surely important and appreciated, if you don't live, work, or visit DC, you don't really reap the benefits of the president's passion projects," said a former Trump White House official. "What people do feel is $4.50 gas, and that's the real passion point for Americans."
One former Trump adviser concluded that current staff have been handcuffed. "I think it's a failure on the part of his staff. They're not focused on the issues that Americans are focused on, which is obviously, affordability," the adviser told MS NOW.
