Time for Democrats to kick Trump while he's down

Again and again and again. His approval is in free fall, and Democrats need to underscore the growing dissatisfaction every chance they get.

I had a plumbing issue in my building that had me up half the night—not fun!—but I wanted to weigh in with a quick post on Donald Trump’s first 100 days. ‘

Because, well, the first 100 days are a disaster for Trump—and the country and the world—but they are also a sign that he’s crumbling and that Democrats and progressives need to fully take him down.

All the politicians, the institutions, the people who thought they should “work with” Trump and Elon Musk and DOGE and “pick our battles” miscalculated badly. Columbia University. The law firms. Gavin Newsom and a slew of Democrats in Congress. They all fucked up big time.

Those who said the Democratic Party had entered a years-long wilderness unless it engaged in a wholesale makeover truly did not know what they were talking about. Poll-driven. Consultant talk. Focus-group bullshit.

We all knew better—not because we’re geniuses, but because we saw what was in front of our faces. Trump won the popular vote by 1.4%. He didn’t even crack 50%. The notion that he’d fundamentally shifted the country—as these pathetic politicians and pundits told us—was alway built on a house of cards.

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Remember polling guru Nate Cohn at The New York Times, telling us in March of last year that we were amid a possible “racial realignment” and then echoing the idea of a political realignment after the 2024 election?

Now Cohn was forced to eat crow last weekend, as The New York Times/Sienna poll, like all the polls I wrote about on Saturday, showed Trump in free fall. Cohn stated:

You would be hard pressed to find a single “good” number for Mr. Trump in the survey.

The pollster G. Elliot Morris sums it up:

Take a minute to digest this. Just 100 days into his term Trump is posting 2022- to 2023-level Biden numbers on his handling of the economy.

That's despite inheriting a 3% inflation rate and healthy labor market and business conditions. The Economist last fall put a picture of a dollar bill rocketing into space on their cover to show the dominance of the American economic engine. Then, the newspaper asked: "America’s economy is bigger and better than ever. Will politics bring it back to Earth?" (The answer, as it turned out, was “yes.”)

But the most remarkable and politically significant decline for Trump is on immigration. Despite campaigning successfully on the issue in 2024, when Americans were preoccupied by a porous border and high-profile violent crimes blanketing right-leaning media for the GOP to score political points, polls now show that more Americans disapprove of Trump's immigration policy than approve of it.

And that’s why speaking out and slamming Trump hard was always the way to go—and it helps further wake people up to what he was doing and bring his numbers down more.

The “Hands Off” protests highlighted the dangers of Trump. Pushing back has the GOP loyalists in Congress—and in the states—in a box, fearful of Trump but death afraid of the mid-terms. They’re in turmoil at town halls—if they have them at all—and they are looking at a possible political wipe out in some places.

Democratic Governor JB Pritzker of Illinois has been sounding the perfect note—full, non-stop alarm—and last weekend in New Hampshire called for mass protest and disruption, saying Democrats should not let Republicans have “a moment of peace.” He wrapped the “do-nothing Democrats” who’ve gone with an appeasement message. But he really demolished Trump, showing how he’s brought us into a “perilous time,” explaining:

If you think I’m overreacting and sounding the alarm too soon, consider this: It took the Nazis one month, three weeks, two days, eight hours and 40 minutes to dismantle a constitutional republic.

The town calls. The sit-in at the Capitol over the weekend by members of Congress. The tour by Bernie Sanders and AOC Sen. Cory Booker’s 25 hour speech. Senator Chris Van Hollen going to El Salvador, and demanding—and getting—a meeting with Kilmar Abrago Garcia. It all showed Democrats have power and influence, and they have fight.

We need much more of this and we need to put an end to talk from the appeasement Democrats. Trump, at 100 days, is showing he is weak, with the lowest approval rating of any president at this point. And he’s going to continue to collapse, because he has no idea what he’s doing—but thinks he’s so smart—while those around him are ideologues so inside the bubble that they can’t grasp how badly it’s going.

It’s all right there for the taking at Trump’s 100-day mark. Democrats need to hit Trump while he’s down—repeatedly—and make sure he never gets up.