One night last week, Donald Trump took to social media to threaten to remove Rosie O’Donnell’s U.S. citizenship because she criticized the dear leader. In Trump’s first term, a post like that might have been dismissed as the late-night ravings of an angry poster — something to be taken neither seriously nor literally. But things are different in Trump 2.0. The official White House X account reposted Trump’s call to denaturalize an American citizen for her political views — effectively making it government policy.
None of this came out of nowhere. Top Trump aides, including Stephen Miller, have openly discussed aggressively using the rarely employed denaturalization process.
No matter what you think about Rosie O’Donnell, a president threatening to revoke someone’s citizenship for their political views should be a bright red line in American politics.
The very next night, Trump was feted at the White House by the billionaire CEOs of America’s largest tech companies. Mark Zuckerberg, Tim Cook, and others debased themselves by lavishing him with excessive praise. At one point, Cook thanked Trump eight times in just two minutes.
The tech CEOs are only one example. Across the board — corporations, universities, media outlets, law firms, and even some Democrats — institutions are preemptively surrendering to Trump rather than standing up for themselves or their country.
Some are motivated by pure self-interest or fear of being targeted by Trump’s goons. But many have convinced themselves that Trump’s agenda is simply what the country wants. They justify their submission as a natural response to the 2024 election results.
That’s nonsense. As two new polls make clear, Trump is a political paper tiger. His standing is weaker than that of any president in recent memory, and the American people are not with him.
1. Trump’s Mediocre Approval
On Sunday, CBS News and NBC News both released polls showing Trump’s approval rating stuck in the mid-40s: 44% in the CBS poll, 43% in NBC’s. That’s basically in line with his average throughout his presidency. But he remains less popular at this point in his term than nearly every modern president. This chart from data journalist G. Elliot Morris puts Trump’s unpopularity into historical perspective:
Joe Biden, for example, was significantly more popular at the same stage of his presidency — and I don’t recall Republicans or corporate America being afraid to confront him.
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