Wednesday 17th of December 2025
Home » Blogs » Gus Leonisky's blog

incontrovertible evidence of decline...

New polling reveals a clear and sustained decline in public approval of Trump and his policies that is already reshaping US electoral prospects, with significant implications for Congress and beyond.

There has been a significant and measurable decline in Americans’ assessment of President Trump.

 

Bob McMullan

Charting Trump's decline

 

I am not referring to his mental decline. Many have commented on his rambling speeches and press conferences and his apparent pattern of falling asleep during meetings. But I am not equipped to assess the reality of allegations of mental decline.

I am not even referring to apparent signs of physical decline. The mystery MRI has not been explained. Swollen ankles, bruised hands and other signs may be significant, but there is not sufficient evidence to draw a conclusion from this distance.

Rather, I am referring to the incontrovertible evidence of decline in the level of voter support for Donald Trump so early in his second term.

The early election results certainly point to a serious problem for Republicans. In the recent round of elections, it was not just the resounding victories for Democrat candidates in the big contests for Governor of Virginia and New Jersey and the Mayor of New York city but also a staggering array of victories in election contests for school boards and a broad range of other less important positions across the country.

However, the more compelling and measurable evidence about future prospects can be found in the analysis of voter approval ratings overall and in key policy areas.

The absolute polling numbers are bad for Trump.

The trend should be even more alarming to his team.

Since July Trump’s overall approval rating as measured by the Real Clear Politics Poll of Polls has been in negative territory. It currently stands at -13.1 per cent.

The alarming trend for him is a story of continuing decline in approval from -3.3 per cent at 7 July to -6 per cent at 16 August, -6.1 per cent on 12 September and -13.1 per cent at 23 November.

The decline can also be seen in some of the most politically significant policy areas. It is not uniform, as you would not expect it to be, but there are noticeable negative trends in some of the most significant and politically sensitive policy areas.

The most outstanding numbers can be found in the assessments of Trump’s performance in handling inflation. This is significant because inflation is widely regarded as among the most potent election deciding issues in most western countries. including in Trump’s 2024 victory.

In July, voters had a negative perception of Trump’s handling of inflation by more than 19 per cent. This was a really bad assessment, but it has continued to get worse. By November the measure was negative more than 25 per cent.

After regularly attempting to turn the numbers around by asserting that prices were actually falling, the recent removal of tariffs on food as a response to concerns about prices is an indication of deep concern in the administration about consumer prices.

The underlying significance of the tariff cuts, as they convey the clear reality that Trump’s assertion that tariffs will not increase prices because they will be paid by foreign suppliers is utterly bogus, may be missed by average voters, but it is a very significant backdown for the President.

A similar pattern of decline in approval from bad to even worse can be seen in the numbers for economic policy, foreign policy in general, and his handling of Russia/Ukraine in particular. (Noting that these numbers pre-date the recent “peace initiative”).

It is important to note that the very controversial issue of immigration, which was central to Trump’s 2024 election campaign and represents much of the public face of the administration also reflects declining approval. However, the decline is smaller, from -2 per cent to -3.7 per cent, and the absolute number is much less negative than most other areas.

There are two policy areas which do not fit with this overall assessment.

One, Trump’s handling of crime reflects the decline in approval seen elsewhere, but his November net approval rating was zero, not negative.

The one area in which Trump’s approval ratings have very significantly improved is his handling of the Israel/Hamas conflict. From July to September the approval rating fell from -7.4 per cent to -13.4 per cent. However, by 23 November approval of his handling of this issue had improved to +2.8 per cent.

It is clear that this improved assessment on the Middle East has not been sufficient to outweigh the various factors contributing to an overall very significant decline in support.

What is the significance of this measurable decline?

First, it suggests that the Democrats should have a very good chance of winning control of the House of Representatives next November and an outside chance of winning control of the Senate. I don’t take very seriously the attempted gerrymanders. I suspect that there is a very real chance that this effort will backfire.

Second, the decline and its possible electoral consequences in 2026 may well lead to further fraying of the MAGA universe.

Third, it suggests that Trump will not win a third term. I am confident that if he thinks he could win Trump will endeavour to manufacture a case for a third term. I have seen Steve Bannon’s confident assertion that Trump ’28 will definitely happen. The reason I don’t believe it will happen is that unless the Democrats perform spectacularly badly in the House from 2026 or err in their selection of a presidential candidate I don’t think Trump can win an election in 2028 if he was to run.

That is a glimmer of light at the end of a long dark tunnel.

https://johnmenadue.com/post/2025/12/charting-trumps-decline/

 

YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT — SINCE 2005.

 

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

more evil....

 

Why Rachel Maddow and Bill Kristol Attended Cheney’s Funeral
The neoconservative right has merged with the anti-Trump left.

Jack Hunter

 

Twenty years ago, there was no greater villain to the left than Dick Cheney. The vice president was called a fascist. He was called a warmonger. He was called Hitler. He was the center and soul of left-wing derision and Democratic identity.

Their ire? The George W. Bush administration’s 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, for starters, considered today to be one of America’s greatest foreign policy mistakes. Even a majority of veterans believe it was not worth fighting. Then there was the torture, the rampant due process violations, and the fact that Cheney’s advocacy for extreme executive power made him an enemy of the Constitution.

Concerning Cheney and national depravity, there’s a lot to work with.

 

The progressive pundit Rachel Maddow was once all in on this left-wing hate. She built her early career on it.

Last week, Maddow attended Dick Cheney’s funeral.

Cheney never apologized for or even said he regretted Iraq. He was seemingly down to torture until the day he died.

 

Maddow was not at Cheney’s funeral to show grace to a once wayward man who had since repented. Independent journalist Glenn Greenwald noted of MSNBC’s biggest star, “Maddow’s career as a commentator began during Bush/Cheney, when she’d frequently compare Cheney to the worst monsters in history (I was on her programs when she said it).”

Greenwald added, “For so many liberals, Cheney is now rehabilitated despite regretting nothing: solely for opposing Trump.”

That’s it. Cheney was against Trump. In 2025, even for dead fascists, warmongers and Hitlers, that’s all it takes for the left to sing your praises.

 

If this sounds simplistically silly, it’s because it is.

Once Donald Trump finally replaced former villains Dick Cheney or George W. Bush as the Great Satan in leftist minds, there was virtually no self-awareness in Democrats’ drift into turning these neocon Republicans they once despised into heroes. Dubya gets the same love.

In their blind hatred for Trump, mainstream Democrats also ended up becoming something closer to 2003-era Republicans in their foreign policy. One X user commented on the service for Cheney, “Anyone that attended Cheney’s funeral is going to be upset with an end to war.”

 

Greenwald agreed, “Exactly: I bet if you were to survey the people in attendance at Dick Cheney’s funeral—from Rachel Maddow and Kamala Harris to Lindsey Graham and George W. Bush—opposition to ending the war in Ukraine would be close to 100%, if not unanimous.”

He has a point. After “Resistance” posters and Covid-era virtue signaling got stale for the left, pro-Ukrainian yard signs and social media flag icons became as popular with Democrats as they were with Lindsey Graham.

Democrats and neocon Republicans like Graham ended up with the same foreign policy. The former came to it as an emotional reaction to “America First” Trump. The latter just never changed, welcoming their reformed pro-war Democrats with open arms.

To be fair, mainstream Democrat attitudes toward Israel and Gaza have varied. On the United States’ proxy war with Russia in Ukraine, they have not.

The 2024 Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris not only received an endorsement from Cheney and his congresswoman daughter Liz; Cheney fille hit the campaign trail with Harris, seemingly signaling to the neoconservative foreign policy establishment that she was their gal.

When candidate Harris repeatedly accused Trump of admiring dictators—that is, engaging in diplomacy as an alternative to war—she sounded like every GOP hawk who ever criticized Pat Buchanan, Ron Paul, or any other antiwar Republican. “Putin’s puppet” became an institutionalized Democratic attack on Trump.

Maddow attending Cheney’s funeral wasn’t surprising or a departure for the current American left. It was, however, an indicator.

She and the “War on Terror” Republicans in attendance weren’t simply friendly adversaries paying their final respects. They’re not adversaries anymore.

This has been true for some time. J6 helped seal the deal.

The “insurrection” mythology surrounding the January 6, 2021 Capitol Hill riots has been as important to Never Trump neocon identity as it has been to Democratic identity. Dick Cheney was on the Never Trump and Democratic side of that event. Donald Trump was on the other side. That line has long been crystal clear, at least on the Never Trump–Dem side—that it was an organized attempt by MAGA forces to overthrow democracy—even if that view is not based in reality.

But the reality of J6 as an actual insurrection was always beside the point. Political identity, and reinforcing it—Never Trump/Democrats good, MAGA bad—was the entire point.

Hence, longtime Democrat Rachel Maddow accepted the invitation to “maestro of terror” Republican Dick Cheney’s funeral.

Bill Kristol was there too. Anyone who has followed politics for any amount of time would expect the neocon scion to be at the funeral service of the most impactful neoconservative of the 21st century. Kristol had wanted a U.S. war with Iraq since the 1990s, and 9/11 finally gave his small band of neocons an excuse to lie their way into it. Team Cheney ultimately delivered it.

Cheney is unquestionably their hero.

Kristol is a Democrat now. He appears to be pro-choice these days. He’s flipped on immigration. The former Weekly Standard editor recently endorsed New York City’s socialist mayor-elect. So Kristol has definitely changed some of his beliefs in joining his new party.

On foreign policy, Bill Kristol has never budged any more than Dick Cheney did. Both were always for all U.S. wars, anywhere, for any reason, by any means, no matter how much death or damage was wrought.

War is the goal. It is who they are. Their beef with Trump—in the most basic, concrete terms—is that he poses a threat to their mission at times.

Democrats hate Trump so much they now dismiss this evil, finding common cause with neocons in more ways than one.

President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance were not invited to the former vice president’s funeral. They wouldn’t have belonged, even if it is unusual for a sitting president and vice president to be excluded from such a service.

But Rachel Maddow belonged at Dick Cheney’s funeral. The left she represents belonged too.

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/why-rachel-maddow-and-bill-kristol-attended-cheneys-funeral/

 

READ FROM TOP.

 

YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT — SINCE 2005.

 

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.