"We’re Cheering for a Dumpster Fire"

Trump’s poll numbers are rising; not because he’s leading, but because we’ve confused chaos management with leadership and mediocrity with a damn miracle.

Here we go again. Like some kind of political Freddy Krueger, Donald Trump refuses to stay buried—even when he’s wielding a chainsaw instead of a Constitution. Just when you think the country has finally had enough of the chaos, the corruption, the bluster, and the bone-deep incompetence, here come the pollsters with news that makes you want to pour a double shot of Maalox: Trump’s favorability rating is going up. Not because he’s suddenly become competent or ethical. Not because he’s taken his foot off the throat of American democracy. No; his numbers are rising because he hit the “pause” button on tariffs and gas prices dipped a few cents.

America, what the hell are we doing?

Let me break it down. President Trump has been back in the Oval Office for a mere 133 days and the man has already left a trail of executive orders that read more like autocratic fan fiction than public policy. He’s waged war on the federal workforce, rewritten asylum policy with all the compassion of a parking enforcement officer during rush hour, and wielded tariffs like a drunk swinging a sledgehammer at a Jenga tower. And yet, here we are: 46.7% of Americans think he’s doing a fine job.

Look, I get it. Some people see some stock market gains and get a little weak in the knees. Others cheer when Trump throws a tantrum at NATO or lobs a half-baked trade threat across the Atlantic. But rising favorability? That’s not just alarming; it’s a national fever dream, where up is down, incompetence is strength, and executive overreach is mistaken for “deal-making.”

Let me be crystal clear: Trump hasn’t become a better president. He’s become better at gaslighting an exhausted public. His so-called "wins" are just pauses in the wrecking ball rampage. He’s still the same guy who governs by impulse, views diplomacy as a ratings game, and signs executive orders like he’s autopenning fan mail from Viktor Orbán. The “good news” about his tariffs? He yanked them after causing panic, whiplash, and uncertainty across global markets. That’s not strategy; it’s sabotage followed by a cigarette break.

Trump enablers and Republican strategists are already falling all over themselves to spin this uptick as a sign of a “strong negotiator.” Please. This isn’t The Art of the Deal. It’s the art of playing chicken with the global economy while the rest of us brace for impact.

And don’t think for a second that the courts are successfully reining him in. Sure, a few federal judges have pushed back; thank God for judicial independence, but Trump’s MAGA base has already been conditioned to view any legal check as the deep state trying to “stop his agenda.” Cue the chorus of conservative talking heads wailing about “woke judicial activists” while the real damage unfolds behind the scenes. Restructuring the federal workforce? Gutting asylum protections? Weaponizing tariffs like slingshots at international alliances? That’s not just policy; that’s a slow-motion constitutional crisis.

Let me say this with the full fury it deserves: if nearly half of this country looks at the flaming dumpster fire of Trump’s second-term policies and says, “Yeah, this seems fine,” then we are in deeper shit than we realize. We’re not just flirting with autocracy; we’re swiping right on it.

People like Scott Tranter and Matthew Bartlett want us to believe that Trump settling into a 43–47% approval range is just the new normal in a polarized America. “A higher low than his first term,” they say. What they’re really saying is that we’ve lowered the bar so far, we’re now applauding a man for not setting the house on fire today even though he poured gasoline on the front porch last week.

This isn’t resilience. It’s delusion. It’s the normalization of chaos.

I spent over a decade by Trump’s side. I know how this movie ends; and spoiler alert: it’s not with a triumphant, deal-closing hero. It ends with shattered norms, backroom deals, and a country teetering on the edge of irreversible damage. You think this is just about tariffs? Think again. It’s about power, vengeance, and feeding the cult of personality that continues to put Trump above the law, above decency, above country.

So yeah, his poll numbers are rising. But let’s not mistake momentum for merit. The man’s approval rating should be sinking like a stone; not floating on the surface like oil from the wreckage he caused. Wake up, America. The fire alarm is blaring, and too many of us are dancing to the beat.

The question isn’t why his numbers are going up. The real question is: how much more can this country take before we stop mistaking the arsonist for the fireman?

Because if we don’t, we’re not just in danger. We’re already burning.

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