Donald Trump is approaching the end of the first year of his second term. At this point, there are whispers about his political weaknesses going forward.
What are those?
According to veteran journalist Mark Halperin, writing for the Daily Mail, GOP operatives are starting to whisper about what might be wrong. This followed Tuesday’s special election for a House seat in Tennessee, in which the Republican won, but by a much narrower margin than Trump’s performance in that district last year.
Here’s my latest column for @DailyMail on @realDonaldTrump puzzle on the economy:https://t.co/OjLcNY4yzM
— Mark Halperin (@MarkHalperin) December 3, 2025
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“Privately, the smart GOP hands are whispering something else: We almost lost because the Democrats are owning the narrative on affordability,” Halperin wrote. After all, Trump returned to office by promising to lower prices, and that’s a promise he has so far failed to deliver on.
“Verdict: Swing voters are swinging… leftward. While we don’t have exit polls from Tennessee, in Jersey and Virginia, the top issue for voters is clear: cost of living.”
“It’s the new national anxiety,” Halperin wrote. “The simple question of whether Americans can still afford to live their lives. And if the Republican Party can’t come up with a convincing answer before the 2026 midterm elections – which will determine control of Congress and, thus, the last two years of Trump’s lame duck presidency – it’s destined to be a wipeout.”
Companies aren’t the only ones upset with Trump’s tariffs… Americans’ opposition is way up. A year ago, 52% of Americans favored the tariffs. Today, it’s just 38%. 62% oppose.
Why? Goes back to affordability/prices. North of 70% say tariffs raise prices.
No Bueno for Trump. pic.twitter.com/9NxDKsAWeu
— (((Harry Enten))) (@ForecasterEnten) December 3, 2025
The latest event was that Trump, in a cabinet meeting yesterday, downplayed the issue of costs and affordability. Zohan Mamdani recently made that his biggest issue, propelling himself to the mayor’s office in New York.
“You would think Trump — the self-styled builder, businessman, dealmaker — would seize on this like a man grabbing a life preserver. But instead, at his Tuesday Cabinet meeting, the president smirked and uttered a line that ricocheted across the media: ‘People keep talking about affordability — affordability, affordability — I’m getting tired of the word.'”
Halperin went on to cite focus group data showing that voters aren’t buying it.
“No doubt, he meant it as a joke,” he writes. “The voters hearing it likely didn’t laugh. Because the price of everything from rent to Ritz crackers has turned daily life into something of a hostage negotiation. And yet Trump isn’t explaining much of anything. No blueprint, no plan, no reassurance. Just riffs, nostalgia and long soliloquies about the people who wronged him.”
Photo courtesy of the Political Tribune media library.
