Governing by Cable News
Trump's staff says Fox almost pushed him into 'blowing up the world.' The polls say America has noticed.
This is "What I'm Hearing" — a somewhat daily guide to the stories that matter, drawn from the best pro-democracy political writers working right now, with my analysis on top.
Trump’s War Is Escalating in the Middle East
The war roared back overnight. Iran launched what CENTCOM called a surprise attack on U.S. bases in Jordan; the U.S. answered with fresh strikes on Iranian targets — the fourteenth round of a conflict The Bulwark has taken to calling “Groundhog Day in Iran.” Andrew Egger’s description of the strategy is the whole review: the administration is “orbiting hopelessly around two demonstrably failed positions: If we bomb the hell out of them, they’ll give us what we want. If we stop bombing them, they’ll give us what we want.” The New York Times now charts it daily as “The Whiplash War.” Saudi Arabia is now in it, flying strikes into Iraq alongside U.S. planes while absorbing attacks from three directions.
Zeteo’s First Draft reports that Trump’s own advisers are privately trashing Fox News for nearly convincing the president to escalate to catastrophe. They describe a “TV-addled” commander-in-chief who took the world to the brink because cable hosts told him to. That’s not the reporting of some TDS-suffering Democrat. That is Trump’s own staff, describing a president whose war decisions are downstream of a programming schedule. Iranian negotiators, per HCR’s summary, have made their terms plain: sanctions gone, troops out, no more nuclear talk, and Iranian control of the Strait of Hormuz. That’s not a ceasefire; those are the terms of surrender. Our surrender.
Read more: Zeteo, The Bulwark, Letters from an American, CNN
Trump’s Polling Is Now Worse Than After January 6
According to a new CNN/SSRS poll, Trump’s overall approval is 34% — tying the career low he hit immediately after January 6. But his net approval is now minus 32, worse than the minus 28 he carried in the wreckage of the insurrection, because his disapproval has climbed to 66%. Half the country now strongly disapproves, a record across both terms. Just 15% strongly approve — also a record. On the issues: 70% disapprove of his handling of the economy. 72% disapprove on Iran. 25% approve on inflation. On gas prices: 21%. Seventy-three percent say he isn’t paying attention to the country’s most important problems, and roughly three-quarters say he’s out of touch with ordinary people’s lives. His net approval among white Americans, dead even a year ago, is now minus 20. And this morning, Quinnipiac landed at 32%, with Trump losing ground among Republicans themselves.
The mechanism connecting these numbers to November is the war. Zeteo’s exclusive on Senate Democrats’ internal polling shows the Iran war has cratered Trump’s cost-of-living numbers and physically moved the map: Ohio and Alaska are now toss-ups, Iowa’s open Senate seat is among the most competitive in the country, and the memo’s conclusion is that the war helps Democrats whether it grinds on or ends in surrender. In Texas, Talarico is expanding his lead over Paxton. Sarah Longwell at the Bulwark talks a lot about the Bush line, 32% approval rating, as a marker to hit for the wheels to really fall off this administration. We are getting close to that. If he hits that number, will Republicans finally start to abandon Trump?
Read more: CNN, Letters from an American, Zeteo, Robert Hubbell, Semafor
Tillis and Cornyn Are Actually Holding the Line on Blanche
It looks like Todd Blanche’s nomination for Attorney General might be in some peril.
The Senate Judiciary Committee postponed this morning’s scheduled vote on Todd Blanche’s nomination for attorney general — because Thom Tillis and John Cornyn are refusing to advance it without written commitments from the Justice Department. Their two demands go directly at the corruption Judge Kathleen Williams exposed: kill the $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund that would compensate Trump allies, and restrict the tax-audit immunity Blanche personally signed for Trump and his family.
This is a good thing, but let’s not get carried away. Both men voted for nearly everything else this administration wanted, and a written promise from this DOJ isn’t worth the paper Blanche signs it on. And the fact that both Tillis and Cornyn aren’t willing to reject such an unqualified nominee outright is embarrassing.
But it is still important to notice what’s working. The survivors testified, met Blanche, and told the country what he was. A federal judge nullified his self-dealing settlement and referred him to the bar. And now two Republicans with nothing left to fear from Trump are using the only leverage that exists to extract concessions in writing. This is what checks and balances look like under Trump.
Read more: NBC News, The Hill, The Parnas Perspective
That's your Thursday. Trump's own advisers say Fox nearly talked him into catastrophe. His numbers are worse than after January 6. Tillis and Cornyn have Blanche at a standstill.