Donald Trump is directly challenging the foundations of US democracy

Today America is a “United States” in name only as it seeks to retain some semblance of unity as a patchwork of 50 red and blue states, with vastly different ideas about politics, democracy, culture, identity, religion and race, confront each other and deepen the divides now scarring the political landscape of this remarkable but troubled country.

A recent trip, to a sun soaked Denver, on the edge of the Rocky Mountains, sometimes known as the “Wall Street of the West” in the Democratic state of Colorado and to Tulsa, in the staunchly Republican state of Oklahoma, strongly evangelical, home of the Cherokee nation, the tall prairie grasslands and the former oil capital of the world, revealed a sense of Trump in trouble.

From a position of apparent invincibility, often proclaimed by himself on his own “Truth Social” platform, what is happening to the President’s approval ratings? Is the American mood shifting across red and blue states?

The President’s preoccupation with international relations may be a helpful distraction from a domestic agenda in trouble. Even the MAGA faithful is angry about the handling of the Epstein fiasco and Trump’s renewed involvement in global wars, the ending of which was a key reason for them voting for him.

The President may feel he is at the limit of what he thinks is achievable within existing constitutional constraints, judicial resistance, the sacking of key government officials and his excessive use of Executive Orders. Instead he may be directly challenging the foundations of US democracy by embracing the gerrymandering of congressional boundaries to create more winnable Republican districts, currently underway in Texas.

Bypassing Congress as if it didn’t exist; despite Republicans controlling both Houses. Trump is openly advocating new voter suppression measures in the form of removing “mail in voting”(postal ballots) and “going to paper ballots.” A cull of registered voters may follow as he seeks to remove, “aliens, migrants and law breakers.”

The Trump White House is making moves to consolidate Federal power and retain control indefinitely. Previously scoffed at, Trump, on his platform Truth Social said, “If we do these two things we will pick up 100 more seats and the CROOKED GAME OF POLITICS IS OVER”. God bless America!!!”

Trump is calling unambiguously for the rigging of elections so that he and his party cannot lose. In her recent daily newsletter Heather Cox Richardson reminded us of a Trump speech to evangelical Christians in July 2024 when he said, that if they voted for him in November “ in four years, you don’t have to vote again. We will have it fixed so good, you’re not gonna have to vote.”

This is competitive authoritarianism, where elections are held but the outcome is rigged. There is obvious panic in the White House about the outcome of the 2026 midterm elections, as popular electoral support for the President plummets.

In the real world the latest national poll from Gallup found Trump’s approval rating had slipped to an embarrassing 37 per cent and a significant new national report published this month from the Pew Research Centre, a renowned and dependable authority on US politics, painted a very similar picture.

From this Pew Centre analysis, six months into Trump’s second term: job performance has grown more negative with his job approval standing at 38 per cent (60 per cent disapproval); Trump said the GOP’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” is broadly popular but the Pew poll found only 32 per cent of American’s approve it; Trump said the public loves his trade tariffs but Pew research found 60 per cent of Americans disapprove; Trump said the Jeffrey Epstein scandal has helped improve his public standing but the Pew poll found 70 per cent of the public disapprove of the handling of this matter.

Trump is losing ground among voters who supported his 2024 candidacy, including minorities. Approval amongst these voters has slipped from 95 per cent to 85 per cent in less than a year.

Gallup’s Historical Presidential Job Approval statistics, revealed that there has never been an American President in either party in the post war era from 1945, with less support than Trump.

Unfortunately for Trump his OBBBA-One Big Beautiful Bill Act- contains a one trillion dollar cut to Medicaid and adds 3.4 trillion dollars to the Federal deficit. These realities cannot be smuggled through the filter of public opinion.

Some MAGA supporters and recent Democratic converts to Republicanism last November, may be wakening up to authoritarianism.

It is difficult to explain what is unfolding on the other side of the Atlantic. Unimaginable examples of excess are taking place ranging from the President threatening the Smithsonian and other museums, into rewriting history, sending 2000 armed military national guard personnel to police the streets of Washington DC, and possibly Chicago, on the back of bogus crime figures, and taking revenge on public figures who oppose him: time to take Trump literally and seriously.

Americans are alarmed at the pace, scale and nature of Trump’s assault on their country, the poor being ignored, the rich being rewarded , and the cruel, coercive, oppressive, inhuman and, some would say, un-American way in which White House policies are being implemented. In particular the actions of ICE -Immigration and Customs Enforcement- where masked men abduct migrants in the street or at home, put them in handcuffs, throw them into unmarked vehicles and drive away without regards to due process, the law or any sense of decency. Struggling at home and failing abroad Trump’s America may be on the turn. The Democratic Party however remains lifeless at a time when US citizens are desperately looking for a sane alternative.