He said that because the Democrats have not stopped Trump from going further, much less reverse the furies he has unleashed across the country in just six months.
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Democrats are especially frustrated given Trump’s polls are under water. In a YouGov poll last week, 39 per cent of voters approve of Trump, but 56 per cent disapprove. Trump’s rock-solid MAGA base is about 40 per cent of the country. So Trump still has his base.
But you can sense, with the tariff wars and higher prices for toys from China and tomatoes from Mexico, that inflation is about to return. Few are spending freely. The immigration raids are ugly. The markets are high but no one knows if that will last – or if Jerome Powell, chairman of the Federal Reserve, will get the letter Trump has drafted that informs him he has been fired.
But the Democrats cannot stop Trump – even on smaller stuff. The day Good Trouble rallies unfolded around the country, Congress approved $US9 billion in cuts to foreign aid programs and public media – the PBS television and NPR radio networks.
The only hope to save public media was for Republicans from rural states, whose citizens rely heavily on public radio and television, to stand up against Trump’s demand that public media be silenced. But only four of 273 Republicans in all of Congress dared to cross Trump.
A protestor carries an upside-down American flag as she and other anti-Trump, anti-fascism demonstrators march in nationwide Good Trouble Lives On activities. Credit: AP
Why? In a word, it is fear. It is Trump’s weapon of choice.
“It is very important that all Republicans … DEFUND THE CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING (PBS and NPR) … Any Republican that votes to allow this monstrosity to continue broadcasting will not have my support or Endorsement.”
Republicans in Congress know that Trump can end their careers.
In addition, public media for Trump is the enemy and must be punished. In April, Trump posted on Truth Social, “REPUBLICANS MUST DEFUND AND TOTALLY DISASSOCIATE THEMSELVES FROM NPR & PBS, THE RADICAL LEFT “MONSTERS” THAT SO BADLY HURT OUR COUNTRY!”
Trumpism is now infused with McCarthyism. Fear of being punished for not aligning with Trump is now joined with retribution against Trump’s enemies – Democrats, the Deep State, media – for all the indictments, convictions and impeachments inflicted on him, and for all the woke causes they spawned.
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Trump successfully sued powerful TV networks for anti-Trump bias, and they paid out tens of millions of dollars to settle. The executives of CBS’ 60 Minutes program lost confidence that CBS would stand by the program if it took on Trump. CBS has just announced – as its parent company, Paramount, is seeking regulatory approval of a major merger – the cancellation of Stephen Colbert’s late night hit show. Trump loves that Colbert got fired. “A purely financial decision,” Paramount said.
Nothing has reached critical mass to stop Trump. But he has now hit a huge speed bump with his attempts to bury records in the Jeffrey Epstein case. Theories have been cultured in MAGA petri dishes for years over who was part of the Epstein web of abuse, exploitation and rape of young girls. Who are the sexual predators? The MAGA dog has caught the car and will not let go.
Trump wants this to go away, but it will not for now. The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump wrote bawdy birthday greetings to Epstein. Trump has sued the paper for $15 billion in defamatory damages and wants to put its owner, Rupert Murdoch, on the stand.
The cover-up of Epstein’s crimes and the network of the rich and famous who partook of his cravings have unleashed a storm of Good Trouble on Trump and his presidency.
Bruce Wolpe is a senior fellow at the University of Sydney’s United States Studies Centre. He has served on the Democratic staff in the US Congress and as chief of staff to former prime minister Julia Gillard.
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