When the Republican Party’s far-right megabill — the inaptly named “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” — passed Congress ahead of the White House’s arbitrary July 4 deadline, it was common to see news reports describing this as an important “win” for Donald Trump. On the surface, it was easy to understand why.
The president demanded the regressive package; it was filled with a wide variety of his domestic policy priorities; he invested some political capital to drag the legislation across the finish line; and he ended up with what he wanted. It was, for all intents and purposes, a breakthrough success story for Trump.
At least, sort of.
In general, when we talk about “wins,” “victories” and “successes,” we tend to refer to inherently positive developments. When a team wins the Super Bowl, it’s a triumph. When actors win Academy Awards, it’s a career-defining honor. And so, when Trump scored a “win” with the GOP megabill, some might’ve seen the headlines and assumed that something good had happened.
But that wasn’t the case. The megabill was a dreadful and regressive disaster, filled with unpopular provisions which will do lasting harm to the nation and its citizens. It was “victory” for Trump and his party, but not the people and communities they ostensibly represent. It was an “accomplishment” for the White House, but only in the most superficial sense.
With this in mind, Axios published a much-discussed item this week, noting Trump’s second term at its sixth-month mark.
President Trump, in terms of raw accomplishments, crushed his first six months in historic ways. Massive tax cuts. Record-low border crossings. Surging tariff revenue. Stunning air strikes in Iran. Modest inflation. Yet poll after poll suggests most Americans aren’t impressed. In fact, they seem tired of all the winning. … Trump appears to be losing by winning. The more he does (including issues beyond his legislative wins), the more the general public, especially independents, shrug — or recoil.
The problem with the analysis is its assumptions about what constitutes a proper political “win.” What Axios seemed to overlook is the difference between a president just doing lots of things, and a president doing lots of good things that people want and will benefit from.
Did Trump get “massive” tax breaks, most of which will help the wealthy, through Congress? Yes, but that was largely the opposite of what the American mainstream wanted to see. Was the preemptive military offensive in Iran “stunning”? As a display of military might, they were certainly impressive, but most of the public was not on board with the U.S. launching unnecessary airstrikes in yet another Middle Eastern country.
It’s not that Americans “seem tired of all the winning,” so much as the American mainstream isn’t seeing the kind of victories they want. Take the latest national poll from Gallup, for example:
Six months into his second term, President Donald Trump’s job approval rating has dipped to 37%, the lowest of this term and just slightly higher than his all-time worst rating of 34% at the end of his first term. Trump’s rating has fallen 10 percentage points among U.S. adults since he began his second term in January, including a 17-point decline among independents, to 29%, matching his lowest rating with that group in either of his terms. As MSNBC’s Chris Hayes noted via Bluesky, “Trump has actually been remarkably successful in implementing his agenda and at the six-month mark he’s hit a low point in Gallup approval ratings. That’s because the agenda is fundamentally unpopular! Something we tried desperately hard to communicate in 2024.” Axios’ report went on to note the “paradox” between the president racking up apparent wins while watching his public support sink — but it’s not paradoxical at all. Ahead of Election Day 2024, Trump promised to deliver lower prices, vowed to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, said he’d improve the United States’ global standing and pretended to have no idea what Project 2025 was. After Inauguration Day 2025, prices went up, Russia’s war in Ukraine got worse, the United States’ global standing sharply declined and the president’s White House began using Project 2025 as a governing blueprint. All the while, Trump pushed a legislative package built around unpopular tax cuts, coupled with unpopular health care cuts. To think that the Republican “crushed his first six months in historic ways” is to ignore what the public wanted, expected, needed and asked for.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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