Donald Trump is a desperate man.
The evidence is overwhelming. Polls show the American public has soundly rejected him. He’s furiously backpedaling on his inflationary tariffs. He’s given up on blocking a House vote to release the Epstein files. His own loyalists are turning against him. He’s deteriorating physically and mentally. Regular people are chasing his masked thugs out of their neighborhoods. And he’s on the verge of starting a war with Venezuela that nobody wants — just to distract from his failures and make himself feel better about himself.
The journalists covering his presidency should make Trump’s desperation abundantly clear in their daily reportage.
Some already have, and good for them. Consider the article by David J. Lynch in the Saturday Washington Post, headlined: “Trump goes on defense over tariffs as prices on everyday items keep rising”. Lynch calls it out right at the top:
President Donald Trump’s bid Friday to soothe consumers by dropping tariffs on a wide array of groceries, including coffee, beef, bananas and tomatoes — contradicting his repeated claims that the levies were not affecting retail prices — shows he is on the defensive over his signature policy initiative.
The top story from the Associated Press on Monday afternoon was “Epstein files and affordability concerns threaten to knock Trump’s 2nd presidency off course”. White House reporter Chris Megerian wrote:
President Donald Trump’s veneer of political invulnerability has begun to crack as he struggles to find his footing on Americans’ concerns about affordability and fails to extinguish a push by renegade Republicans to release more files from the Jeffrey Epstein case.
The twin challenges, coming shortly after Democratic victories in recent elections and before next year’s midterm campaigns that will determine control of Congress, represent a sobering situation for a president who has reveled in his unrivaled dominance in Washington.
Or consider Politico Playbook on Trump’s U-turn on the Epstein files, because he knew he would lose the House vote: “That sound you could hear was the president’s extraordinary authority over his party slipping away.”
Covering Trump as a weak, desperate man would of course be a huge change for the Washington press corps, which still mostly treats him as a masterful bully who can get away with anything.
But there are precedents for the press corps turning on a president who they formerly lionized.
I remember the tone of the press coverage of George H.W. Bush getting a lot more critical – even mocking – after he vomited in the lap of the Japanese prime minister in January 1992. Ten months later, Bush I lost his reelection bid to Bill Clinton.
And of course there’s Bush II — George W. — who went from being a media hero in the wake of 9/11 to being a goat after he badly botched the response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
The media turns on a president when he appears weak. They’re like sharks smelling blood. And Trump is starting to hemorrhage.