“And whoever refuses then will have to explain why they protected alleged offenders” – A President in Decline

Donald Trump has long relied on the belief that no one could politically harm him. A president who presents himself as invulnerable, who displays his power demonstratively, who thinks he can roll over every crisis with pressure and intimidation. But now, of all times, in the middle of the first signs of the midterm battle, this façade is beginning to crack. Two conflicts are moving to the forefront and causing him to stumble: the growing anger over rising living costs – and an open revolt within his own party that forces him into a decision he was determined to avoid at all costs: the release of further Epstein files.

These are two fronts that hit him at a sensitive point. Election Day lies only a few weeks behind him, and in several states the Democrats have secured significant victories. It is the kind of political shift in the weather that even a president notices when the public mood begins to turn. While outside the voices grow louder asking how long people in this country will be able to afford groceries, rent and energy prices, a fire burns inside the engine room of his own party. And that fire is not easily extinguished.

Trump reshaped the government during his second term with a hardness that many found alarming. He deployed troops in cities, let warnings about the legality of military actions roll off him and, in the midst of everything, indulged himself with the construction of a gilded ballroom at the White House – a project that reveals more about his priorities than any speech. But none of that helps him now. Because on the kitchen tables of voters there is no golden ballroom, only a receipt that grows more expensive month by month.

At the same time, Trump is being reminded that his power has limits. It is the Constitution itself that determines he cannot run again. And Thomas Massie of all people, that representative from Kentucky who has irritated Trump for years like few others, said out loud over the weekend what many only whisper. He told his Republican colleagues they should think carefully about how they vote on the release of the Epstein files because: “In a few years Trump will no longer be president. And then everyone will have to explain why they protected alleged offenders.”

It was a sentence that hit with force. Massie touched the point Trump fears most: that his control over his own party is no longer enough to keep it united behind a decision that millions of Americans would view as a cover-up. Trump knew he was losing this battle – and he knew it was better to stage the defeat himself than be embarrassed by it. So he suddenly reversed course and declared it was now “time to release the file.” Not out of conviction but because he had no other choice.

At the same time, another conflict is pulling him into a situation he can hardly control. Marjorie Taylor Greene, one of the loudest voices in the right-wing camp, has broken with him. The tensions between them exemplify a party that spends more energy on internal feuds than on any coherent strategy. Trump is now trying to secure his power by other means: through influence over electoral maps. He is pushing states to redraw congressional districts so his party can keep its seats. When Indiana refused, he openly threatened primary challengers. “We must keep the majority at all costs,” he wrote – a sentence that reveals more desperation than strength.

At the same time it is becoming clear how much anger over prices dominates the political landscape. Trump had to admit over the weekend that “some things have become a little more expensive” – a formulation that sounds almost helpless given what people are paying right now. And while he publicly pretends the causes lie elsewhere, his administration quietly rolled back tariffs: duties on coffee, beef and tropical fruit were reduced. A silent confirmation that his trade policy has driven up the everyday costs of many families.

At the same time he is promoting a new idea: a payment of 2,000 dollars to all Americans – except the wealthy – financed through tariff revenue. It sounds like a gift meant to calm public anger. But in Congress the proposal has little chance, and even if implemented, it could fuel the very inflation Trump claims he wants to eliminate. It is a proposal that smells of improvisation rather than solution, and of distributing money that does not actually exist. See our investigation: “The 2,000-Dollar Lie – and a President Who Once Again Plays for Time” at the link: https://kaizen-blog.org/en/die-2-000-dollar-luege-und-ein-praesident-der-wieder-einmal-auf-zeit-spielt/

The election results in New Jersey, Virginia and several other states leave no doubt about the depth of public dissatisfaction. Neil Newhouse, an experienced Republican pollster, put it this way: the defeats were not surprising – only the extent of them alarmed everyone. He warned his party not to repeat Biden’s mistake: telling people the situation is improving while they experience the opposite at the checkout. “You can tell them a hundred times that prices are going down,” he said. “If they do not see it at the register, no one believes it.”

And so Trump now stands between anger over prices and a rebellion within his own ranks, between a file he can no longer control and a voter base that is running out of patience. It is the moment when a president realizes that reality is not waiting for his voice. And that power becomes fragile the moment it loses its connection to the world outside.