The president who forgot his promise and is witnessing how some Republicans have sided with the Democrats

Donald Trump began the second run of his presidency with big words: less global politics, more affordable living, jobs for Americans first. But in recent months a different reality has taken hold. While the government was stuck in the longest shutdown in US history, Trump dined with billionaires, unveiled plans for a golden ballroom in the midst of the crisis, and spoke of possible invitations to Davos as if the political elite were not exactly the milieu he once railed against. At the same time, he approved a multibillion-dollar rescue package for Argentina, supported visas for highly skilled foreign workers, and declared that Americans lacked certain “talents” – a statement that shocked his own base.

Amid these tensions, the topic Trump would most like to disappear lands on the table: his connection to Jeffrey Epstein. The release of new emails has angered exactly those who demanded transparency for years and now see that Trump is suddenly blocking further disclosure. For many Republicans, it is a turning point: a president protecting himself while drifting away from central campaign promises.

The political sharpness of the moment is now also visible in Congress. The House of Representatives is voting on the Epstein files: a bipartisan initiative that forces the House to vote on a measure that would compel the Justice Department to release the files has advanced. President Trump has increased pressure on Republican lawmakers to prevent the vote. The measure is also supported by four Republican lawmakers: Thomas Massie (Kentucky), Marjorie Taylor Greene (Georgia), Lauren Boebert (Colorado), and Nancy Mace (South Carolina). Trump and his circle are currently trying by all possible means to sway individual Republican members – because the majority could tip, and for the first time it is becoming clear that this process could become politically dangerous for Trump.

The estrangement shows everywhere. As living costs rise and Republicans recently suffered bitter election losses, the White House talked about falling grocery prices, about 50-year mortgages that solve nothing, and about tariff-funded 2,000-dollar checks that supposedly await Americans. None of it is concrete, none of it helps families who can barely make it through the month. Even Steve Bannon, architect of early MAGA ideology, now accuses Trump of spending too much time meeting foreign leaders while domestic problems grow.

Melania Trump stepped to the microphone during the signing of Trump’s foster care order – and it was impossible to overlook: she will be appearing publicly much more often. Inside the White House, everyone knows why. Behind the scenes there is a state of alarm, advisers whisper it all the way to the kitchen: Trump is weakened, severely.

That Melania is suddenly visible is no coincidence but a political emergency scaffold. When a president starts to wobble, the First Lady becomes the backdrop of stability. But this appearance revealed the opposite: fear.

The numbers confirm the erosion. Trump’s approval has fallen to 33 percent, and even within his own party the foundation is cracking. Veterans’ advocates accuse him of abandoning the very people he once mobilized. The message of his campaign, once forceful and focused, now appears like a shell he puts on and takes off at will. “The mask is falling,” said a longtime government official. “It’s all about himself now.”

Trump continues to insist he knows better than anyone what the movement wants. But the distance between his self-narrative and what his supporters are actually experiencing is growing – with every dinner for wealthy donors, every ornate photo from the White House renovation, and every day in which the promise of “America First” has become nothing more than a slogan overwhelmed by reality.