(CNN) — President Donald Trump is trying to shape how he’s remembered through his transformations of Washington’s monuments, official buildings and grassy parks — and the honors boards at his golf clubs.
But as a frenetic summer rolls on, his legacy instead risks being dominated by a US strategic stalemate in Iran, the unaddressed economic anxieties of millions of Americans, and Republican Party schisms caused by his personal obsessions.
This unusual political bifurcation means Trump is juggling some of the gravest issues confronted by a modern president, like the war, and some of most trivial, including a dispute over Washington’s Reflecting Pool. It helps explain polling by CNN and other outlets three months before midterm elections that reveal low approval ratings and dissatisfaction on issues voters care about most.
By any conventional measure, this is a presidency in trouble. The traditional response would be to behave in a more focused way. But Trump is different from most presidents. He doubles down; he picks fights designed to please his political base; and he engineers sudden changes of course.
Throughout a turbulent weekend, Trump oscillated between profound and preposterous issues that all seem to merit equal time in his mind.
He threatened to deploy the worst “terror, strength, and power not seen since World War II” against Iran. But in the same social media post he put US military action on hold. The president told reporters Sunday that he listened to Gulf allies and that talks on a deal would begin Monday afternoon. His move was typical of the chilling threats and sudden reversals of a war that Trump claimed he’d won after a few days and that is now heading into its sixth month with no end in sight.
The president also fulminated about other personal quests that don’t match top voter concerns. He’s refusing to give up his idea for a $1.8 billion fund to compensate — among others — supporters convicted after the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot, which is imperiling the nomination of his attorney general nominee, Todd Blanche. (Late Sunday, Blanche said he was formally rescinding the plan for the fund, in a move that could help ease the way toward his confirmation). The president is also feuding with Senate Republicans over the failure to pass his measure to overhaul federal elections — despite the package lacking the necessary votes.
Trump doubles down on the pool palaver
As the president tries to remake the Middle East, he’s doing the same to Washington.
Trump lashed out after DC US Attorney Jeanine Pirro dropped a case against a man accused of damaging the Reflecting Pool, which had to be drained after the president’s botched renovation. He’s having better luck with other grand projects. His ballroom is rising from the ruins of the White House East Wing, which he knocked down in a stunning show of questionable presidential authority. A new helicopter pad is taking shape on the South Lawn. And he’s planning a huge turfing effort. “We’re changing all the grass in all the parks,” he said last week. “Grass is like human beings. Grass has a life also.”
But do voters really care about this? The same question could be asked of Trump’s comment Sunday after another victory in one of his golf club championships. “It’s called TALENT,” the president wrote on social media of his win. His tone of self-congratulation seemed a little out of tune with a tough national moment.
Rep. Jim Jordan, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, told CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union” on Sunday that “President Trump is focused on making America great and focused on making Washington beautiful again.”
Democrats, however, are creating a narrative of neglect that saddles Trump with responsibility for voters’ concerns on the war and other issues.
“He says one thing, he does another thing,” Sen. Mark Kelly said on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” referring to the war.
There are “a lot of retired service members that can’t afford to put gas in their car, can’t afford groceries. Rent is going up. And this president is not dealing with the issues that the American people need him to deal with,” the Arizona Democrat said.
Voters think Trump is focused on the wrong things
Trump’s choices are reflected in polling that is daunting for Republicans who are asking voters for another two years for their monopoly on Washington power, even as Democrats struggle to overcome the country’s distrust with their brand and remain locked in an ideological tussle over their identity.
A CNN/SSRS poll released last week suggests Trump has his eye on the wrong issues. A record 73% of US adults said he hasn’t paid enough attention to the country’s most important problems, with just 27% saying he’s had the right priorities. Around three-quarters said the president isn’t in touch with the problems ordinary Americans face in their daily lives.
He could certainly be doing a far better job of telling his own story — for instance, highlighting programs that connect with the voters’ concerns, such as the TrumpRx website designed to lower prescription drug costs; higher-than-expected tax refunds that benefited many citizens this year; and “Trump Accounts” designed to give newborns a head start on the American dream.
It’s fair to question whether Trump understands his political plight. He routinely describes polls charting his low approval as fake. He claims the US is the “hottest” country in the world. “The administration has done more in 18 months than most administrations have done in eight years,” he said at a Cabinet meeting Friday. “This is the golden age of America.”
The midterm elections are unlikely to mend America’s polarization. But they may solve one puzzle: whether Trump has another comeback left in him.
This story was updated with additional information.
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