Donald Trump has shielded himself from hearing about a voter backlash by being surrounded by a small group of yes-men, according to a report.
The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman described how the 80-year-old president has been living an “unusually isolated existence” during his second term.
He has scaled back on the rallies that have defined his political career while choosing to surround himself with a select cadre of advisers and officials.
This inner circle does not tell him about his dire poll numbers, with Trump becoming increasingly unaware of how unpopular he is, she added.
Even negative information from polling and focus groups conducted by his own team—showing how unhappy voters are with Trump’s handling of the economy and rising gas prices, the war in Iran and the botched release of the Jeffrey Epstein files—is not getting through to the president.
Haberman’s report focuses on how Trump is going to come out of his shell and face the public on the road in a frantic attempt to stop a GOP wipeout in November’s midterm elections.
This includes headlining a two-day midterm convention in Dallas from Wednesday—an event that scores of Republican lawmakers are avoiding because they believe distancing themselves from the president will improve their election chances.
It has previously been reported that Trump is considering holding near-daily rallies in competitive states and districts in the run-up to the Nov. 3 elections to drum up enthusiasm among his MAGA base and get voters out to the polls when he is not on the ballot.
Trump told his advisers soon after he returned to the White House that he did not want to keep holding rallies and that part of his political career was effectively over, the Times reported.
When Trump has left the White House for domestic travel this year, some trips were tacked onto visits to places like Florida or Sterling, Virginia, or Bedminster, New Jersey, where his private golf clubs are located so that the president could play a few rounds.
However, with the GOP expected to suffer brutal midterm defeats and potentially lose control of the House and the Senate, Trump is rolling the dice and returning to face a public overwhelmingly unhappy and frustrated with his performance as president.
Jim Hobart, a Republican pollster with Public Opinion Strategies, suggested that Trump being more visible in states such as Iowa and Ohio—states he won by more than 10 points in 2024—could still be beneficial in the crucial midterm run-up.
“Much of the 2026 playing field is on states and districts where Trump won,” Hobart told the Times. “That means candidates are likely to welcome Trump’s presence on the trail as they work to turn out Trump 2024 voters in a midterm election.”
Elsewhere, Trump posted a vile attack on Haberman, whom he has given the nickname “Maggot Hagerman,” on Truth Social over her previous reporting that the president will skip the ceremony in New York City commemorating the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks after being told he could not make a speech at the event.
“I speak enough, and it just so happens that the strong request was made for me to be at the Pentagon instead, with VP Vance handling our administration’s representation in New York,” Trump wrote. “Hagerman, unattractive both inside and out, fully knows that her story is made up.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
