Trump’s Anger over Prices Goes Nuclear as Fresh Polls Show Him Tanking | The New Republic
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Trump’s Anger over Prices Goes Nuclear as Fresh Polls Show Him Tanking

As Trump’s inflation rants grow more unhinged amid brutal new polls for him, an economics writer explains why Trump is ill-suited for the crisis that might be coming—and why the bottom might be about to fall out.

Donald Trump angrily points a finger
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President Trump is cratering in two new polls. A Marist survey has his overall approval rating at 39 percent, and a Marquette poll has his approval plunging on the economy (36-64), tariffs (37-63), and inflation (28-72). Yet Trump and his advisers don’t have much of an answer to this problem. Trump just unleashed a long, rambling tirade angrily insisting that prices are really going down, not up. And he ranted bizarrely about Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell, saying of the latter, “I’d love to fire his ass,” another sign of his anger over inflation. So what happens if the economy really dips? We talked to New Republic staff writer Timothy Noah, who has been writing well on this question. He explains what’s going on with the gathering economic storm clouds, why Trump is uniquely ill-suited to handle a worsening economic crisis, and what things might look like for Trump if the bottom falls out. Listen to this episode here.