Trump Press Sec Goes Full Cult as Brutal New Fox Poll Hits Him Hard | The New Republic
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Trump Press Sec Goes Full Cult as Brutal New Fox Poll Hits Him Hard

As a Fox News survey offers harsh findings and Karoline Leavitt soothes Trump with flattery, the author of a piece on his decline explains how his minions compensate for his deterioration with obsequious praise.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt glares
Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt in Washington, DC on Dec. 1, 2025.

On Thursday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told the world that the Kennedy Center has now been renamed after President Donald Trump. Her announcement of this great honor was bizarrely obsequious, mimicking phrases Trump himself uses and slathering him with unctuous flattery. We think it’s no accident that this comes as Trump’s decline is worsening both physically and politically: On Friday, he seemed to nod off amid his escalating physical deterioration. And a brutal Fox News poll finds his approval on the economy cratering, huge majorities saying economic conditions are bad, and even majority opposition to his mighty boat bombings. We talked to Moira Donegan, a columnist for The Guardian, who has a great new piece on Trump’s decline. We discuss how Trump’s minions are compensating for his deterioration with increasing cult worship, why his physical and political decline are connected, and what it means that the world is now looking beyond Trump. Listen to this episode here. A transcript is here.