The Dictatorship

The Trump ‘vibe shift’ was always a mirage. These polls prove it.

Published

1 year ago

April 17, 2025

The Trump ‘vibe shift’ was always a mirage. These polls prove it.

Donald Trump is finding fewer and fewer supplicants for his series of extortion attempts, with Harvard University becoming the latest institution to reject the administration’s demands. As with most things Harvard-related, the school’s primacy is overstated: Michigan State University, New York public schools and other education institutions have already pushed back against White House overreach. The schools are not alone: From law firms to corner offices, some of America’s most prestigious institutions are finding their spines — or at least their voices — in the face of Trump’s power grabs.

If anything, though, these institutions are trailing popular sentiment. Many observers treated Trump’s victory in November as a profound change in American politics. At the most extreme, the president and his allies tried to claim that his victory — the third-narrowest since World War II — represented a sweeping “mandate.” Even some of his critics argued his second term brought with it a “vibe shift.”

But the “vibe shift” was always a mirage. And even before Trump’s 100th day in office, the mirage is already disappearing.

Implicit in this narrative was the idea that Trump and his agenda had achieved enduring popular support. Oligarchs like Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg and media owners like The Los Angeles Times’ Patrick Soon-Shiong used this reasoning to shift their platforms right.

Implicit in this narrative was the idea that Trump and his agenda had achieved enduring popular support.

In fact, the president’s second-term approval ratings look eerily similar to his first: a poor start that only gets worse. Trump’s initial favorability ratings in January were the second-worst of any presidency, just slightly better than his previous administration. By mid-March, his net approval was again negative; by early April, his average disapproval was already more than 50%.

The explanation for this must start with the economy, which remains voters’ top concern. (In a recent Gallup surveyfor example, nearly 90% of Americans were concerned about the economy.) After promising to bring prices down “on day one,” the president has done little but lie about egg prices — which, yes, are still rising. Instead, Trump has blundered ahead with the most distinctive part of his economic platform: sweeping tariffs. But the more voters have seen, the less they’ve liked. Compiling more than a dozen polls taken after this month’s “Liberation Day,” former 538 editor G. Elliot Morris calculated that Trump’s approval rating dropped 6 percentage points compared to the same pollsters’ previous surveys.

A CBS News/YouGov poll conducted last week is typical of this group: 75% say the tariffs will raise prices in the short term, 65% say they’ll make the economy worse and 54% say Trump is already more responsible for the state of the economy than Joe Biden, just two months after the latter left office. Even the intended beneficiaries of tariffs — according to Trump, at least — are skeptical: In a Washington Post survey of manufacturing workers, 57% said his tariffs would “hurt your job and career,” while just 22% said the duties would help.

While voters soured quickly on Trump’s economic policies, his handling of immigration has seemed a bright spot for many. But as with the broader “vibe shift” narrative, the signs of a mirage have long been present. Even before the election, most voters opposed the specifics of Trump’s immigration policiessuch as deporting immigrants with no criminal records or those who are parents of U.S. citizens. As cases such as Kilmar Abrego Garcia and Mahmoud Khalil highlight MAGA’s cruel immigration policies, Trump’s strength on the issue has ebbed. In a new Quinnipiac pollfor instance, Trump’s net approval on immigration issues is minus 5%; on deportations specifically, it’s minus 10%.

When politicians and pundits try to conjure a more pro-MAGA vibe shift, they not only overstate the popularity of Trump’s agenda, but they also understate the scale and the fury of his opposition. The Democrats who were quickest to recognize political reality are being rewarded. Sen. Cory Booker seized the country’s attention with his record-breaking speechand Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have drawn record crowds on their cross-country tour, even in red states.

Little comes more naturally to Trump than bluffing about his power.

On the other side of the aisle, as I wrote last weekthe tariff fiasco has lessened the taboo for GOP lawmakers criticizing Trump. And after weeks of Trump corralling dissident Republicans in Congress with his word alone, House Speaker Mike Johnson had to put his job on the line to avoid an embarrassing defeat on an all-important budget vote.

That the Trump agenda was never as popular as recent conventional wisdom would claim does not lessen the damage done. Nor will it stop the president and his billionaire allies from plowing on with their destruction of government and civil society. Little comes more naturally to Trump than bluffing about his power.

But the truth of Trump’s unpopularity is instructive in how the rest of us respond to his destruction. Those that already caved to the administration’s demands, or who are in the midst of caving, look more foolish by the day. Those who cover his agenda — including, yes, his immigration policies — as if it is popular do a disservice to their readers. And those who encourage his opponents to hold off protesting, until Trump sinks himself, ignore that that day has already come.

James Downu

James Downie is a writer and editor for BLN Daily. He was an editor and columnist for The Washington Post and has also written for The New Republic and Foreign Policy.

The Dictatorship

Trump Media to sell Wall Street access to market-moving Truth Social posts

Published

15 hours ago

July 17, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Trump Media to sell Wall Street access to market-moving Truth Social posts

Christmas. 17, 2026, 12:57 PM EDT

Trump Media & Technology Groupa company owned by President Donald Trump, is offering Wall Street firms access to a new speciality service that rapidly delivers and curates market-moving posts from the president’s preferred social media platform.

Truth Social, which launched in 2022, has become the platform where the president offers high-impact statements and announces major decisions. Among those statements, Trump has frequently unveiled changes to U.S. tariff policy; discussed meetings with world leaders, like Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin; and, in recent months, provided updates on the ongoing war with Iran.

The service, announced Thursday, has been dubbed “Truth API.” An API, or application programming interface, allows software applications to communicate with each other.

“Markets already move on Truth Social posts,” said Kevin McGurn, interim chief executive offer of TMTGin a statement. “As adoption grows, we expect Truth API to become a meaningful, ongoing source of revenue for the company, creating lasting value for shareholders.”

Trump is the majority stakeholder of Trump Media, which positions him to profit from the company’s new revenue stream. The White House has said that while he is in office, Trump’s assets are held in a trust that is managed by his children.

While the company says the new service will include posts from high-ranking accounts, Truth Social is mostly an echo chamber for the president, his allies and his supporters. Aside from Trump’s own profile, other accounts rarely produce impactful news or information. That raises questions about whether the president will weigh how the service could benefit him financially when he posts on the platform.

The White House and TMTG did not respond to MS NOW’s requests for comment.

Wall Street investors already rely on other applications to provide real-time data and market-moving information to react quickly and integrate data from Truth Social and other social media platforms.

It’s unclear how Truth API will differ from existing services or how much the company plans to charge for the service. TMTG said it would rely on “industry-standard delivery methods” to deliver Truth Social posts to customers “in milliseconds.”

According to the company, clients have already signed up ahead of the service’s launch, which is slated for as soon as August. 1.

The stock market often reacts to Trump’s posts, even when the content later proves to be inaccurate, misleading or states something that ultimately does not come to fruition.

For example, Trump posted in April that Iran had agreed to “fully” reopen the Strait of Hormuz shortly before U.S. markets opened. Minutes later, he said a U.S. naval blockade would remain in place.

The president also vowed on the platform to increase tariffs on countries to 15% after a Supreme Court decision struck down his use of widespread tariffs. However, the tariff rate has remained at 10%, and it’s unclear if or when it might be raised.

Akayla Gardner is a White House correspondent for MS NOW.

The Dictatorship

Mullin threatens to penalize states that do not cooperate with DHS on election security

Published

15 hours ago

July 17, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Mullin threatens to penalize states that do not cooperate with DHS on election security

Christmas. 17, 2026, 12:50 PM EDT

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said Friday that his department will penalize states that do not cooperate with the federal government to “secure our elections” ahead of November’s midterm elections.

Announcing in a news conference what he called a new Department of Homeland Security program to safeguard U.S. elections, Mullin said states that refuse to participate may be deprived of federal funds and resources to run their elections. State election officials may also be personally held accountable by fines, penalties and potential prison time, he warned.

“Working with [Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick]we are going to make our security enhancements mandatory, meaning that if these states want a grant and they want to be reimbursed to work or to run federal elections, they’re going to have to implement security issues,” he said.

Mullin said that states will have to “look at who voted in their states” and that if their election officials do not adhere to federal directions on security measures, “then those individuals can also be held accountable by fines, by penalties and even, depending on how far it goes, prison time.”

If states do not hand over voter roles to federal officials, Mullin said, the government will scour public records of voters.

“You must be a U.S. citizen, and you must be eligible to vote before and after the election,” he said. “We will scrub all election records,” looking for noncitizen voters and others ineligible to vote, including votes linked to deceased people.

“We will go through those records one by one, and we will pursue everybody,” he said.

He threatened to prosecute noncitizens for voting, which is illegal and a highly rare occurrence. An analysis by the Bipartisan Policy Center of Elections between 1999 and 2023 found only 77 instances of noncitizen votingeach of which was investigated by the authorities.

“If you’re illegal and attempted to vote, or you tried to vote illegally for someone else, we will find you, and we will charge you,” Mullin warned.

According to Mullin, DHS found hundreds of thousands of noncitizens who are registered to vote in California, New Jersey, Nevada and Pennsylvania, without presenting a breakdown of the data or explaining the department’s investigative process.

Mullin’s remarks follow President Donald Trump’s primetime speech on Thursday night, during which he again promoted conspiracy theories about his 2020 election loss and pushed for more voting restrictions.

DHS’ involvement in the campaign is a preview of what is shaping up to be a whole-of-government approach that could instill uncertainty in America’s election security ahead of the November midterms and impose stricter laws that civil rights advocates say will burden voters.

In his Thursday night speech, Trump repeated falsehoods about the 2020 election, saying it had been “rigged and stolen.” He accused China of buying and stealing tens of millions of voter data files and said Venezuela was capable of manipulating elections.

Declassified intelligence released by the White House that intended to prove his claims instead undermined it. Afterward, several Trump officials — including current and former intelligence and administration officials — told MS NOW that no U.S. intelligence exists showing that any foreign country influenced the outcome of the 2020 election

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Julia Jester and Brian Bennett contributed reporting.

Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.

The Dictatorship

The average American is paying the price for Trump’s corruption

Published

15 hours ago

July 17, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

A federal judge this week rightly rebuked President Donald Trump’soutrageous $10 billion lawsuit against his own countrywhich originally ended in a bogus settlement that would have created a $1.8 billion taxpayer-funded slush fund for his allies and would have granted him and his family sweeping immunity from IRS audits. In ruling that Trump manipulated the judicial process for his own benefit, the judge reinforced what many Americans had concluded long ago: Trump has transformed the presidency into one giant grift.

Trump’s shameless attempts to cash in on the U.S. presidency are why I have introduced legislation to establish basic safeguards that should apply to every president, regardless of party. My proposals would require presidents to place their assets in blind trusts and prohibit sitting presidents from owning or trading individual stocks. I have fought to prevent presidents from receiving blanket immunity from federal tax law, and I have introduced a constitutional amendment that would let Congress review the most egregious abuses of the presidential pardon power.

Trump has transformed the presidency into one giant grift.

Most of these proposals have been flatly rejected by the Republican-controlled Rules Committee along party lines. My constitutional amendment has gained the support of one lone Republican, Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska, who’s retiring.

But these aren’t partisan ideas. Nor are they radical. They’re commonsense protections rooted in a simple principle: Public office exists to serve the public — not enrich the officeholder.

Because corruption isn’t just unethical. It’s also expensive.

Americans know what it feels like paying more for groceries, gas, housing, healthcare and energy. Families are stretching every paycheck and making impossible decisions about what they can afford. At the same time, Trump and his family are becoming wealthier — obscenely so.

According to newly released financial disclosuresTrump’s personal fortune grew by roughly $2 billion last year. From cryptocurrency ventures and foreign business deals to stock trades involving companies affected by government policy, the Trump family is amassing wealth because he’s president.

Take cryptocurrency.

Trump’s own financial disclosures showhe and members of his family made $1.2 billion through a network of cryptocurrency ventures last year. At the same time, his administration aggressively rolled back regulations and championed a crypto-friendly agenda that directly benefits those investments.

Those ventures have also attracted foreign investors seeking influence with the administration — including Binance founder Changpeng Zhaowhom Trump later pardoned for a federal money-laundering conviction.

In fact, an entire pardon-shopping industry has sprouted up around the president, with lobbyists reportedly charging as much as $1 million to seek clemency from the White House.

Those pardons have erased more than $1 billion in fines and restitution owed by duly convicted defendants. That money was intended to compensate victims and repay taxpayers. Instead, it disappeared with the stroke of Trump’s pen.

Those pardons have erased more than $1 billion in fines and restitution owed by duly convicted defendants.

Then there is the president’s personal stock trading.

Trump’s financial disclosures show him making an average of 80 stock trades a dayoften involving companies with business before the federal government.

He purchased substantial holdings in Palantir, a major federal software contractor, and then publicly promoted the company on social media. He bought shares of Nvidia a week before his administration approved the sale of advanced microchips to China, a market the company’s CEO has said could ultimately generate $50 billion annually.

Trump made more than 300 previously undisclosed stock purchases just one day before unexpectedly announcing that he would pause many of his import tariffs.

When the president can trade stocks and simultaneously move markets through official government actions, Americans have every reason to question whether public policy is serving the country or his personal investment portfolio.

When Trump isn’t enriching himself, he appears to be ensuring that family members and political allies benefit too.

One of his Mar-a-Lago neighbors — and a major political donor — received a no-bid contract to remediate algae in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Donald Trump Jr. holds a multimillion-dollar stake in a drone manufacturer that recently secured a major Pentagon contract.

Different schemes. Same basic story.

Every taxpayer dollar diverted through favoritism, every contract awarded based on political connections and every market distorted by self-dealing carries a cost to the taxpayers.

It means fewer resources to lower housing costs, strengthen public schools, improve infrastructure, expand healthcare and help working families make ends meet.

Different schemes. Same basic story.

The government should work for the American people, not for whichever politician occupies the Oval Office.

That’s why the reforms I have introduced matter.

Reforms that are not about one individual, but instead about restoring public trust in our democracy and ensuring that no future president — Republican or Democrat — can use public office as a personal profit center.

Corruption isn’t just immoral. It isn’t just illegal.

It’s expensive.

And American families are paying the price.

Rep. Johnny “Johnny O” Olszewski Jr. represents Maryland’s 2nd congressional district, which includes major portions of Baltimore County, Carroll County and parts of Baltimore City.