Philip Bump has a fascinating look today at American public opinion. It starts with this:
Perhaps the best analogy for the first three months of Donald Trump’s second presidentialterm comes not from American history but from Looney Tunes.
“We’re in the Wile E. Coyote Moment where actually all the key changes have already happened,” writer Julian Sanchez offered this month, “and we’re just waiting for folks to look down.”
That seems right. Trump and his allies have ripped through any number of systems that constitute and bolster the United States, but the full extent of damage hasn’t yet become apparent to most Americans — and may not for years. We’re still jogging straight ahead, unaware that there’s no more cliff underneath us.
Yowza. He notes that there is one group that seems to see that we’ve gone over: the markets. It’s a wild ride as they try to grab on to something on the way down, screaming for a lifeline. But Americans are only now beginning to see just how bad it really is. Bump does graphs and charts and they’re all interesting so I’ve included a gift link for you to look at all of them. They’re not good if you are a person who participates in the economy — which means all of us.
I’ll just highlight this one that shows maybe people are starting to understand what’s happening:
That slide may be in part because the discussion about Trump and immigration is no longer about his reversal ofBiden’s immigration approach (an approach that the Biden administration itself had to some extent revised before the 2024 election). Instead, it’s about Trump’s worrisome overreach.
Trump’s election last year was heavily centered on the idea that he would be a better steward for the economy than his opponent. His approval on jobs and the economy, though, has dropped quickly.
Has reality finally bitten? Time will tell. But those of us who have been running around with our hair on fire were sadly under-reacting. Hopefully, people are finally catching up but all that means is that they now realize what’s happening as we all go down together.