December 19, 2025

Donald Trump is extremely unpopular. According to The Economist’s latest polling, Trump has a net approval rating of negative 13%. Only 42% of Americans approve of the job he is doing, while 54% disapprove. When it comes to inflation and the economy, his numbers are even worse.

The conventional wisdom is that this has weakened Trump politically. While a popular Trump could strong-arm governors and members of Congress into getting what he wants, an unpopular Trump has much less weight behind him. Observers point to Indiana’s refusal to enact a new gerrymandered congressional map and to House Republican defections on health care votes.

Don’t let his unpopularity fool you, though. It may be true that Trump is politically more vulnerable, but that does not mean he is less of a threat to democracy. To the contrary, history has shown that it is precisely these conditions that make him more dangerous, not less.

After he lost the 2020 election, Trump tried to bully state officials into stealing the election on his behalf. He sent his lawyers to court to tell lies. When that failed, he incited a violent insurrection at the Capitol to prevent his defeat from being officially certified.

After he was indicted and convicted of felonies, Trump subjected prosecutors, judges and even their law clerks to vitriolic attacks. He promised vengeance and retribution against his political enemies. Since retaking office, he has made good on many of those threats.

His prime-time speech earlier this week was a fiasco. His delivery was bizarrely fast and angry. But pay attention to his words — words that were carefully written and chosen with intent. Yes, it contained the usual lies, such as calling his reelection “a landslide.” And it included impossible exaggerations, like claiming he lowered drug prices by “400, 500, and even 600 percent.”

However, it was his angry and desperate language — even by his standards — that caught my attention. Trump claimed the country had been “invaded by an army of 25 million people, many who came from prisons and jails, mental institutions, and insane asylums.” He accused the Biden administration of fighting “only for insiders, illegal aliens, career criminals, corporate lobbyists, prisoners, terrorists, and, above all, foreign nations.” He falsely accused Somali immigrants of stealing “billions and billions of dollars from Minnesota.”

This is a president who knows he is losing. He lost his footing on the Epstein Files last summer and has never regained it. His disgraceful attack on Rob Reiner — which drew condemnation from the right — was just the latest tone-deaf response from an elderly man no longer in sync with even his own supporters.

But that doesn’t mean Trump will disappear quietly into the night. He has spent the last 11 months asserting complete domination over the federal government, including the Department of Justice, the FBI and the military. He has turned federal law enforcement into his private security force. Federal prosecutors have become mere extensions of his personal vendettas.

As we approach the 2026 elections, Trump is prepared to go to unprecedented, unconstitutional lengths to protect his congressional majority. He is prepared to wield weapons no president has even considered touching. Among these tactics is activating state officials who are willing to do his bidding. Abiding by Trump’s orders, they will enact new voter suppression laws and draw new gerrymandered maps. 

Trump also has the power of federal agents at his disposal. In preparation for the midterms, he has already deployed them in blue cities where Democrats typically gain large vote shares in statewide races.

Most importantly, Trump controls a Department of Justice that is willing to intimidate political opponents and aggressively litigate against voting rights. The DOJ’s Voting Section has filed 25 cases this year — 22 of which seek sensitive voter data from states attempting to protect their citizens. The remaining cases also target voter rolls, including one that seeks to relitigate the 2020 election results in Fulton County, Georgia.

The sole non-voting case initiated by the DOJ this year is an attack on California’s newly drawn congressional map. While this effort is likely to fail, the message is clear: the DOJ will defend Republican gerrymanders while suing to undermine those enacted by Democrats in response.

The more desperate Trump becomes, the more dangerous he will be. The more likely Republicans are to lose control of Congress in 2026, the more reckless and determined Trump will be to undermine the outcome.

Those of us in the pro-democracy movement should acknowledge Trump’s weakness. We should exploit the divisions it creates and take advantage of his unpopularity.

But we must also remain alert to the risks this creates. The fight for free and fair elections will be difficult next year, but it is essential that we prevail.

So for now, enjoy Trump’s falling poll numbers. Celebrate the holidays. Then, in the New Year, return rested and resolved for the battles ahead.