It’s only Thursday, and Donald Trump is already having one of the worst weeks of his second term. The latest data shows economic growth slowing as prices stay high and the war in Iran wages on. Trump’s poor performance is resulting in the lowest polling numbers of his entire political career, and the numbers show significant cracks in his base of Republican support. That’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Trump’s issues this week.
Trump’s economic policies are failing, and the numbers prove it
- Q2 GDP growth collapsed to a 1.5% annual rate, down from 2.1% in the first quarter and well below the 1.8% growth economists had forecast. Growth is disappearing under Trump’s watch.
- At the same time, the PCE price index, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, still surged 5.1%, with core inflation running at 3.4%, far above the Fed’s target.
- That combination, slowing growth paired with elevated prices, is the exact kind of stagflation economists have been warning about. Trump promised a booming economy and cheaper groceries. Instead, Americans are getting both a slowdown and a price shock at the same time.
A war with no end in sight, growing more dangerous and more expensive by the day
- Over five months into the war in Iran, there is still no strategy for an exit as the conflict that has jolted the world economy remains unpopular among Americans, draining resources and putting troops at greater risk with every passing week.
- The fighting is also draining U.S. military readiness, adding to concerns that the U.S. is further depleting already diminished stockpiles of sophisticated munitions needed to defend its own bases and allies, with no end to the conflict in sight to let those reserves rebuild.
Trump’s Approval Hits Rock Bottom, and Republicans Are Leading the Exit
- A new CNN/SSRS poll released this week shows Trump’s approval collapsing to 34%, tying his all-time low, first hit in the days after January 6, 2021.
- Trump’s net approval now sits at -32 points, down from -28 right after the Capitol riot, as 66% of Americans disapprove of his performance, up from 62% in January 2021.
- The cracks are showing inside his own party for the first time. Republican approval hit a new low of 78%, as even his base starts to peel away after six months of a war in Iran that keeps impacting gas prices and affordability.
- Seven in ten Americans now say Trump isn’t focused on the right issues.
Trump’s own party won’t back his Attorney General pick, and now he’s plotting to wait them out
- The Senate Judiciary Committee canceled Thursday’s vote on Todd Blanche’s nomination to be Attorney General after Republican Sens. John Cornyn and Thom Tillis said the DOJ had stonewalled their requests for written assurances that Trump’s $1.776 billion slush fund for right-wing extremists would not move forward.
- Trump floated simply pulling Blanche’s nomination and waiting until Cornyn and Tillis leave the Senate in January, even though the races to replace them are far from safe bets for Trump’s version of the party. In Texas, Democrat James Talarico and Republican Ken Paxton are locked in a statistical dead heat in one of the most competitive Senate races in a generation. In North Carolina, Democrat Roy Cooper leads Republican Michael Whatley by 9 points.
Multiple outbreaks are spreading while the agencies meant to stop them stumble
- A parasite outbreak linked to bagged lettuce has been expanding across the country this week.
- Separately, a salmonella outbreak tied to more than 19 million recalled eggs from a Texas producer has sickened nearly 100 people across 17 states and sent 26 people to the hospital, with cases still climbing.
- All of this comes as measles just hit a 35-year record, with more than 2,300 confirmed cases in 2026 already surpassing the total for all of last year. Public health experts say the outbreaks would not be this bad with a well-funded, well-staffed CDC.
All of this and it’s not even Friday yet.
Published: Jul 30, 2026