President Donald Trump is losing touch and becoming isolated, a White House journalist said Wednesday.
Past presidents have also had to deal with appearing — or actually being — out of touch with what everyday Americans go through, between heightened security measures and busy schedules. But MS NOW and Atlantic journalist Jonathan Lemire, who published a piece about the president, told strategist and writer Tim Miller on The Bulwark Podcast Wednesday that something is different this time around.
“But Trump is facing an extreme version of it now. And a big part of it is, there are a number of reasons, the biggest one I’d argue is he stopped doing his rallies, which frankly are the signature political event of our last decade — the Trump rally,” Lemire said.
Trump used to travel the country, test out his material and see how people reacted to it. He would meet with local people, supporters. Sometimes what he talked about would ultimately become policy.
“Though he didn’t love traveling the country, it gave him a real window into what his base cared about. He stopped doing that and people around him are afraid he’s now flying blind,” Lemire explained.
Miller asked why Trump stopped. He apparently told his aides that the rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, during the 2024 election would be his last.
“He’s very superstitious… he’s actually had a couple of small sorta rally-like events. Early this year, he did one to mark 100 days, that was also in Michigan, but it was nothing compared to what you’d consider a full-fledged Trump rally,” Lemire said.
He continued to do rallies after the assassination attempt but “got spooked by that.” Lemire also said he’s “worn out… he’s traded that for nights at the White House” and dinners with billionaires who want something from him. He has traveled abroad multiple times.
“He’s done next to no domestic travel,” Lemire said.
And since October, the only travel he’s done in the U.S. is to Mar-a-Lago.
“A lot of second-term presidents, who inherently are a lame duck, find that they can’t do as much with a domestic agenda; they often shift focus to a foreign policy,” Lemire said.
Trump, like past presidents, can turn to foreign matters because he doesn’t need congressional approval and instead can build his legacy.
“He’s desperate for a Nobel Peace Prize,” he added.
But some of his most faithful supporters have questioned that. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) had said that before she dropped her full support of him.
Miller said Trump appears to be gravitating to “a new class of establishment suck-ups” and that he’s turned from his traditional MAGA allies.
“And people around Trump have long said, and I’ve covered him for a long time now, that the one thing that impresses him is wealth. He loves the idea that these rich, powerful people are coming to him to kiss the ring, or to ask him for things, or to donate money to whatever cause he suggests, whether that’s the presidential library that allegedly is going to be built someday, or the ballroom that’s now in place of the devastated White House East Wing.”
Trump’s first term included establishment Republicans who surrounded him and would tell him to “pump the brakes” on some ideas and tell him no.
“That’s just gone, this time around, by design. It’s just true believers. So therefore, no one is telling him, ‘hey, you’re actually out of touch here. no one’s saying ‘this is a bad idea.’”
He’s turned to sycophants, and even in his own media consumption focuses on conservative echo chambers, using his own social media platform, Truth Social, which Lemire called the “true window into his soul.”
Miller suggested Trump could use more cuddles from first lady Melania Trump.
Lemire responded, saying, “I’m not going to comment on that.”
Jonathan Lemire: A Bubble-Wrapped Trump by The Bulwark
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