The Chaos Won’t Stop Itself

Democrats must infiltrate the MAGA world now — before Trump can spin the coming economic collapse into someone else’s fault.

After 100 days of chaos unleashed from the White House — including demanding Europe say thank you, briefly sabotaging Ukrainian defense in a way that shook trust in the U.S. defense industry, threatening to invade Greenland, turning Canada and China decisively against America, arresting a judge, and mistakenly deporting a man to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador — you might expect Donald Trump’s approval rating among Republicans to crater.

Nope.

Not happening. It’s still sitting firmly at 88%.

According to the latest NBC News poll, 45% of adults overall approve of Trump’s job performance, while 55% disapprove. Among Republicans, a staggering 88% approve, with just 12% disapproving. Meanwhile, independents and Democrats remain overwhelmingly negative — 68% of independents and 93% of Democrats disapprove.

Trump’s overall approval rating has slipped below 50%, but that drop is clearly the result of massive bleeding among independents — not from inside the Republican coalition. Trump likes to say he doesn’t watch the polls. Oh, he does. One look at how Republicans invested their money across the states during the 2024 campaign tells you everything: they watch the numbers just as closely as the Democrats do. Trump will track the polling numbers like a hawk, then go on TV and spout some nonsense about not caring.

The current level of Republican support is extremely bad news because it gives Trump the illusion that he has a license to continue his chaos governance. It likely explains why he still refuses to back off some of his more nonsensical decisions.

And it points to an even bigger problem: the opposition remains largely ineffective at breaking into the MAGA-Republican ecosystem. They’ve still failed to find a way into that dark world. But here’s the thing: most of those darkness amplifiers aren’t in it for ideology — they’re in it for money and power. Some of them, eventually, will open the door. When they do, the opposition needs to be ready. Bring the candle inside. Not everyone will see it. Not everyone will care.

But if you fight for the margins, you’ll find your way to the majority. It’s the only way.

Democrats need a coordinated strategy to plant themselves inside the MAGA ecosystem. Building a full parallel structure will take years — and yes, it’s something the Democratic Party urgently needs to do. But until then, the best approach is to get inside and start working from within.

Democratic senators, more than anyone else, are positioned to do this. Hit the podcast world. Break into the media loops. Slip inside the ecosystem and start shifting the conversation from within. That's the game.

And timing matters. A huge opportunity is about to land at their feet.

The effects of Donald Trump’s trade war are set to reach American shores in May. The economic pain will start percolating through the system — quietly at first, then loudly. If Democrats start now, if they seed themselves inside the discourse today, by the time the cracks start appearing, they will already have the cudgel in hand to push the Trump administration back.

Maybe — just maybe — if they act fast and do it right, they can stop the economic contraction from metastasizing into a full-blown recession.

If you can do the right thing and win an election doing it — is there anything better for a politician?

Go.

Go now.