Peggy Noonan has been writing about Republican presidents since Ronald Reagan was president.Now, this well-known conservative writer and Wall Street Journal columnist thinks something big has changed with Donald Trump.
The charm is fading.
Noonan, who wrote famous speeches for George H.W.
Bush like “kinder, gentler nation” and “thousand points of light,” says Trump’s position in politics is looking shaky now.His approval ratings are going down, people are worried about the economy, and his fight with Iran isn’t ending.
For Democrats who once saw the old Republican Party as the bad guys, the contrast is strange.
The political fights back then seem almost silly compared to a president who calls himself a king, talks about running for a third term, and started a war in the Middle East after saying he would oppose such wars.
Noonan argues that the Iran situation has shown what’s wrong with Trump.
The confidence and sureness that made him popular are disappearing, and voters are seeing something they don’t like.
“She’s saying he’s unsure,” Noonan writes.
“He doesn’t look like he knows what he’s doing.”
And the numbers back that up.
Trump has only 39% approval according to RealClearPolitics, and an Economist poll shows he’s at 34% approved and 61% disapproved.
Even his strongest issue, the cost of living, is losing appeal.
Polls show Democrats are now doing better or even better than Republicans on the economy as people worry about prices and getting by.
But maybe the best proof comes from Trump himself.
Before the Iran war started, Tucker Carlson tried to tell Trump not to go to war.Trump didn’t listen.
“I know you’re worried about it, but it’s going to be OK,” Trump told Carlson, who asked how he knew.
“Because it always is.”
That quote shows the main point of Noonan’s argument.
Trump has survived scandals, impeachment, legal problems, and defeats that would have destroyed most politicians.
But this has made him think that things will always go his way.
But presidents can’t just ignore crises and wait for them to go away.
Noonan sees a list of issues—Iran, inflation, ICE, Epstein, tariffs, Ukraine—beginning to pile up in voters’ minds.
These are no longer just separate problems, but a feeling that things are getting out of control.
And time is working against Trump.
Everyone knows the post-Trump era is coming, and as his time in power gets shorter, the fear and mystery around him are also fading.
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