It can be difficult to decide which Roman metaphor more aptly captures President Donald Trump’s posture these days.
Is it “bread and circuses,” feeding the American people a series of distractions — amusing or otherwise — from their worries about the economy? Or is it Nero, fiddling with his ballroom plans while the Republican Party’s midterm hopes burn?
What’s clear is that Trump and his administration aren’t going to course correct any time soon.
The last 24 hours have been a case in point. And the last couple weeks have been inauspicious for anyone who hoped Trump might suddenly focus on the political task at hand.
Thursday marked exactly two months until Election Day 2026. And the first votes are about to be cast, with North Carolina sending out mail ballots on Friday.
But despite a bevy of polling showing Americans want Trump to focus on affordability and the economy, he appears preoccupied with anything but.
On Thursday alone, we learned the Trump administration has hired a new pool contractor to clean up the mess he made of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, announced the start of construction on Trump’s 250-foot “triumphal arch” and launched a series of arcade-style video games, including one that allows users to arrest undocumented immigrants.
The White House is also reportedly launching a reality show-like competition for entrepreneurs, just weeks after Trump’s “Patriot Games” flopped and after an actual reality show from the Department of Transportation was released. (It says a nonprofit paid for it; not taxpayers.)
By Friday morning, two big stories — from the New Yorker and New York Magazine — detailed what can only be called Trump’s obsession with his ballroom and other construction and beautification projects in Washington, DC.
Trump even sat for an interview — and gave a construction tour, of course — for the New York Magazine piece.
Reporter Ben Terris reported that the president’s official calendar is “peppered with meetings about other projects around Washington that can often last an hour or longer.”
And in perhaps the most eyebrow-raising scene, Trump actually agrees with Georgia Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff’s contention that he’s building monuments to himself because he doesn’t think others can be counted on to do it.
“That’s true,” Trump said. “Nobody will do it once I’m gone. When I leave here, nobody will.”
The fact that Trump would say this out loud is stunning. Ossoff meant this as a dig.
But it also suggests Trump might be feeling the pressure to get these projects done fast. He has a finite amount of time to plaster his name on things and build things that he’ll be remembered by. It could get more difficult by January, when Democrats could control one or both chambers of Congress.
Trump even talks about how it will supposedly be impossible for Democrats to demolish his ballroom, if they wanted to. (“It’s nuclear concrete,” he told New York Magazine. “I think it would be very hard. It’s meant for if there’s a nuclear attack.”)
Terris also runs through how Trump in his public appearances often seems distracted by his construction projects as he’s attending to much more serious business.
And that’s really the problem with all of this, at least if you’re a congressional Republican staring at a concerning midterm election.
It’s not just that Trump is distracted; it’s that he’s focused on things that polls show Americans view as frivolous and don’t want — at the expense of things they really want him to do (i.e. lowering prices and ending the war with Iran).
Trump’s ballroom is 2-to-1 unpopular.
Americans opposed his 250-foot “triumphal arch” 52%-21% in an April poll.
A July poll showed 65% of Americans described themselves as upset or dissatisfied with the ballroom, arch and Reflecting Pool projects.
While Trump tries to put his name on things like the Kennedy Center, just 9% of Americans think that’s appropriate for him to do as an incumbent president.
And Trump’s other preoccupation in recent days and weeks — his new trade war with Canada, which led him move to rename Lake Ontario as “Lake America” — fares little better. Reuters-Ipsos polling this week showed Americans opposed the Canada tariffs 57%-20% and the “Lake America” renaming 63%-14%.
Trump last week held a White House event for the latter move, which it turns out even his fellow Republicans oppose by double digits.
All of this cements a tough picture for the GOP. Polling has for months shown that Americans view Trump as neglecting more important fare.
CBS News polling has recently shown 78% of Americans said he’s not focused enough on lowering prices, and July CNN polling shows around the same percentage (73%) said he hasn’t paid enough attention to the country’s most important problems.
It’s not fair to say Trump has completely neglected the cost of living.
He recently announced he would pause tariffs on imported beef to try to lower prices for consumers, and on Friday he threatened to stop trading with other countries if the Federal Reserve doesn’t lower interest rates.
Both moves could theoretically save people money.
But both moves also betray Trump’s preference for questionable quick fixes. The beef tariffs move, for example, is expected to have a negligible impact, CNN reported, while irritating domestic cattle ranchers and even some Republicans. And the extortionate threat to the Fed seems unlikely to bear fruit. (Indeed, lowering interest rates could actually send inflation higher.)
The CNN poll in July contained another telling finding. Fully 66% of Americans said Trump did not put the good of the country above his own personal gain. That included 76% of independents and 30% of Republicans.
And more than a month later, with the 2026 general election truly kicking off, it’s as if he’s bent on proving those people right.
