Version imprimableWartime presidents have historically risen in the public’s esteem, at least at the beginning of a war. But Trump’s approval has been declining on all fronts. As I write on April 12, according to reliable polls, 37% approve of Trump’s presidency, 56% disapprove, and 7% are not sure. And regarding his war on Iran, some 56% of Americans disapprove, while 68% disapprove of sending ground troops to Iran, and 71% are opposed to spending $200 billion on further military action in Iran. Above all, the war has led to rising prices for gas and other products and threatens an even worse economy.
While diplomatic negotiations with Iran have so far failed to bring any resolution to the conflict, Trump said it didn’t matter if a deal with Iran was reached or not: “We win, regardless,” he said. “We’ve defeated them militarily.” Yet some commentators on the right and the left have argued that this has been America’s biggest defeat since Vietnam.
Many were appalled by Trump’s threat a week ago that “a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.” Democrats, some Republicans, and important figures in his Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement not only doubt that the U.S. has won the war, but many also doubt Trump’s leadership and even his sanity. Jamie Raskin, a leading Democrat, said, “His apparently deteriorating condition has caused tremendous alarm across the nation … about the President’s cognitive function and continuing mental fitness for the office of President, and prompted concerns about the President’s well-being.” He called for the presidential physician to conduct a “comprehensive” cognitive evaluation of Trump.
From the beginning, many in MAGA disapproved of Trump’s war on Iran, saying that it betrayed his “America First” policy and promises to avoid foreign wars. Once the war began, several leading MAGA commentators Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, Candace Owens and Alex Jones became vocal critics of the war. Recently retired Republican congressional representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, once the president’s biggest booster said, “It’s absolute madness. How can any person that is mentally stable call for an entire civilization of people to be murdered, to be wiped out, to never come back again? That’s what the President called for, and that shows that there’s serious instability in his thinking,” Greene said. “He’s out of control, and people within the administration need to step up, take responsibility and rein this in,” she said. She wrote on X, “25th Amendment!!!”
Senator Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, has also called for the use of the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office.
The 25th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution provides that when top executive and legislative officials determine that “the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office,” he may be removed and replaced by the vice-president.
With Trump still controlling the Republican Party, which controls Congress, there is little chance of the 25th Amendment being invoked. Nevertheless, the fact that this is being widely discussed and reported on weakens Trump’s hold on the public and hopefully his hold on power when the midterm elections take place in November. For us on the left, it’s back in the streets on May 1, opposing Trump and his war.
12 April 2026
