Perhaps the best hope that President Donald Trump will rein in the erratic excesses that have unnerved many liberals, moderates and constitutional conservatives alike is that more and more MAGA believers are losing the faith. A new Navigator Research poll shows that 11% of Trump voters regretted their and 16% were disappointed by his first 100 days. It’s not just business owners and CEOs who have been horrified to realize that Trump truly believes that trade deficits are always a sign of national weakness — not a fact of life in a global economy in which countries run surpluses in fields where they have built-in advantages that enable them to more efficiently produce certain goods. More Americans no longer think tariff zig-zags reflect “the art of the deal.”
The potential for this to be the foundation of a broad turn against Trump is backed by poll numbers showing that millions of independent voters — the kingmakers of U.S. politics — have already begun discounting the importance of his success at ending the border chaos of the Biden years by aggressively enforcing existing laws. Two polls show clear majorities of independents now have a net negative view of his overall immigration policy. They don’t like the precipitous ready-fire-aim deportations of many individuals (including U.S. citizens) with scanty or nonexistent justifications. They don’t like the signs that the White House is eager for a confrontation over these deportations not just with rogue federal judges but with the Supreme Court.
And their third concern has particular resonance in San Diego. It’s the White House’s broad contempt for international students at U.S. universities, leading to cruel, abrupt revocations of visas and other needed paperwork for thousands of such students, including dozens at local colleges. The White House’s April 25 decision to restore legal status for many of these students can be seen as an ission of error — or just one more sign of chaos.
For decades, motivated, talented international students have been an overwhelming plus for America. Many fill critical roles in graduate-level research, then go on to be wealth-creating entrepreneurs and innovators — in the U.S., not their home nations — in bioengineering, artificial intelligence, machine learning, data analytics and more. Their presence is crucial to our global competitiveness. Why drive them away?
Trump’s initial policy wasn’t a measured attempt to address legitimate national security concerns or immigration loopholes. It was just one more ploy meant to depict higher education in the worst possible light. These attacks will make some MAGA folks cheer. But as the pain from tariffs grow and such White House sideshows lose their power to distract, there is at least a chance that Trump’s clout has peaked — and that fewer Americans will keep having to live in dread of the news alerts they get on their phones.
