February 02, 2026 02:41 PM UTC

Everything is Coming Up Dandelions for Donald Trump

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• by: Colorado Pols

It’s not going great.

One year into his second term as President, Donald Trump’s administration is mired in one scandal after another as it deals with yet another government shutdown, a sputtering economy, and a crumbling American dollar.

Data from a new Pew Research poll shows that Americans are not amused:

A year into his second administration, Americans’ views of President Donald Trump – already more negative than positive – have continued to slip.

Trump’s approval rating stands at 37%, down from 40% in the fall.

By more than two-to-one, Americans say the administration’s actions have been worse than they expected (50%) rather than better (21%).

Only about a quarter of Americans today (27%) say they support all or most of Trump’s policies and plans, down from 35% when he returned to office last year. That change has come entirely among Republicans.

In virtually every measurable way, Trump is failing America and hemorrhaging support. His best laid plans are falling apart even on symbolic fronts. This lede from a story in The Atlantic in February 2025 — about Trump’s takeover of the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., is particularly poignant today for reasons we’ll explain momentarily:

Artists embarrassed Donald Trump when he first came to Washington. Now that Trump is back in power, he is determined not to let that happen again. [Pols emphasis]

Trump plans to announce the dismissal of multiple members of the Kennedy Center board as soon as today, a group likely to include recent appointees of former President Joe Biden; among those on the current board are the Democratic political strategist Mike Donilon, former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, and Democratic National Committee finance chair Chris Korge. The White House has also had discussions about having Trump himself installed as chair of the board, according to two people familiar with the purge, who requested anonymity to describe plans that are not yet public…

…(Several hours after this article published, Trump confirmed the news, writing on Truth Social that he planned to make the Kennedy Center “GREAT AGAIN” by terminating “multiple individuals from the Board of Trustees, including the Chairman, who do not share our Vision for a Golden Age in Arts and Culture.” He wrote that he planned to announce a “new Board, with an amazing Chairman, DONALD J. TRUMP!” adding, “The Kennedy Center is an American Jewel, and must reflect the brightest STARS on its stage from all across our Nation. For the Kennedy Center, THE BEST IS YET TO COME!”)

Trump illegally attempted to rename the Kennedy Center to the “Trump-Kennedy Center” in December, having his name put on the front of the building in defiance of laws stating that only Congress can rename the building dedicated to the memory of former President John F. Kennedy. In response to that change, musical and performing artists began — en masse — cancelling their scheduled appearance dates at the Kennedy Center (we’re not calling it the “Trump-Kennedy Center”). Trump is sad that people don’t approve of his attempts to rename everything after himself, so he’s kicking his ball over the fence and going home.

As The New York Times reports:

President Trump announced Sunday that he would shut down the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, which has been battered by cancellations and boycotts, for two years starting this summer. He said that would allow his administration to transform what he called “a tired, broken, and dilapidated Center,” into “the finest Performing Arts Facility of its kind.” [Pols emphasis]

Mr. Trump’s announcement came after a major backlash by performers, contributors and audience members and amounted to a sudden change in direction for what has been a high visibility initiative of his second term.

From his first weeks in office, Mr. Trump set out to remake the center, opened as a tribute to John F. Kennedy after his assassination in 1963, in his image. But in the discussions of that remaking, which included talk of renovations, there had been no public discussion of anything as drastic as a full two-year shutdown.

This is spite, pure and simple. It is also a very real “Emperor has no clothes” moment for the Big Orange Guy. The decision to close the Kennedy Center for two years is the Trump equivalent of a grade-schooler telling a classmate, You can’t come to my birthday party anymore!

The only renovation that will get people to return to the Kennedy Center is the one removing the name “Trump” from the outside of the building. As Trump is learning, you can demand respect…but you can’t make it real.