A protester dressed as President Donald Trump in chains and a prison jumpsuit looks at another holding a sign referencing the Epstein files as people take part in No Kings protest on Oct. 18 in Seattle.
Donald Trump's return to office has been an abject disaster.
The economy is tanking due to the president’s idiotic tariffs. Families are being torn apart by his cruel Immigration and Customs Enforcement goon squad. Trump is destroying the White House to turn it into a dupe of his tacky Mar-a-Lago club, all while paying for it with bribes from his billionaire pals. And his corrupt pardons have basically given Republicans carte blanche to commit crimes and fraud because they know Trump will ensure they never face accountability.
In short, things really are as awful as they feel.
But there are some things we can still be thankful for this Thanksgiving when looking at the state of the country through a glass half-full lens:
1. Trump's approval rating is falling
When Trump took the oath of office again in January, his approval rating stood at 52%—a low number to be sure but one that felt grim in that more than half of the country was supportive of the criminal thug.
But 10 months in, Trump’s approval has slid to an abysmal 40%, according to an average from FiftyPlusOne, a polling aggregator launched by former staffers of the now-defunct FiveThirtyEight.
That amounts to a 12-point slide in approval since he took office—a massive number in a short amount of time, and one we can see decline even further as his MAGA base appears to be splintering over his handling of the Epstein files and the fact that the economy appears to be on a dangerous downward trajectory.
Related | Is Trump losing his grip on the Republican Party?
In sum, Trump is not invincible, as he appeared to be in January. And his steady stream of lawless and out-of-touch actions is causing the coalition that put him back in the White House to splinter and flee.
2. Trump is an albatross for Republicans in the 2026 midterms
With Trump’s approval 16 points underwater a year out from the 2026 midterm elections, you better believe Republicans are in for a world of hurt next November if his numbers don’t improve.
Already, we saw Trump’s low approval rating hurt the GOP in critical elections in New Jersey, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and California earlier this month.
Polling vastly underestimated Democrats’ performance in Virginia and New Jersey, as pollsters assumed the electorate would be more GOP-friendly—likely because they had post-traumatic stress disorder from underestimating Republicans when Trump was on the ballot.
But Trump’s unpopularity dragged GOP candidates down, with New Jersey’s Democratic Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill outperforming polls by nearly 8 points. Sherrill won by nearly 14 points, while the polling average had her up by 6 on Election Day.
If Trump continues to be as unpopular as he is now, that same outcome could spread across the country in the midterms.
Already, polling averages show voters want Democrats to control Congress after the 2026 elections by a 4-point margin.
Even Republicans are sounding the alarm about their electoral prospects.
“I don’t see how we win the midterms on the course that we’ve been set on so far,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) told Politico earlier this month.
3. Trump’s 2024 coalition is falling apart
Trump won the 2024 election thanks to gains he made with Black, Hispanic, and young voters—all of whom traditionally backed Democrats for president by large margins.
Pundits wondered if that would be a permanent shift for the Republican Party, which would make Democrats’ chances at electoral victory in future elections all the more challenging.
Already, polling has showed young, Black, and Hispanic voters turning away from Trump.
Related | Trump's approval with Latino voters craters as he carries out evil deportation agenda
But results out of Virginia and New Jersey definitively showed that those voters swung hard back to Democrats in just one year—a sign that 2024 was an exception and not the rule.
For example, a New York Times analysis of the New Jersey gubernatorial election found that Hispanic areas of the state shifted toward Democrats more than any other areas in New Jersey.
From the report:
The heavily Hispanic areas that shifted the most to the left in 2025 were virtually a mirror image of the places that had swung the farthest to the right in 2024. The outcome suggests that President Trump’s surge of support among Hispanic voters last year may have been fleeting, or at least not transferable to other candidates in his party.
Exit polling from the Virginia and New Jersey elections also showed the Democratic candidates winning 70% and 69% of young voters, respectively. That’s a major improvement for Democrats, who won just 54% of young voters in 2024, according to national exit polling.
4. Democrats are aggressively fighting Trump’s midterm election rigging
When Trump successfully pressured Texas Republicans into redrawing their congressional maps to axe as many as five Democratic lawmakers in the 2026 midterms, things looked perilous for Democrats’ chances at winning back the House majority.
But Democrats’ aggressive tactics—as well as some luck with legal rulings—will likely bring the redistricting battle to a draw.
Gov. Gavin Newsom addresses reporters after signing a package of measures to redraw California’s congressional districts on Aug. 21.
California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s quick action to suspend the state’s independent redistricting commission will allow Democrats to cancel out Texas’ corrupt gerrymandering.
The success of Newsom’s effort led Democrats in Virginia to launch a nearly identical effort, which could eliminate as many as three Republican seats.
A legal ruling in Utah gained Democrats one seat, and Maryland is currently debating whether to redraw their maps.
Score one for Democrats fighting fire with fire.
5. Some of the worst people in Congress will not be returning after the midterm elections.
No matter what happens in the 2026 midterms, some of the most abhorrent and contemptible legislators will not be in the chamber when the new Congress is sworn in come January 2027.
New York GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik, a loyal Trump toady, is running a destined-to-fail bid for governor in the Empire State, which makes her ineligible to run for her House seat at the same time.
Don’t let the door hit ya, Nancy Mace.
South Carolina GOP Rep. Nancy Mace’s gubernatorial bid in the Palmetto State precludes her from running for reelection to the House. That means even if she wins the gubernatorial primary—which at this point is an open question as her personal conduct and scandals spiral out of control—she will not be returning to Capitol Hill.
Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona—a Trump stooge and one of the masterminds behind Trump’s failed effort to steal the 2020 election—is running for governor of the Grand Canyon State, so he won’t be back on Capitol Hill.
A handful of other far-right nuts, including Reps. Chip Roy of Texas, Mike Collins of Georgia, Byron Donalds of Florida, and Ralph Norman of South Carolina, are also seeking higher office, thus ending their congressional careers come next January.
And two of the dumbest members of the Senate—Tommy Tuberville of Alabama and Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee—are also seeking to become governor of their respective states, meaning they will be saying sayonara to Capitol Hill.
