As the 2026 general election kicks off, Trump is clearly preoccupied

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images/File

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.

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images/文件

要决定哪句罗马谚语更能恰当地形容唐纳德·特朗普总统近来的态度，恐怕很难。

这是“面包和马戏”，用一系列——无论有趣与否——的娱乐活动来分散美国民众对经济的担忧吗？还是像尼禄一样，在共和党的中期选举希望破灭之际，还在忙着筹划他的舞厅计划？

显而易见的是，特朗普及其政府近期内不会纠正政策方向。

过去24小时就是一个例证。而过去几周对于那些希望特朗普能突然专注于当前政治任务的人来说，也并不吉利。

周四距离2026年大选日还有整整两个月。首批投票即将开始，北卡罗来纳州将于周五寄出邮寄选票。

尽管大量民调显示美国民众希望特朗普关注住房可负担性和经济问题，但他似乎对其他任何事情都漠不关心。

仅在周四一天，我们就得知特朗普政府聘请了一位新的泳池承包商来清理他造成的林肯纪念堂倒影池的混乱局面，宣布开始建造特朗普的 250 英尺高的“凯旋门”，并推出了一系列街机风格的电子游戏，其中包括一款允许用户逮捕非法移民的游戏。

据报道，就在特朗普的“爱国者游戏”惨败、交通部推出一档真正的真人秀节目几周后，白宫也即将推出一档类似真人秀的创业者竞赛节目。（据称该节目由一家非营利组织出资，而非纳税人。）

到周五早上，《纽约客》和《纽约杂志》的两篇重要报道详细描述了特朗普对他在华盛顿特区的宴会厅和其他建筑美化项目的痴迷。

特朗普甚至接受了《纽约杂志》的采访——当然，他还参观了施工现场。

记者本·特里斯报道称，总统的官方日程表上“穿插着许多关于华盛顿其他项目的会议，这些会议通常会持续一个小时或更长时间”。

最令人惊讶的是，特朗普竟然同意佐治亚州民主党参议员乔恩·奥索夫的说法，即他之所以为自己建造纪念碑，是因为他认为不能指望其他人来做这件事。

“没错，”特朗普说。“我走了以后就没人会做了。我离开这里之后，就没人会做了。”

特朗普竟然会公开说出这样的话，真是令人震惊。奥索夫这番话显然是在暗讽他。

但这也表明，特朗普可能感受到尽快完成这些项目的压力。他只有有限的时间来为自己树立形象，打造能让人铭记的政绩。到明年一月，随着民主党可能掌控国会两院之一或两院，情况可能会变得更加困难。

特朗普甚至还谈到，即便民主党人想拆毁他的宴会厅，也几乎不可能。（他告诉《纽约杂志》：“这是核混凝土。我认为非常坚固。它是为应对核攻击而建造的。”）

特里斯还详细描述了特朗普在公开场合经常被他的建筑项目分散了注意力，而忽略了更重要的事务。

而这才是所有问题的症结所在，至少对于一位正面临令人担忧的中期选举的国会共和党人来说是如此。

不仅仅是特朗普分心了；而是他把精力放在了民调显示美国人认为无关紧要且不想要的事情上——而忽略了他们真正希望他做的事情（例如降低物价和结束与伊朗的战争）。

特朗普的宴会厅支持率仅为2比1，不受欢迎。

在四月份的一项民意调查中，美国民众以 52% 对 21% 的比例反对他建造的 250 英尺高的“凯旋门”。

7 月份的一项民意调查显示，65% 的美国人表示他们对宴会厅、拱门和倒影池项目感到不满或失望。

尽管特朗普试图将自己的名字印在肯尼迪中心等机构上，但只有 9% 的美国人认为，作为现任总统，他这样做是合适的。

而特朗普近几周来的另一项重心——与加拿大的新贸易战，以及他试图将安大略湖更名为“美洲湖”的举动——也好不到哪里去。路透社-益普索本周的民调显示，美国民众以57%比20%的比例反对对加拿大征收关税，并以63%比14%的比例反对将安大略湖更名为“美洲湖”。

上周，特朗普在白宫举行了一场活动，支持后一项举措，但结果证明，就连他的共和党同僚也以两位数的反对票反对这项举措。

所有这些都让共和党的处境更加艰​​难。数月来的民调显示，美国民众认为特朗普忽视了更重要的议题。

CBS 新闻最近的民调显示，78% 的美国人认为他不够重视降低物价，而 7 月份 CNN 的民调显示，大约相同比例（73%）的人认为他不够关注国家最重要的问题。

说特朗普完全忽视了生活成本是不公平的。

他最近宣布将暂停对进口牛肉征收关税，以降低消费者的价格；周五，他威胁说，如果美联储不降低利率，他将停止与其他国家进行贸易。

理论上，这两种措施都能帮人们省钱。

但这两件事也暴露出特朗普偏爱那些效果存疑的权宜之计。例如，据CNN报道，牛肉关税预计影响甚微，却会激怒国内养牛户，甚至一些共和党人。而对美联储的敲诈勒索式威胁似乎也不太可能奏效。（事实上，降低利率反而可能推高通胀。）

CNN七月份的民调还揭示了另一个令人震惊的发现。高达66%的美国人认为特朗普没有将国家利益置于个人利益之上。这其中包括76%的独立选民和30%的共和党选民。

一个多月过去了，2026 年大选真正拉开帷幕，他似乎一心想要证明那些人是对的。