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Trump Just Hit His Worst Approval Number EVER (w/ David Pakman)

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Miller, T. (2026, September 21). Trump Just Hit His Worst Approval Number EVER (w/ David Pakman). The Bulwark. https://www.thebulwark.com/p/trump-just-hit-his-worst-approval

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The Bulwark · collected 2026-09-21 · by Tim Miller commentary

Quick Summary

Tim Miller and David Pakman discuss Donald Trump's declining approval ratings and the White House’s inclusion of Pakman on its "Media Offenders" list, which Pakman claims is causing other media creators to avoid interviewing him out of fear. They also delve into how algorithms promote outrage and misinformation, as well as the rise of synthetic political content, and mention Pakman’s book about the impact of the attention economy on politics and individual cognition.
Written by AI on 2026-09-22, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

Tim Miller and David Pakman discussed Donald Trump's declining approval ratings on their show, noting that it had reached its lowest point ever. The discussion also touched on the White House adding Pakman to its official "Media Offenders" list. Pakman claimed that some media creators now avoid interviewing him out of fear of being targeted themselves. They further examined how social media algorithms amplify outrage and misinformation and warned about the impending rise in synthetic political content. Additionally, they promoted Pakman's new book, Pay Attention, which delves into how the attention economy affects politics and brain functions.

Written for “Trump Approval Ratings Low” on 2026-11-01, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Trump Approval Ratings Low
Politics · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

This article reads leans left and hedges 0% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
The Bulwark
⚖️ Leans strongly left further left than this Hedges 0 of 11 claims
“The articles cover different aspects of a broader issue related to Trump's treatment of the press, but describe distinct incidents: one about banning news organizations and another about placing David Pakman on an 'offenders' list.”
The Bulwark
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 0 of 14 claims
“The articles discuss different aspects of conflicts between Trump's administration and media but do not describe the same specific incident.”
The Dispatch
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 0 of 2 claims Outlet record 61/100
“The articles discuss different aspects of Trump's declining influence and do not describe the same specific incident or occurrence.”
The Guardian
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 3 of 46 claims Outlet record 66/100
“The articles discuss different aspects of Trump's situation and do not refer to the same specific incident or time.”
A Hard Sell Different event
Letters from an American
⚖️ Leans strongly left further left than this Hedges 2 of 10 claims
“The articles describe different aspects of a broader conflict between Trump and certain media outlets, but they do not clearly refer to the exact same incident at the same time.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
6
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
0%
0 of 6 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
Leans left
expected in commentary, which argues a position · beta estimate
Publisher signals
not measured
these signals count newsroom corrections; Commentary has none to count
Outlets on this story
1
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-09-22 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

The Bulwark · 565 article(s) · 0 correction(s) detected
No corrections detected for this publisher. That may mean careful reporting, or simply that nothing has been checked.

Who wrote this

Tim Miller
69 article(s) here · 0 carrying a prediction
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Also by Tim Miller
David French: Kansas Hopium
2026-10-29 · The Bulwark
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 69 articles by Tim Miller →

Topics

Bulwark+ The Bulwark the White House

Subjects

Pakman PERSON · 5× David Pakman PERSON · 3× Trump PERSON · 3× Tim Miller PERSON · 2× the White House ORG · 2× Bulwark+ ORG · 1× Catherine Rampell PERSON · 1× David Pakman’s PERSON · 1× The Bulwark ORG · 1×

Narrative

Tim Miller and David Pakman take on Trump’s plummeting poll numbers, the White House putting Pakman on its official “Media Offenders” list, and the creators who Pakman says are now afraid to interview him because they fear becoming targets themselves. Tim Miller and David Pakman take on Trump’s plummeting poll numbers, the White House putting Pakman on its official “Media Offenders” list, and the creators who Pakman says are now afraid to interview him because they fear becoming targets themselves.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-22
2026-09-22 · The Bulwark
Trump Just Hit His Worst Approval Number EVER (w/ David Pakman) · assertive framing

Claims (6 extracted, 0 hedged)

Trump Just Hit His Worst Approval Number EVER (w/ David Pakman) asserted
Trump → hit → Pakman
Tim Miller and David Pakman take on Trump’s plummeting poll numbers, the White House putting Pakman on its official “Media Offenders” list, and the creators who Pakman says are now afraid to interview him because they fear becoming targets themselves. Tim Miller and David Pakman take on Trump’s plummeting poll numbers, the White House putting Pakman on its official “Media Offenders” list, and the creators who Pakman says are now afraid to interview him because they fear becoming targets themselves. asserted
they → take → him
They also discuss how algorithms reward outrage and misinformation, the coming flood of synthetic political content, and Pakman’s new book, Pay Attention, about what the attention economy is doing to our politics and our brains. asserted
economy → discuss → politics
David Pakman’s new book, Pay Attention: How the Algorithms and Media Wars Are Suppressing Truth and Rewiring Your Brain: https://davidpakman.com/davids-books/ The David Pakman Show: https://davidpakman.com/ Join Bulwark+ to unlock the rest Become a paying member of The Bulwark to get access to this post and other subscriber-only content. asserted
Algorithms → pay → post
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