Photo via The Bulwark

Trump Wants to Exhaust Us. He’s Failing.

Read the original at The Bulwark ↗
Cite

Kristol, W. (2026, September 8). Trump Wants to Exhaust Us. He’s Failing. The Bulwark. https://www.thebulwark.com/p/trump-wants-to-exhaust-us-hes-failing-midterms-polls-truth-social-media-no-kings-approval-rating

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

The Bulwark · collected 2026-09-08 · by William Kristol commentary

Quick Summary

This opinion piece argues that Donald Trump's behavior on social media is evidence of his "decompensating" mental state. On Labor Day weekend, Trump posted over 60 social media posts, including bizarre rants and AI-generated memes, prompting his niece to comment that he was losing control in real-time. A specific post where Trump admits that his critics "should be exhausted by now" but are instead energized by their opposition is seen as a sign of his desperation. Gallup polling data cited in The New York Times shows a 10-percentage-point advantage for Democrats over Republicans, indicating growing support for the Democratic Party.
Written by AI on 2026-09-08, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

In September 2026, the Republican National Committee (RNC) held its first-ever midterm convention in Dallas, dubbed "Trump-a-Palooza," with President Donald Trump delivering two speeches. Despite Trump's low approval ratings and concerns about his impact on voter enthusiasm, the RNC hoped the event would energize Republicans ahead of November's midterms. However, a poll by The Hill/Emerson showed that 68% of independent voters in Texas felt the convention had no effect on their excitement to vote, while only 59% of Republican voters reported increased motivation. Democrats were also preparing counterprogramming to highlight issues like affordability and corruption tied to the Trump administration.

Written for “Trump's Republican Midterm Convention” on 2026-11-01, grounded in this article and the 63 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Trump's Republican Midterm Convention
Politics · 64 article(s) covering the same event. See how they differ ↓

Compared with similar articles

This article reads leans strongly left and hedges 2% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
Silver Bulletin
Hedges 1 of 30 claims
The Bulwark
⚖️ Leans left further right than this Hedges 0 of 6 claims
Zeteo
⚖️ Leans strongly left Hedges 0 of 10 claims
“Article A describes Trump's social media posts on Labor Day weekend, while Article B reports on an incident at a midterms convention in Dallas”
Dying Inside In Dallas Different event
The Bulwark
⚖️ Leans right further right than this Hedges 6 of 110 claims
“Article A describes Donald Trump's social media posts on Labor Day weekend, while Article B refers to a speech he intends to give at a midterm convention in Dallas, Texas”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
65
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
2%
1 of 65 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
Leans strongly 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
64
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-09-08 · 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 · 566 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

William Kristol
25 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 One might even call what happened this year a Brew Wave.
2026-10-29 · assertive framing · Is This Heaven? No, It’s the Midterms.
🔮 Most billionaire political donors would be content to throw their lucre into a PAC to buy up a bunch of ad time and call it a day.
2026-10-28 · assertive framing · How Do You Solve a Problem Like Elon Musk?
🔮 The 2006 precedent could serve as something of a warning.
2026-10-27 · assertive framing · Wave Goodbye to a Republican Congress
🔮 A recording from The Bulwark’s live video With one week until Election Day, Bill Kristol and Andrew Egger break down the Senate races that could deliver Democrats a historic midterm wave.
🔮 They discuss Trump’s disastrous polling, the GOP’s crumbling coalition, the possibility of election interference, and what a crushing Republican defeat could mean for Trump’s billionaire allies and the future of American politics.
🔮 We don’t know: Homeland Security hasn’t claimed he was resisting arrest, attacking an officer, or anything else that might have provoked such a response.
2026-10-09 · assertive framing · Hegseth Wants You to Watch a Snuff Film
🔮 About an hour and a half later, Trump had a further thought to share, this time in ALL CAPS: MY RALLIES ARE SAVING THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, AGAIN!!! Lots of Republicans would beg to differ with the leader of their party.
2026-10-07 · assertive framing · Reasons for Hope. Reasons for Alarm.
🔮 Darline is a High Quality person, maybe the Highest, and Annie Trannie is not, in particular, as it pertains to representing the Values of the Great People of South Carolina
2026-10-06 · assertive framing · Grandpa Trump Is Getting Desperate
🔮 A 10-point swing would be a wave that puts lots of districts and states in play.
2026-10-01 · assertive framing · Trump + AI = Blue Tsunami
🔮 Who might “he” be, one wonders.
2026-09-30 · assertive framing · Eric Schmitts the Bed
Also by William Kristol
Wave Goodbye to a Republican Congress
2026-10-27 · The Bulwark
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 25 articles by William Kristol →

Topics

America Democrats Republicans Substack YouTube

Subjects

Trump ORG · 8× Democrats NORP · 3× America GPE · 2× Republicans NORP · 2× Andrew PERSON · 1× Bill PERSON · 1× Donald Trump PERSON · 1× Substack ORG · 1× William Kristol PERSON · 1× YouTube ORG · 1×

Narrative

The coin’s name is, of course, a nod to the computer belonging to Hunter that surfaced weeks before the 2020 election, bringing his drugs-and-prostitutes personal life and his name-trading business habits into the national spotlight and inducing years of political heartburn for his father.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-08
🔮 Happy Labor Day to all, including the Radical Left Lunatics, Communists, and Dumocrats who will do anything possible to destroy our Country.
2026-09-08 · The Bulwark
Trump Wants to Exhaust Us. He’s Failing. · assertive framing

Claims (65 extracted, 1 hedged)

I trust you all had a better Labor Day weekend than Donald Trump. asserted
you → trust → Trump
On Sunday the president of the United States fired off more than sixty social media posts, each more bizarre than the last. asserted
each → fire → last
They included frenzied rants, manic boasts, personal attacks, crazy links, lunatic messages, and surreal AI-generated memes and images. asserted
They → include → rants
They were often weirdly dystopian—Trump nuking the Earth from orbit from a space station, Trump with giant robot bodyguards as fires burned. asserted
fires → nuke → bodyguards
His niece, Mary Trump, a psychologist, remarked Sunday evening that “Donald is decompensating in real time.” asserted
Donald → remark → time
The post that particularly caught Mary’s attention was an AI-produced upside-down map of Iran molded into Donald Trump’s profile. asserted
that → catch → profile
Things didn’t get better on Monday. asserted
Things → get → Monday
Trump continued to decompensate. asserted
Trump → continue → ?
A spate of fifteen posts within five minutes Monday morning ended with the president offering holiday good wishes: asserted
president → end → wishes
Happy Labor Day to all, including the Radical Left Lunatics, Communists, and Dumocrats who will do anything possible to destroy our Country. asserted
who → include → Country
These Deranged People, after fighting for 10 years, should finally acknowledge that your Favorite President (ME!), knows how to WIN! asserted
President → fight → years
They should be exhausted by now but, sadly, they’re not. asserted
they → exhaust → ?
They’re going to give it one last shot at ruining America, but we’re not going to let that happen. asserted
that → go → America
We’re going to win the Midterms, BIG, and SAVE AMERICA! asserted
We → go → AMERICA
Trump seems to admit what it was that had gotten under his skin. asserted
that → seem → skin
His critics “should be exhausted by now.” asserted
critics → exhaust → ?
But, “sadly, they’re not.” asserted
they → ’re → ?
This admission should cheer us all up. But not too much. asserted
admission → cheer → us
It’s not a good thing that we have an unhinged president with more than two years left in his term, and with loyalists manning the top tiers of our government determined to carry out his authoritarian wishes, including to subvert free and fair elections. asserted
loyalists → ’ → elections
On the other hand, it is good that even Trump has to admit that his critics aren’t exhausted. asserted
critics → have → hand
And it is good, as Trump doesn’t admit but as he surely knows, that their ranks are growing. asserted
ranks → admit → ?
That our ranks are growing. asserted
ranks → grow → ?
On Saturday, the New York Times reported Gallup’s finding that “The share of Americans who associate themselves with the Democratic Party has grown significantly over the past year.” asserted
who → report → year
Indeed, “the latest data shows Democrats with a 10-percentage-point advantage over Republicans when voters are asked which party they identify with and when independent voters are asked which party they lean toward. asserted
they → show → party
In 2024, Republicans and Republican-leaning independents held a small edge over Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents. asserted
Republicans → lean → Democrats
Now Democrats’ advantage is approaching their margins during their victorious waves of 2006 and 2008. asserted
advantage → approach → 2006
Then on Sunday, the Financial Times reported that their latest survey showed Trump’s approval rating, which in their polls had oscillated between 34 and 37 percent approval all year, had now dipped to 32 percent. asserted
which → report → percent
The public is moving in the right direction. asserted
public → move → direction
They’re doing so despite the continued complicity at worst, and silence at best, of so many of the elites who continue to suck up to Trump. asserted
who → do → Trump
To their credit, the organizers of the successful and important No Kings protests are stepping up again to help. asserted
organizers → step → protests
This morning they announced plans for “No Kings: Vote Early” events on October 17. asserted
they → announce → October
As one of the No Kings organizers, Ezra Levin, explained, We are headed into an important point in a democracy, which is whether the people stand up and refuse to allow an authoritarian to consolidate power. asserted
authoritarian → explain → power
And the way to do that in a democracy is by exercising your right to vote and by exercising your right to organize to prevent any sabotage in that election. asserted
way → do → election
The goal before was to send a message and recruit volunteers to do more civic engagement work. asserted
goal → send → work
The goal this time is to not just send a message. asserted
goal → send → message
[It is] to take back power for the people through the biggest early vote that we’ve ever seen in this country, and to prepare a nationwide force to push back against the sabotage that comes our way. asserted
that → take → sabotage
The goal is no longer to send a message. asserted
goal → send → message
It’s to take back power. asserted
It → ’ → power
AROUND THE BULWARK Trump Is Turning a Bad Midterm Into a Republican Catastrophe… asserted
Trump → turn → Catastrophe
BILL KRISTOL joins TIM MILLER on The Bulwark Daily to revisit the run-up to the midterms in 2006 and 1994, two major wave election cycles where the bottom just fell out from under the party in power. asserted
bottom → join → power
…and 25 more, not listed.
💬Give feedback
🕘History 🎫Support