Among Trump’s True Believers on the National Mall
Less than six months out from the midterms, President Donald Trump’s approval rating sits at an all-time low as his administration struggles to extricate the U.S. from an unpopular war in Iran and assuage affordability concerns.
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Given those conditions, a major question hangs over the upcoming campaign season: Does Trump still have the juice to draw the legendary crowds, an attribute that separated him from conventional politicians and cemented his status as a cultural icon? And can his endorsement decide elections in November?
Political observers got something of an answer to that question Wednesday night, when 2,000 people showed up for Trump’s “Rally to End All Rallies” on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., a venue that has previously seen protests and rallies draw tens of thousands of people at a given time.
The crowd of supporters, many of whom traveled to the blue city, represents the red-hot center of the MAGA movement. The true believers have remained loyal to the president after the staggering ups and downs that define Trump’s decade of dominating American politics.
Just 24 percent of Americans believe the war in Iran, which looks set to end on favorable terms for Tehran, was worth it, according to the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll. Trump’s approval rating has fallen from 47 percent at the start of his second term to 34 percent in the same Reuters poll. Some of that slide is no doubt the result of the basic political gravity that drags down every president as the realities of governance assert themselves. But some of the disillusionment, particularly among Trump’s supporters, reflects feelings of betrayal among those who believed Trump’s promise to end American involvement in foreign wars.
Joe, a Marine veteran who attended Wednesday’s rally, counts himself in that group.
“A lot of my peer group, who were staunch Trump supporters in 2016, 2020, and 2024, all of a sudden feel like Trump’s back was turned on us, and he’s no longer supporting the things that we tried to put him in office for,” he says. “What I see has become another quagmire possibility in the Middle East that isn’t something that benefits Americans whatsoever.”
Trump’s popularity among the die-hard rallygoers can’t be dented by perceived policy failures, because much of it rests on his personal charisma. In the face of a Democratic Party racing further to the left, Trump represents the same bulwark they clung to in 2016.
“He’s authentic. I can trust what he’s saying directly. I don’t ever have to figure it out from different people,” says Nikita, a retired federal banking regulator.
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“He’s always been the bull in the china shop, the establishment,” says Allestair, a machinist who drove eighteen hours from Minnesota for the rally. “We needed somebody to go and stir things up, to fight for regular American people, and he’s done that well.”
Most feel connected to Trump through his authenticity, being outspoken, uncouth, and seemingly unfiltered. His brashness appeals to those who want to see leadership that will come in and brazenly clean house with a government that they feel isn’t acting in the service of the people.
For some, the policy failures of the administration are the fault, not of Trump, but of his party.
“It’s a failure when SAVE America and voter ID laws aren’t being pushed through the way they should be. I mean, I’m hopeful, but I think that’s not just Trump. That’s the majority of the Republican party, you know. We gave them the presidency, the Senate, and the House, and they’re not doing anything with it,” Joe says.
“I feel a lot of congressional, particularly Senate Republicans, are blocking some of his signature pieces, like the Save America Act,” says Ryan, a government worker. “It’s disgraceful what John Thune is doing blocking that. So I don’t blame Trump for that. I blame the limp wrists in the Senate for not having the back of their constituents.”
Rallygoers such as Ryan are unconcerned by the latest polls.
“All these polls are just a snapshot in time,” Ryan says. “I trust the president. I trust his leadership. I think he’s earned that from me. And I’m willing to go with him a little bit farther down the way, as he negotiates his peace deal, as he tries to rearrange the economy. Things weren’t broken in a day, and they’re not gonna be fixed in a day.”
For all the enthusiasm on the lawn and the unshakeable trust in Trump’s leadership, there was also the unmistakable feeling of a political movement taking one last victory lap. Many of Trump’s most devoted supporters are older and have spent the better part of a decade fighting the battles of the MAGA movement while watching Trump defy every prediction of political extinction. The midterms will prove a test of Trump’s influence on the many Republicans that lie outside of the rally-going right.
