A “close Trump ally” speaking on “the condition of anonymity so as not to antagonize” grandpa tells The Atlantic’s Jonathan Lemire that the Orange God Emperor is becoming extremely isolated and thus completely out of touch with his base to a politically dangerous degree. “People voted for him to lower prices, to bring manufacturing back, to stand up to those taking advantage of them. They didn’t vote for him to build a damn gilded ballroom. He’s not hearing them,” said the anonymous ally in the medium-length piece about the growing distance between MAGAmerica and their messiah.

It’s not that quote however that’s the most effective at illustrating said distance but Lemire’s composition itself on the best laid plans of Donald’s handlers going to shit over the summer after the Big Beautiful Scam passed: “There had been tentative plans this summer to get Trump back out on the road. Republicans had just passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, but polls showed that a majority of Americans didn’t like how it favored the ultrarich. White House aides hoped to have Trump tour the country to emphasize that the bill’s tax cuts and deregulation would benefit his supporters.”

“But it never happened, because Trump got distracted. He turned his attention overseas and, desperate for a Nobel Peace Prize, scheduled a summit in Alaska with Russia’s Vladimir Putin, while pushing for a cease-fire in Gaza. And, just weeks after Trump presided over the tax legislation’s July 4 signing ceremony, his White House was consumed by the return of the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.”

“The last thing Trump wanted was to face members of his base who might have questions about his ties to the disgraced pedophile,” Lemire writes and, well, if that ain’t a glowing vindication of the Dems’ strategy to leverage Donald’s ex-bestie against him then let’s hear the other side of it.