Trump Baffled That People Don’t Support Him

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Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images

What to Know

01 At a recent event for angel families, President Donald Trump complained about "fake polls" and "fake stories" that make him look bad.
02 He seemed to admit that people don't support his immigration policies.
03 He then claimed he has "silent support."

President Donald Trump’s low approval ratings appear to be getting to him on some level, though they haven’t inspired any self-reflection. During an event on Monday, February 23, Trump started complaining about some of the polls he’s seen and acted totally baffled by the low numbers. But, of course, he doesn’t think he’s the problem, because how could that be? Instead, he tried to explain his low approval ratings by calling some of the polls “fake” and by referring to his supporters as “silent.” OK.

He mentioned a poll that showed he has a 40% approval rating.

And while this number seems scarily high to a lot of Americans, Trump feels it’s far too low to be accurate. Though the event was meant to honor families of people killed by immigrants, Trump spent some of the time complaining about the “fake stories” and “fake polls” he has to deal with. “I saw one today that I’m at 40 percent,” Trump said at the recent event, even though no one asked. “40 percent. I’m not at 40 percent, I’m much higher than that.”

“I mean, I would love to run against anybody,” he continued. “The real polls say you’d kill everybody and it wouldn’t be close but you go through the fake polls, you go through the fake stories, and I said, you know, it was good because this is really a much more powerful term than I would have had if I had run because it was just one of those things. There would be nothing to compare it to. They compare it to Biden and that horrible, horrible administration.”

After watching a clip from his speech on X, some critics were begging someone, anyone, to talk to Trump about how people actually feel about him. “Can someone please sit this down and explain to him that more than half of this country hates him,” one person wrote.

And someone else said, “Who is telling him these lies???? Is there anyone around this man that’s HONEST? Or is it that, his ego can’t accept truth at all anymore which is why he lies all the time.”

People also questioned where the real polls are.

Where is he getting this information, even? Someone questioned, “Are the real polls somewhere in the room with you? Anywhere? Can you show us which ones are real?” But some people had some theories about these supposed “real” polls. “Every time Trump says ‘the real polls,’ it somehow means the ones only he can see,” one person explained. “If your approval rating lives in an imaginary universe, of course you’re winning by a landslide.”

Trump also mentioned his “silent” supporters.

Though he is clearly in denial about his approval rating, Trump seemed to be at least a bit aware that his immigration enforcement policies are not popular. Still, he seemed surprised by this. He defended border czar Tom Homan and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and said, “They know they’re doing the right thing.”

He continued, “It just amazes me that there’s not more support out there. We actually have silent support. I think it’s silent. I think that’s how I won.”

The explanation made some feel like Trump is “running out of excuses.” Someone commented, “It’s not ‘silent support’ – it’s imaginary support.” And another person questioned, “Is that what his people are telling him?”

Paige Sheffield (she/her)