The Trump of unintended consequences
New Indian ExpressIn France, Emmanuel Macron, who has had a disastrous year as president, was given his highest approval rating since June 2023. A Gallup-CNN poll says 54 percent Americans disapprove his handling of the presidency, 15 points higher than the historic average for presidents in the first 100 days. A Quinnipiac survey states 76 percent are worried about the state of the economy, a YouGov-Economist poll says he is not popular among 51 percent of the people, and Nate Silver’s Silver Bulletin places his ratings “underwater” with 49 percent negative. The threat-and-stick approach has catalysed €150 billion in loans to member states for defence investment and a long-term plan of spending €800 billion to re-arm Europe to counter the possible US disengagement from NATO and EU. Trump’s strategy is often indistinguishable from his rant—in the umpteen u-turns and whimsical announcements in the tariff wars, nobody can quite trace a storyline.
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