Trump’s 29% Approval Problem: Republicans Start Looking for the Exit

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5. That's how many times Byron Donalds' campaign website bragged about Donald Trump's endorsement. Donalds is the Republican running for governor of Florida. Trump personally anointed him a, quote, TOTAL WINNER in all caps. Well, this week the website got a makeover. The Trump photo gone. The banner that said, chip in to support Trump-endorsed Byron Donalds Gone. John Curtis brought a subpoena because in Utah that counts as a bat, and Chris Christie has been swinging at this piñata since 2016. Everybody laughed. Nobody's laughing now. 29%. Yesterday that was a number. Today it's a guest list. And somewhere right now Donald Trump is refreshing Byron Donald's website going, what does it say?

I'm TJ Walker.

Thanks for joining me. Endorsements. Trump now shows up in a little rolling ticker of endorsements scrolling past next to Elon Musk and Mike Johnson like a hostage waving from the back window of a van. This isn't a campaign update. This is a man deleting his ex from Instagram at 2 in the morning. Next, he tells his friends, we're just focusing on our skill tree. Then he burns the red hat in fire pit and does a sage clean on the entire state of Florida. Why? Because Byron is up 44 to 43 over Democrat David Jolly in Florida. One tiny point, a state Trump won by 13 points. Byron Donalds went from Trump's guy to Trump who faster than Florida condo loses its insurance. Now yesterday I told you that at 29% approval The president stops being the president and starts being a piñata. I want to thank the Republican Party for respecting my timeline because today 3 of them showed up with bats. Now, full disclosure, I live in Florida, so I watched this happen in real time, the way you watch a neighbor quietly scrape the proud parent sticker off his minivan the morning after his kid's mugshot goes viral. His campaign's explanation: the website now reflects Byron's focus on affordability. insurance costs, and government transparency. Government transparency? You erase the President of the United States from your own website overnight and hope, hope nobody would notice. That's not transparency, that's protection. And then the campaign called the coverage, quote, fake news, all caps. Think about that. He's running Trump's catchphrase to deny he's with Trump. That's like getting caught sneaking out of your ex's apartment at dawn I don't even know that guy! While wearing his bathrobe. As a personal development coach, I respect the pivot. Every vision board needs a rebrand. But Byron, buddy, you cannot Photoshop your way out of years of standing behind the man at rallies, looking like a bobblehead on a dirt road. So Byron is ditching Trump like a bad date. Our next Republican never dated him at all. He's been standing outside the restaurant for 3 years, Holding a sign that says, I told you so. Chris Christie says he's thinking about running for president a 3rd time. And before you laugh, no, this isn't a joke about Chris Christie. It's a weather report about Donald Trump. Christie's not some guy with a podcast and a ring. He was a federal prosecutor. He won New Jersey twice, a blue state, as a Republican. He built a career yelling at liberals at town halls. Tough guy, real conservative. The one thing he is not is Trump. In 2024, he was the only Republican candidate who refused to back him, and he floated this at a summit on responsible gambling, which is perfect because when the guy at the responsible gambling summit tells the Republican Party it is time to get up from the table, you have a problem. The problem is the only man in history who bankrupted his own casino. Christie says if Republicans do a lot of losing 6 weeks from now, the party has to decide whether to stick with its dominant wing. Translation: Trump isn't the house anymore. Trump is the guy at the slot machine at 4 in the morning telling everybody the next pull is the big one. Here's why this matters. Chris Christie ran in 2016 when Trump was rising and got flattened. A man has been run over twice by the same truck. Does not step back into the road unless he knows the truck is out of gas. And he's the perfect bridge back to the old Republican Party. Conservative, tough, trash talks liberals for sports. He ran in 2024 when Trump was dominant and got flattened again. Everything the base likes without a warrior rock in his carry-on the way a Bush would have. And for once, a Chris Christie bridge might actually stay open. As a success coach, I tell my clients the third time is the charm only if something has changed. Well, something changed. Christie's wife told him he needs a real theory before he runs again. Chris, here's your theory. It's 29%, and it lives in the White House. And look who's reading the same conclusion. Ira Dunn, a Trump loyalist, is hiding it. Chris Christie, a Trump critic, is circling it. And the next Republican on our list, Didn't write a campaign plan; he wrote a subpoena. One—that's the number of Republican senators now demanding investigation of the Trump family. It's up from zero. Senator John Curtis of Utah wants Donald Trump Jr. subpoenaed because Don Jr.'s wedding party on a private island was bankrolled by Umar Kremlev, a Russian oligarch close to Vladimir Putin. Curtis put it perfectly. A toaster is a wedding gift. A private island from Putin's party is not a wedding gift. It is a down payment. I can only imagine the registry. Bed, bath, and Kremlin. Place settings for 12. A crystal gravy boat. Sanctions relief. And for the honeymoon, 2 nights anywhere in the world, as long as you stay awake and open the windows. And the thank you note writes itself. Dear Umar, thank you so much for the island. We'll think of you every time Ukraine comes up at Thanksgiving. Then Curtis said the part that really stings. He said Republicans, quote, nearly wore out the subpoena machine investigating Hunter Biden. We should not unplug it now. That's the results test right there. 4 years of president's son taking foreign money, the greatest scandal in human history. Hunter Biden's laptop got more airtime than the moon landing. Now a president's son gets a whole island party from a Putin guy, and the official Republican response is congratulations to the happy couple. And Curtis, for balance, asks for the same scrutiny of Hunter Biden too. Just so you know, he's the only man in Washington who'd bring a casserole to a subpoena.

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So let's check in on the piñata part. Brian Donalds is swinging blindfolded, pretending he doesn't know whose birthday it is. Ultimize.