In a rare climbdown, US President Donald Trump was forced to delete a racist video depicting former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as apes. Even as he continues to disrupt the world order, his challenges are mounting at home that have started rattling Republicans.
Even as US President Donald Trump continues to disrupt the world order, his mounting challenges mean he and his allies are rattled — and it’s showing.
In an unimaginable climbdown, Trump on Friday deleted a
racist video that showed former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as apes. The deletion came after several Republican lawmakers overtly condemned the video in an unprecedented pushback against the all-powerful president.
Even as Trump refused to apologise, he said “of course, I do” when asked if he condemned the video’s racist nature.
The pushback over the administration’s racism may be the most overt opposition it has faced but the problems that it’s facing are many. Trump’s signature immigration agenda is at risk as the
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is at the risk of losing funding soon as it is running on a two-week temporary funding and risks shutting down.
For one, there is near-unanimous consensus that the Republicans are set to lose the 2026 mid-term elections.
US surveys for 2026 elections:
| Pollster | Dates | Sponsor | Margin | Democrat | Republican |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| YouGov | Jan. 30 – Feb. 2 | Economist | Democrat +4 | 44% | 40% |
| Morning Consult | Jan. 30 – Feb. 1 | — | Democrat +5 | 47% | 42% |
| Public Policy Polling | Jan. 29–30 | — | Democrat +7 | 48% | 41% |
| HarrisX/Harris Poll | Jan. 28–29 | Harvard CAPS | Democrat +3 | 47% | 44% |
| HarrisX/Harris Poll | Jan. 28–29 | Harvard CAPS | Democrat +4 | 52% | 48% |
| Marquette University Law School | Jan. 21–28 | — | Democrat +7 | 52% | 45% |
| Cygnal Political | Jan. 27–28 | — | Democrat +4 | 48% | 44% |
| McLaughlin & Associates | Jan. 21–27 | — | Democrat +2 | 46% | 44% |
| The Argument/Verasight | Jan. 26–27 | — | Democrat +4 | 52% | 48% |
| Echelon Insights | Jan. 22–26 | — | Democrat +5 | 49% | 44% |
| Beacon Research/Shaw & Company Res. | Jan. 23–26 | Fox News | Democrat +6 | 52% | 46% |
| YouGov | Jan. 23–26 | Economist | Democrat +5 | 43% | 38% |
| Morning Consult | Jan. 20–25 | — | Democrat +1 | 44% | 43% |
| Morning Consult | Jan. 23–25 | — | Democrat +2 | 45% | 43% |
| Ipsos | Jan. 23–25 | Reuters | Democrat +4 | 41% | 37% |
Moreover, Trump’s disapproval rating on the economy —his biggest strength historically— has hit a new high: just A new NPR-PBS News/Marist survey found that just 36 per cent of people approve of Trump’s handling of the economy whereas 59 per cent disapproved.
Republicans are bleeding in polls — and are projected to lose mid-terms
Since Trump assumed office, the Republican Party has been on a losing streak. They are widely projected to lose the 2026 mid-term elections.
Trump has pitched the midterms as existential. In a desperate bid to cast doubt on election results well ahead of voting, he has doubled down on false conspiracy theories and urged that Republicans —not government officials— should conduct elections so that he could win.
“You got to win the midterms because if we don’t win the midterms, they’ll find a reason to impeach me. I’ll get impeached,” Trump said last month.
Consider these facts: Republicans have lost both governor elections since Trump assumed office (New Jersey and Virginia), Democrats won all 13 statewide elections in November 2025, and Democrats flipped 21 per cent of Republican-held legislature seats. And the streak did not end last year.
This year, Democrats have continued to score victories in deeply Republican pockets. Last week, Democrat Taylor Rehmet beat Trump-backed Republican candidate by a 14-point margin in a constituency that Trump had won in the 2024 election. Then, over the weekend, Democrat Chasity Verret Martinez defeated Republican Brad Daigle by 24 points in a constituency that Trump had won in 2024.
In surveys (see the table above), the consensus is that Republicans are set to lose the mid-terms. Even if they lose just one Congressional chamber, the trifecta that has enabled Trump to govern without any checks and balances would be over as Democrats would mount Congressional pushback to Trump’s excesses.
Even Republicans are warning Trump
While most of the Republican caucus is toeing Trump’s line, there has been a surge in critical voices on the economy, anti-immigrant agenda, and Epstein Files.
In the latest salvos, Florida State Senator Ileana Garcia, Co-Founder of Latinas for Trump, warned Trump that will lose the midterms because of the crackdown on immigrants planned by Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller.
Trump has unleashed thousands of masked armed agents in Democrat-run cities across the United States who have been widely condemned for harassing citizens and immigrants alike with their indiscriminate detentions, violence tactics, intimidation, and racist conduct. They have also killed two US citizens.
In the latest NPR/PBS/Marist survey, 65 per cent of Americans —and 21 per cent of Republicans— disapproved of Trump’s crackdown on immigrants.
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