Thursday Afternoon Breaking News Updates with Ben - 4/30/2026
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What is the current political situation surrounding Donald Trump?
Welcome to Ben on Breaking News. I'm Ben Mycelis and this is Breaking News. Let's get into it, folks. Donald Trump right now experiencing an unprecedented death spiral when it comes to American politics, at least. You wouldn't know that if you turned on corporate news. They still want to talk about how heroic Donald Trump was regarding the alleged White House Correspondents Dinner incident, which has so many red flags, it's not even visible which flag from the next. It's just one gigantic kind of red screen at this point. We learned that the alleged Suspect's lawyer was saying that the lawyer wasn't even able to meet with the suspect in a private and confidential place. We're going to keep you updated there, but there's not really a clear explanation about whether the alleged suspect was actually the person who shot one of the Secret Service agents or whether it was friendly fire.
They're saying that the alleged suspect had a shotgun and it seems that it would be pretty easy to run a quick ballistic to determine if it was a shotgun residue or shotgun spray versus a handgun. But we'll set that aside because I think you all have the same red flags and questions that we do. But the reality is, is that Donald Trump is historically unpopular. The latest AP-NORC poll has Trump's approval at 33% nationwide amongst all respondents.
What are the latest polling numbers for Donald Trump's approval ratings?
The latest Reuters poll has Trump's approval at 34%. In terms of standard of living, 8% approval amongst independents. 8% amongst independents. That's a very low number right there. When it comes to Trump's approval on the economy in the AP Newark poll, it's at like 30%. Overwhelmingly, Americans don't support this catastrophic and unlawful war in Iran. New polling data as well over here that we're posting from Washington Post, ABC, Ipsos, showing that Americans despise that Donald Trump's priorities right now are golden ballrooms and 250 foot arches and putting his face and signature on currency. Overwhelmingly, the support for these things is anywhere, uh, Hop support for the ballroom is 28%. The ballroom is the most popular amongst this cohort.
28% approval. And all the other stuff that Trump wants to do, it's like 12% approval. He just thinks people are stupid. Nobody wants UFC fights at the White House.
How is the economy affecting Americans today?
Nobody wants him to keep posting about reflecting pools or golden ballrooms or arches or putting his face on passports. No one wants any of this stuff. People are struggling here in this country. For most Americans, this economy is in a great recession. And you may be saying, but no one's reporting it's a great recession. I understand that the technical definition of a recession is having successive quarters of declining GDP and declining growth. The issue, though, is that with the spread of wealth being so disparate at this point and rich people being so rich, And the rest of the kind of 98% of the country struggling and the rich hoarding all of this money that props up the GDP. So in theory, the GDP is like, ah, you know, it's 2%.
Still slow and sluggish. The estimates were that the GDP was supposed to be about 2.3%. But the same way the economy is not the GDP. The economy is not the stock market. The economy is, are people getting jobs? The economy is, can most people afford things?
What are the implications of the recent military actions in Iran?
And overwhelmingly there, the answer is no. I think when we looked at past recessions and great recessions, because the wealth gap was less wide and less severe, Collectively, the country experienced the pain and suffering a little bit more as a collective enterprise, if you will, whereas now you have the super rich and rich doing very well. They call this a K-shaped economy. But in terms of that K shape, it's a very small amount of people who hoard most of the wealth. And most Americans are experiencing great recession or depressionary environments right now. I mean, this is the reality. People can't afford their mortgage or their rent. Lucky if they can have a mortgage, meaning they have a home to begin with that they technically may own.
But people can't afford rent.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the current political situation surrounding Donald Trump?
0:01–1:47
2
What are the latest polling numbers for Donald Trump's approval ratings?
1:47–2:59
3
How is the economy affecting Americans today?
2:59–4:17
4
What are the implications of the recent military actions in Iran?
4:17–5:23
5
How does the Supreme Court ruling impact the Voting Rights Act?
5:23–7:07
6
What are the consequences of gerrymandering and political maps?
7:07–8:52
7
How do corporate interests affect American politics?
8:52–10:12
8
What are the potential solutions for creating a fairer political system?
10:12–1:08:55