The Rachel Maddow Show
Trump gets reckless as his agenda tanks with the American public
Sat, 26 Apr 2025
Rachel Maddow reports on the ongoing parade of terrible polling numbers for Donald Trump, and talks with Rep. Jamie Raskin about the Trump administration arresting a judge. Rep. Robert Garcia also joins to discuss deportations, including breaking news that the Trump administration has deported several U.S. citizen children.
Chapter 1: What do recent polls reveal about Trump's public approval?
Really happy to have you here. Happy Friday. So correlation is not causation. Just because things happen together doesn't necessarily mean that one of those things caused the other one to happen. Still, though, it's hard not to think that these things happening right now in the news might not have something to do with one another. Here's the first thing. It's about public opinion.
We started last night's show with a look at public opinion concerning this president and this presidency as he approaches the end of his crucial first hundred days in office. And as we discussed on last night's show, the numbers for him are brutally bad. In the Pew poll, President Donald Trump is underwater in his overall approval rating by 19 points.
In the Fox News poll, people are asked if Trump's policies are helping or hurting the U.S. economy. They say Trump's policies are hurting the U.S. economy by a margin of 22 points. In the Economist YouGov poll, they asked if Trump is generally helping or hurting not just the economy, but the whole United States.
Since Trump has been back in office, have his actions as president helped the United States or hurt the United States? The American people say Trump has hurt the United States, and they say it by a 24-point margin. So, we covered some of that yesterday. Now, today, banner headline all day long at the New York Times, quote, voters sour on Trump. in new New York Times-Siena poll.
And then you get the full headline, voters see Trump's use of power as overreaching. And then it's just a litany of all the things Trump has been trying to do and how much the American public hates all of it. Do you support or oppose Trump withholding funds from universities? Oppose by a 25-point margin. Should Trump be allowed to impose tariffs without authorization from Congress?
No, by a 33-point margin. Should Trump be allowed to eliminate programs enacted by Congress? No, by a 33-point margin. Should Trump be allowed to deport legal immigrants for protesting against Israel? No, by a 46-point margin. Should Trump be allowed to send U.S. citizens to that prison in El Salvador like he's been threatening to? No, he should not be allowed to do that by a 63-point margin.
Should Trump be allowed to ignore an order from the United States Supreme Court? No, by a 70 point margin. When you are losing polling questions about stuff you've said you might want to do or stuff you're trying to do, when you're losing polling questions like that by 40, 60, 70 point margins, we're pretty close to something that looks like a national consensus view in this country.
And the view is no. No to what Donald Trump is doing. Do you approve of how Trump is managing the government? No. Do you approve of how Trump is managing trade? No. Do you approve of Donald Trump's executive orders rolling back DEI programs in the federal government? No. Do you approve of Donald Trump on the economy? No. Do you approve of Donald Trump and his handling of the Russia-Ukraine war?
Nope. Do you approve of Donald Trump's handling of immigration? No. Do you approve of Donald Trump's treatment of the Kilmar-Abrego-Garcia case? No. By a 21-point margin, no. But credit The New York Times and their editors for actually, I think, really getting right the big takeaway from this poll in all of its detail. The big takeaway really is what they put in the headline.
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Chapter 2: How is the American public reacting to Trump's policies and actions?
We have not yet learned anything new than what we were told at the embassy when we were in El Salvador just a few days ago. But it's really important that people understand what is happening, not just to Andre, but to so many others that are being sent to foreign prisons and that we're giving no due process here in the United States. People have to remember that Andre came to the U.S.,
with an asylum appointment. He signed up for an appointment through an app that we have for asylum seekers. He was given a time to show up. He came to the border. He essentially claimed asylum. And then he was essentially kidnapped from that location
by ICE, by Homeland Security, sent to a country he knows nothing about, into a prison in El Salvador, and his family has heard nothing about him since. This is a makeup artist. There's no indication he was ever in a gang. His family describes him as someone that's very sweet. that's very kind, vulnerable in some ways.
And so this should frighten every single American and anger us that this is actually happening to other people. The inhumanity that is happening right now to people that are seeking asylum, to people that are here in some cases ordered to stay in the U.S. by the U.S. courts and even the Supreme Court. Yet Donald Trump could care less about due process.
And it's important that we receive word as soon as possible from the embassy or the State Department that Andrew Romero is okay.
Can you tell us anything about your engagement with the embassy in El Salvador, if they agreed that they would try to seek information about him, at least?
They did. I mean, look, we met directly with the U.S. ambassador there on the ground. And of course, we went there to continue to demand Kilmar's release, which, as we know, Donald Trump has defined the Supreme Court a unanimous decision and Kilmar needs to be released immediately. So that was what we were there for. In addition to that, Andrei's case is very important.
He is someone that we need to ensure gets his due process. I've been talking to his lawyer team here also in the United States. The ambassador for the first time acknowledged his case. And for the first time after we left that meeting, made an official request to the Salvadorian government for a welfare check on Mr. Romero.
And so that was the first time that we as a country have asked to see if he was even OK or alive. We're waiting for that response. We continue to follow up to get a response. But I'm hoping the U.S. ambassador keeps his word and gets his response on how he is doing. It is it is crazy to think that this young man is sent to this prison. We saw those pictures of him at Seacott crying.
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