Although I have no political affiliation, I once worked for one of the greatest Republican administrations in recent history. Has the GOP gone too far off the rails? Their declining ratings are no longer a temporary dip. The erosion has been slow, broad, and structural. Leadership continues losing credibility on the two anchors incumbents depend on most: the economy and immigration.
Economic growth that primarily benefits the top stops being a statistical success and becomes a legitimacy failure. On immigration, enforcement has drifted from policy into symbolism. When institutions meant to signal order instead project fear, narrative control is already slipping.
What makes this moment decisive is convergence: weakening support among independents, growing fatigue among moderates, and declining trust in core governing issues.
Presidents can survive controversy. They rarely survive the loss of their anchors. History shows power seldom collapses dramatically. It erodes quietly, through lost trust, frayed narratives, and weakened institutional shelter. What we’re witnessing isn’t the prelude to a battle, but the closing phase of a cycle. Not loud. Not sudden. But highly irreversible.
