Trump defies low approval ratings with win in key Kentucky race

The Excerpt

USA TODAY

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🗓️ 21 May 2026

⏱️ 14 minutes

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Summary

Ever since Indiana state Republicans failed to heed Trump’s redistricting demand, President Donald Trump has been on a tear, working to reshape the Republican Party by pushing hard against those who have opposed not only his leadership, but his vision of America and its place on the world stage. The president has been successful in forcing foes within his own party out of office – most recently in a wildly expensive and pivotal race in Kentucky between incumbent Representative Thomas Massie and challenger Ed Gallrein. Like others Trump has rallied against, Massie, too, fell in Tuesday night’s elections. USA TODAY Washington Bureau Chief Susan Page joins The Excerpt to help make sense of the mismatch between Trump’s approval ratings and his hold on the Republican Party.

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0:00.0	Ever since Indiana's state Republicans failed to heed Trump's redistricting demand,
0:09.0	President Donald Trump has been on a tear working to reshape the Republican Party by pushing
0:14.7	hard against those who have opposed not only his leadership, but his vision of America
0:19.6	and its place on the world stage.
0:22.1	The president has been successful in forcing foes within his own party out of office,
0:27.2	most recently in a wildly expensive and pivotal race in Kentucky
0:31.7	between incumbent Representative Thomas Massey and Challenger Ed Galbrain.
0:37.0	Like others, Trump has rallied against
0:39.4	Massey too fell in Tuesday night's elections. Hello and welcome to USA Today's The Excerpt. I'm
0:50.1	Dana Taylor. Today is Thursday, May 21st, 26. Joining me to help make sense of this mismatch
0:56.9	between Trump approval ratings and his hold on the Republican Party is USA Today Washington Bureau Chief
1:04.4	Susan Page. So good to have you here, Susan. Hey, Dana, it's great to be back with you.
1:09.4	Susan, let's start with Trump's approval ratings. Just how low are they? And why hasn't that stymied his efforts to oust those in his party who oppose him? You know, Trump's job approval rating is now below 40% in the aggregate of public, nonpartisan polls. And that is low. That is a kind of
1:31.8	warning flag for presidents to have approval ratings like that. It signals trouble for his party
1:37.5	in the midterms. And yet he continues to have an iron grip on the GOP. And the reason for that, he is down overall among Americans
1:47.4	in terms of his support. But he continues to have really pretty solid support, historically solid
1:54.4	support among his core, among Republicans and conservatives in some particular groups like white evangelical Protestants.
2:03.6	How many dominoes have fallen so far lawmakers forced out of office as Trump attempts to strong-arm members of his own party into towing the line?
2:12.7	Boy, just look at this month. The month of May, that's a big primary month. What have we seen?
2:18.0	We've seen five of seven state senators in Indiana lose the Republican nomination for new
2:24.7	terms because they refuse to go along with Trump's demand that they redraw congressional
2:30.7	lines.
	...

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