'Trump now looks like the handmaiden of the elites... His time will be over' - Mark Landler

Read time: 4 mins

In brief…

• Mark Landler tells Jon Sopel that a recent Mar-A-Lago party, believed to have cost millions, has resulted in a loss of trust from voters who previously supported him, due to the economic decline in American society.
• Landler says this, along with the back and forth over releasing the Epstein Files has led some MAGA devotees to see him as a “handmaiden” of the elites he initially claimed to want to expose.
• His decline in public perception, and in approval ratings, has opened the doors for potential successors, including JD Vance, to begin planning their move to take his place in the future.

What’s the story?

Are things going well for Donald Trump in his second term as president? If you look at the recent Great Gatsby-themed party he recently threw at his Mar A Lago resort in Florida, you might think so.

But could this lavish, multi-million dollar event be another big crack in the growing divide between Trump and his MAGA fanbase, and one which secures a spot for a Republican successor to stake their claim on a future presidency?

New York Times journalist Mark Landler believes Trump is losing his grip on the American people – and the Make America Great American movement he began.

"I think a lot of Americans looked at that party and thought, 'This guy really doesn't get it'," Landler tells Jon Sopel.

"He hasn't reduced the price of eggs, the way he needs to. What's worse, every time he's asked about it, he simply says – against all evidence – that he has, that prices are lower, that he has tackled inflation successfully."

Landler says we are already beginning to glimpse the "post-Trump era", less than 12 months into his second presidency.

'It has now become very obvious that his time will be over'

There have been bigger problems for Trump recently than backlash to a party. Perhaps most pressingly, the controversy over the release of the Epstein Files which he first promised to release, then said were a Democratic hoax, and eventually backtracked and agreed to make public – with a few caveats.

It also cost him the allegiance of Marjorie Taylor Greene, one of his most ardent and longstanding MAGA devotees, who chose her commitment to the release of the files over her dedication to Trump.

"Trump's stonewalling on the Epstein files is viewed by Marjorie Taylor Greene and a lot of people in the MAGA movement as a betrayal," Landler says.

"Trump ran as the person who was going to smash this veneer of secrecy that surrounded elite Americans and the ways that they behaved in private.

"He now looks like he's the handmaiden of those people, and Marjorie Taylor Greene and others have set themselves up as the people that are the real representatives of the ordinary man and woman."

This split has shown weakness in the MAGA movement, and also the very beginning of right-wing politicians starting to make their own moves to succeed Trump in the Republican Party.

"It has now become very obvious that his time will be over," Landler says.

"We're not sure exactly when, but we assume it'll be at the end of this term, and you're beginning to see people positioning themselves for whatever that world will look like.

"It's surfacing a number of philosophical and political divides that Trump had always successfully papered over – and now the paper is beginning to rip."

He adds that while Trump may still claim to have an "iron grip" over the world of MAGA, it's becoming increasingly clear he does not.

Is it 'premature' for Trump's successor to step up?

None of this is surprising, however, with many two-term presidents eventually being considered a 'lame-duck' second time around, as underlings jostle to take the departing leader's place and establish themselves in the minds of voters.

Trump hates this idea, The News Agents believe, which may explain the ongoing jokes about hanging around the White House for a third term.

"Trump wants to maintain his relevance," Lewis Goodall previously said.

"He knows that two-term presidents very quickly, within their second term, find themselves superseded in the media and political conversation. Trump, more than any president, does not want to be superseded in the political media conversation, he wants to remain central to it."

But those jokes, Landler says, now come from a president who seems much less enthused by the idea than he once was.

"Trump's approval ratings have really fallen pretty swiftly, including on issues such as the economy – where he was viewed as being pretty bulletproof," Landler says.

"So I think if you're an ambitious Republican, you're looking at a guy who is close to three quarters of the way through his two terms."

Many believe deputy president JD Vance is a likely successor, while other suggestions include secretary of state Marco Rubio, and even Taylor Greene, who some believe is playing a long-game by recently resigning from her role in Congress.

"It probably isn't too early to begin floating positions that are somewhat different – or staking out ground that's somewhat different," Landler adds.

"Guys like Vance and Rubio will swear that this is all way too premature, of course – but it's not too premature in the world of American politics."

Listen to the latest episode of The News Agents USA.