However, behind the scenes, his power may not be as strong as it looks. His plans are moving slower than he promised, the courts are blocking many of his actions, and even some of his biggest supporters are beginning to lose faith in him. This quiet but clear decline is creating fear and confusion among his allies.
Chess champion and political activist Garry Kasparov once said that autocratic leaders like Trump are most afraid of democracy.
Democracy gives ordinary people a voice, and it limits how much power one person can have. Kasparov believes that this fear drives many of Trump’s decisions.
Instead of focusing on improving the country, Trump spends a lot of energy trying to control critics, weaken institutions, and silence anyone who disagrees with him.
Because of this, Trump’s government is spending more time fighting enemies than delivering results. Even though he promised huge changes, many of his biggest plans remain unfinished.
One of the key people in Trump’s team is Russell Vought, who leads the Office of Management and Budget. He is the main architect behind “Project 2025,” a plan to reshape the U.S. government by cutting departments, reducing worker protections, and promoting a Christian nationalist vision.
At the start of the year, Vought moved quickly. Trump signed more than 140 executive orders in his first 100 days, which looked like a strong start.
Vought was supported by wealthy business figures like Elon Musk, who led a department called the Department of Government Efficiency.
They promised to reduce government spending by one trillion dollars. But months later, they achieved only a small part of that goal. Musk stepped away, and the energy around the project slowed down.
Since those early months, Vought’s progress has faced many obstacles. Labor unions challenged the government in court to stop mass layoffs of public workers.
Judges in several states agreed and paused the job cuts. These legal battles delayed many other parts of Project 2025.
Trump himself has also caused delays. While he wants big budget cuts, he does not want to lose support from the public.
For example, he asked Vought to protect funding for programs like WIC (Women, Infants, and Children), which provides food support for poor families.
Cutting this program would hurt his image, so Vought is struggling to balance Trump’s demands with his own goal of shrinking government services.
According to reports, only about half of the goals of Project 2025 have been completed. The rapid revolution that some Trump supporters expected has not happened.
Public opinion is also turning against Trump and his team. A recent national poll showed that six out of ten Americans blame Republicans for the government shutdown.
Trump’s approval rating remains low, and most Americans disapprove of how he is handling the economy and government services.
Many Americans do not agree with Vought’s belief that the country is controlled by a “liberal cartel.” He argues that once this so-called cartel is destroyed, ordinary citizens will fully support Trump.
But this is not happening. Instead, protests are growing, more people are speaking against government actions, and opposition movements are becoming stronger.
Even some of Trump’s most extreme supporters are now feeling disappointed. Curtis Yarvin, a far-right writer who once dreamed of replacing democracy with a monarchy-like government, says Trump is moving too slowly.
He expected Trump to completely change the system, but instead, he sees small victories and many failures. Yarvin has said the administration is “failing because it deserves to fail.” He believes they are distracted and not bold enough to make the changes they promised.
Some reports also describe strange and embarrassing behavior behind closed doors. For example, one journalist wrote that Trump used to talk to Vought about finding him a romantic partner at his private club, Mar-a-Lago.
This made some advisors uncomfortable and showed how unfocused the leadership could be during serious national events.
Growing Opposition Within the GOP
Surprisingly, criticism is also coming from inside Trump’s own party. Some Republicans, like Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, have loudly attacked the administration for being inconsistent or too slow. This internal conflict shows that even within the MAGA movement, there is division and tiredness.
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