Trump War of Whimsy becomes his Achilles' heel

 

Graph and headline:  Strength in Numbers, 8/9/2026

G. Elliott Morris reports:

 Collins notes that Echelon Insights, a Republican firm (I think their newest data just came out, that's why Collins used it) has found Trump 24 points underwater on foreign policy, for instance — actually below Joe Biden’s -10 at this point in his term.  

Now it’s true that Biden had a worse rating for handling the Afghanistan situation that he did overall; Quinnipiac had Biden at 31% approve vs 65% disapproval on his handling of the withdrawal itself. So the eighteen-month comparison above is kinda the best case. 

But if you look at polls of Trump’s handling of Iran, the public is even more bleak. According to the average I run for FiftyPlusOne (right now on the SIN data portal, moving to the polls site soon), Trump’s approval for handling Iran is -30 today.

According to Merriam-Webster, the first known use of "Achilles' heel", as in a vulnerable point', occurred in 1839.

Other coinages from the same year include:

1. boneyard
2. bunker
3. cellmate
4. flare-up
5. gift of gab
6. kick around
7. malposition

Related posts:

"Global reverberations" series

July 2026

Global reverberations of Trump War of Whimsy:  Putting farmers at risk around the world  (7/27)

Economic slowdown.  (7/6)

May 2026

Latin American poultry industry.  (5/18) 

Qatar liquified natural gas industry.  (5/18)

Worldwide food prices hit 3-year high.  (5/15)

Worldwide food prices hit three-year high.  (5/15)

Firozabad India's glassmaking industry.  (5/12)

Africa.  (5/12)

Modi's India.  (5/12)

"Day" series

August 2026

On Day 167 of Trump War of Whimsy, Iran presents a list of demands.  (8/8)

On Day 164 of Trump War of Whimsy, Iran continues to have the upper hand.  (8/5)

June-July 2026

On Day 156 of his War of Whimsy, Donald Trump is still flailing.  (7/28)

On Day 152 of Trump War of Whimsy, the Greg Kelly Clown Show on Newsmax gets roasted by Media Matters for America.  (7/24)

On Day 152 of his War of Whimsy, Donald Trump continues to navigate the Blunder Bus through Strait of Hormuz.  (7/24)

On Day 142 of his War of Whimsy Donald Trump conducts a master class in irrational behavior.  (7/14)

On day 134 of Trump War of Whimsy, it still has a 'forverer' feel to it.  (7/6)

On day 106 of War of Whimsy,  Donald Trump and Mojtaba Khamenei grapple over winners trophy.  (6/10)

May 2026

On Day 80 of Trump War of Whimsy, skyrocketing price of diesel fuel wreaks havoc on school budgets.  (5/18)

Day 77:  Price of diesel fuel hits record high.  (5/15) 

Day 70:  Shell reports almost $7 billion profit in 1st quarter of 2026.  (5/8) 

Day 69:  We learn how much Pete Hegseth isnt telling us about epically damaged U.S. military assets.  (5/7)

Day 68:  Operation Epic Fury had become Operation Colossal Blunder.  (5/6)

Day 67:  Donald Trump finds himself stuck in a costly and unpopular war.  (5/5)

Day 65: Iran War has cost American consumers more than $31 billion in extra fuel costs.  (5/3)

April 2026

Day 62:  Price of oil spikes.  (4/30)

Day 60.  Further pain at the pump for Americans.  (4/28)