What a Friday it was.  But first, we have to go back a few months -

Back in October, I wrote an article about how we were beginning to hear a lot of disillusioned Trump voters upset at the actions they see him and the party taking and saying that "I didn't vote for this" - when in fact, they not only did vote for it, but Trump and the party were very clear about it, not only releasing a massive 920-page document on their plans which they called Project 2025, but even gave it a title that should have left zero doubt about their intent, Mandate for Leadership:  The Conservative Promise.

"Mandate" and "Promise" are pretty dead giveaways.  At least if you're looking and want to pay attention.

And if Trump kept insisting that he knew nothing about Project 2025, despite his election team being full of its authors, it's his MAGA base that always says you shouldn't listen to what Trump says, but what he means. And filling your team with the authors of a 920-page manifesto on your "promise" is considered a really good description of what you mean.

Well, since October, that trickle of a "I didn't vote for this" cry has turned into a more steady stream.  Not yet a gushing whitewater rapids, but Trump's support has plummeted to 34%.  Groups that were critical to Trump and MAGOP wins in 2024 have had the bottom drop out from them:  Young voters support is now 20%, Independent approval is 25%, and Hispanic backing is down to 30%.  And "strong" response (which is those most-motivated to vote, something critical during a low-turnout Mid-Term election) may even be worse.  Though disapproval of Trump's war of choice in Iran is a horrific 67% to just 33% approve (after only two months), the "strongly" numbers are a disastrous 54% strongly disapprove to a mere 19% strongly approve.  Worse, this shows that already, over half of the American public strongly disapproves.

"I didn't vote" for even his Iran War holds no water, despite Trump campaigning as the "peace president" and saying "I'm not going to start a war."  Trump's belligerent attacks on Muslims, Hispanics, Venezuela and Greenland (and even Canada, for goodness sake) made clear that he was just bursting to find wars to start.

And then came this past Friday.

It's not that the damn of "I didn't vote for this burst" last week, but when three news stories hit the very same day with the very same "I didn't vote for this" regret at voting for Trump - most notably colored by the standard MAGA angst of "because, wait, this  actually hurts me" - it shows that the dam is being stressed to its capacity.

First, there was Conn Selmer, the country's largest band-instrument maker.

During the 2024 election campaign, the billionaire owner of the company, John Paulson"  raised $50 million for Trump, and stood loudly behind the "America First" credo.  As he told CNBC right before the election, "We can't have American producers closing American factories and offshoring. We need to protect American jobs and protect American manufacturing."

On Friday, it was reported Conn Selmer will move production of tubas, sousaphones and some French horns overseas to China.  It will not come as a shock that his employees are furious. Said one, "I'm starting to regret my vote for Trump."

Actually, what leaps out to me more than this employee's regret of voting for Trump, but that she's just "starting to."  Because it affects her now. And even at that, it's just "starting to." I'm sorry for her hell, but she's allowing it.

Then, there was Trump's latest attack on Friday against major MAGA stars.

Despite their longtime support for him, Trump - unable to take criticism - lashed out brutally again on Friday at four MAGA commentators with big followings, among the biggest, starting with Tucker Carlson.  He wrote --

"Tucker is a Low IQ person - Always easy to beat, and highly overrated!!! So are Megyn Kelly, 'Candace'(Really Dumb and mentally ill!), and Bankrupt Alex Jones, who is completely 'fried.' There are others, also! Then we have some that are VERY GOOD, true MAGA all the way, and smart. I should do a list of good, bad, and somewhere in the middle. Wouldn't that be fascinating??? President DJT."

In fact, his vitriol wasn't just limited to these four prominent MAGOP voices and left the door open for MAGAs to wonder who the "others" are Trump is blasting as being "Low IQ," "Really Dumb" "mentally ill," "bankrupt" and "completely 'fried,'" uncertain if he includes favorites they follow loyally and trust.  This creates a deep wedge in the "America First" base of MAGA World, already upset at Trump for his military attacks on Venezuela and now Iran - with a view of Cuba ahead.  And so, while once upon a time Trump said he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue, and he wouldn't leave any support, on Friday this rant brought about responses…on Trump's own social media platform…such as --

"I've never been more ashamed of my vote," wrote one in reply to his tweet.

Another added, "I regret voting for you."

A third chimed in, "Your legacy isn't what I'd want."

They might be ashamed or their vote, and regret their vote, and his actions aren't what they want, but…it is what they voted vote.  Still, though, this shame and regret isn't limited to the many voices who responded directly to Trump on his "Trump Social" site.  They're just the canaries we can see in the coal mine.

And then there was the Texas Restaurant Association.

Restaurants in the state have had a hard patch lately.  Around half of Texas restaurants were not profitable last year, up from a third from the year before.  Some of that is the economy, and some is Trump's push against immigration.  This has hit Texas especially hard, since 10% of workers there are undocumented, double the national average. The restaurant association has this has "created a chilling effect among their workers, regardless of their immigration status," according to an article in the New York Times.

As a result, restaurants have started a coalition called 'Seat the Table,' hoping to get Trump and Congress to create work permits for "long-term, law-abiding immigrants playing critical roles from farms to restaurants."

Not wanting to offend its right-wing MAGA base in the state so that they might start going out to dine again, the Texas Restaurant Association made clear that, no, no, please understand it was not calling for "amnesty" at all, perish the thought, moreover it wasn't even asking that these work permits for longtime residents of the state become a pathway to citizenship for the immigrants who are helping their businesses survive.  A deeply myopic exception that ignores the reality that 40% of the state is Hispanic.

To translate from Pure MAGA into human English: we support Trump's policy that hurts everyone, but it also hurts our industry, and we didn't vote for this, so please make an exception to help - and by "help," we don't mean everyone, just us.

To be clear, none of this is to show the regret and shame that MAGAs feel over voting for Trump, only two years into his election.  It's to show only what happened on Friday!!

On Friday, MS NOW ran a chyron which was not a shock.  It read -

"Trump Approval Plummets Among Latino Voters"

The poll wasn't for an overall "Trump approval," but rather asked Latinos - an important group for Trump and the MAGOP's success in 2024 - about six specific issues.  The "best" support Trump got (for cost of living) had approval among Latinos at only 25%.  The next two "highest" approvals (which included immigration and border security) were around 14%.  And the final three results were all in just single digits - from 8-9%.  This included jobs and, almost oddly, the lowest at 8% was for taxes and government spending.

And now, on top of that regret, this party of the Religious Right, losing a lot of Catholics!!!!!

Trump support from Catholics is now under 50% for the first time.

So, they're losing Hispanics, Catholics and (as noted) young people, and Independents.  All constituencies they counted on in 2024.

It's hard to imagine losing so much of that support from all these groups in just 16 months.  This isn't a slow leak that gives you time to right the ship.  And it's all self-inflicted.  Starting with hiring unqualified "yes men," misreading the American public by dumping Project 2025 on them, and following blindly a leader who is a convicted felon and malignant narcissist with dementia.

And worse than being self-inflicted, it's self-reflective.  As the MAGA base looks at what they voted for and is aghast at themselves.  When the base is saying, "Oh, my God, what did I do??", that is incredibly hard to recover from.  Especially when Trump is surrounded by a circle of unqualified incompetents -- who know the only way they keep their jobs is by saying yes to someone who has dementia which is degenerative -- and is months away from being officially a lame duck.  It's your base looking inward, not at the party for what to believe, and regretting what they see in themselves.  Those at the top of the party may say that everything is great, but the bottom is starting to drop out.

When Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt posts some "cheerleader"-type comment on social media, my default response is often, "From the cruise director on the Titanic."

And so it is.  They've run into an iceberg and are trying to convince their people, who are looking around for lifeboats while regretting buying a ticket - not "Here's how we'll help you to get to the land safely," but - that a sinking boat is actually a good thing, and what they were planning all along.

The problem for the MAGOP is not that most of the base will vote for Democrats.  That won't happen.  The problem isn't even that just 3% might, although no party can afford to lose even 3% of its base, which turns a razor-thin 51-49% result into a 54-46% landslide. The problem - especially without Trump on the ballot - is how many of the most supportive Trump loyalists regret their voting for Trump three times and might stay home and not vote at all.

On Sunday, Trump posted a weird video of Frank Sinatra singing "My Way," which concerned many people since it was seen as him justifying all his worst actions and any to come.  But there's another way to look at it.  And that's from the perspective of the party's base listening, and them hearing first line of the song.

"And now, the end is near.  

And as I face the final curtain."

And as they ponder that and all the things they're thinking, "I didn't vote for that" (though they really did…) - with Trump a lame duck who won't be on the ballot ever again - they all come to the first line of the very next verse.

"Regrets?  I've had a few."

And then, as they begin to think of all those regrets, all the disasters of Trump's actions that they hate, see destructive to America, all the broken promises of no war, lower prices on Day 1, ending the war against Ukraine on Day 1, and things that are now actually hurting not just all those other people, but themselves personally, right after that, right in the middle of the song, comes --

"Yes, there were times, 

I'm sure you knew, 

When I bit off more than I could chew."

And at last, reaching the conclusion, as the end is near, looking back on it all, 34 felony convictions, adjudication for rape, found guilty of fraud, grabbing women by the p*ssy, Stormy Daniels, Jeffrey Epstein, we come to --

"I've loved, I've laughed, I've cried,

I've had my fill, my share of losing."

And Trump thought posting the song was a good thing.  So, he went ahead and did it his way.  Trump's way.  Regrets?  Oh, yes, a few.