Callers to C-SPAN on Thursday delivered pointed criticism of President Donald Trump, with voters who identified as Republicans and one 2024 Trump voter among those voicing frustration over his tariff and foreign policies, according to a Daily Beast report. The public-affairs network, created by the cable industry in 1979, has long structured its call-in programming around separate phone lines for Democrats, Republicans, and independents, a format that has made it a recurring and largely unscripted gauge of grassroots voter sentiment.

A Florida Republican caller named Max argued that Trump's aggressiveness on trade no longer produces the results it did during his first term.

“Right now, I think what we need to focus on primarily is Trump's tactics on trade now compared to his first term, where his aggressiveness seemed to kind of yield results, whereas now I think nobody really buys it anymore,” Max said. “I think everybody's just like, ‘No, you're not gonna really do anything.' And frankly, I just find it all to be, uh, very disappointing that not even he seems to realize that and he's just embarrassing himself. It sucks, and everything's expensive.”

Ryan, another Florida caller, identified himself as a Trump voter in 2024 and said he has begun to regret his choice.

“Honestly, I voted for Trump in 2024. Starting to regret it,” Ryan said. “You know, his policies are getting more and more draconian. I just do not like the whole direction where this is coming.”

Virginia, a Maryland Republican, called for a stronger response to Trump's policies, citing her frustration with tariffs on lumber and their potential impact on Americans already struggling with inflation.

“This man needs to be removed from office, and Congress is just not doing their job,” she said.

Her demand runs into a high constitutional bar: removing a president from office before the end of a term requires impeachment by the House and conviction by two-thirds of the Senate, a threshold no U.S. president has ever met. Trump was twice impeached during his first term and acquitted by the Senate both times.

According to the Daily Beast, voters across the political spectrum dialed into C-SPAN early Thursday to deliver their critiques of Trump's policies on the conflict in the Middle East and his sprawling tariffs. Tariffs are taxes collected on imported goods and paid by importers, with the costs often passed along in consumer prices — the link callers repeatedly drew between trade policy and the cost of living.

Doug, an independent voter in Ohio, predicted that “the tariffs are gonna kill the American worker.”

“They're going to hurt our economy, And I feel the same way that Doug in Canada feels about Donald Trump: he's about the biggest idiot ever made. … We lost in Iran, we're gonna lose this trade war. What is his problem? And he wants to build a goshdarn throne room. He calls it a ballroom, but it's his own throne room, and I don't like any of it from this man that we got as president. He's an idiot, and he's gonna cause nothing but trouble,” Doug said.

Trump's approval ratings have hit a record low during his second term, with widespread public dissatisfaction tied heavily to the ongoing war with Iran and escalating trade conflicts. The rapid decline marks a steep departure from the beginning of his second term, as voters increasingly express deep skepticism over his administration's handling of the economy, inflation, and foreign policy. Historically, the party holding the White House has lost congressional seats in most midterm elections, and slippage in support within a president's own coalition is the kind of signal strategists in both parties monitor closely heading into the 2026 campaign cycle.

Source: Alternet