As his poll numbers continue to drop, the White House is announcing that President Donald Trump will begin a weekly barnstorming blitz of the country to rally supporters with stump speeches designed to change voters’ perceptions that high prices are Trump’s fault.

“Trump’s first stop will be on Tuesday in Iowa, where he will deliver a speech on the economy and energy, chief of staff Susie Wiles told reporters on the way to Davos, Switzerland,” Politico reported. “The travel blitz beginning in January is much earlier than during his first term, when he began traveling aggressively to support candidates just after Labor Day.”

“Trump has struggled to articulate an affordability message that moves the needle with voters, and a purposeful tack back to domestic matters could help that perception,” Politico noted, adding that “polling has regularly shown Trump’s popularity slipping and voters beginning to blame his policies for the high cost of living.”

According to Zeteo News’ Prem Thakker, Trump is running negative — and in some cases double-digit negative — in a dozen states that will hold elections for the U.S. Senate this November. Thakker cited data from The Economist, which also shows that the president’s net approval rating is now -19 percent, down two points from last week and “the lowest it has been this term.”

READ MORE: DOJ Delay Continues as Judge Denies Epstein Files Special Master

Some of those state ratings, Thakker noted, include:
Georgia: -18.6%
Maine: -18.4%
Texas: -17.2%
Michigan: -15.8%
N Carolina: -13.6%

Meanwhile, some appeared optimistic.

“As President Trump barnstorms the country to advance his America First agenda, Republicans are poised to defy history in the midterms,” Republican National Committee spokesperson Kiersten Pels told Politico.

Others took a different view.

The Bulwark’s Sarah Longwell rejected former Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) spokesperson Katie Miller’s suggestion that Trump’s travel to Iowa means that he’s “running.”

“This is a hilarious tweet,” Longwell wrote. “Trump isn’t going to Iowa because he is running. He’s going for damage control because his tariffs have made the state a pickup for Democrats.”

The Lincoln Project added, “Trump’s ‘Affordability Hoax’ heads to Iowa to tell Iowans that everything’s fine, despite their worst-in-the-country economy.”

On Tuesday, CNN’s John King reported that while Democrats understand that Iowa will be an uphill battle, they see opportunity.

“Democrats have a huge opportunity and Republicans acknowledge it,” King also told Anderson Cooper. “If the election were tomorrow, the Democrats would take back the House without question. The only part is the margin.”

For John King’s latest All Over the Map report, he goes back to Iowa to explore Trump’s fractured support one year into his second term and how it might offer clues for the upcoming midterms. pic.twitter.com/mTmjIGLJLU

— Anderson Cooper 360° (@AC360) January 20, 2026

READ MORE: ‘Can Barely Keep His Eyes Open’: Trump Mocked Over ‘Ramblefest’ Davos Speech

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Thirty-three days after the Trump Department of Justice was required by law to release the Epstein Files — but failed to produce even one percent of them — a federal judge has rejected a bipartisan effort to appoint a special master to oversee production of the documents.

U.S. Reps. Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Thomas Massie (R-KY), authors of the Epstein Files Transparency Act (EFTA), went to court to make their request. On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer declined that request, stating that he does not have the authority to appoint a special master.

“Their request is ‘important’ and ‘timely,’ but the appropriate vehicle may be a lawsuit or Congress, the judge says,” according to All Rise News editor-in-chief Adam Klasfeld.

“This criminal case does not give the Court any charter to supervise DOJ’s compliance with the EFTA,” Judge Engelmayer wrote, as New York Daily News reporter Molly Crane-Newman reported. “And the motion exceeds the bounds of permissible amici participation. This decision is without prejudice to the Representatives’ right to initiate a separate lawsuit. The Representatives are also, of course, at liberty to pursue oversight of DOJ via the tools available to Congress.”

READ MORE: ‘Can Barely Keep His Eyes Open’: Trump Mocked Over ‘Ramblefest’ Davos Speech

On Tuesday, Crane-Newman reported that attorneys for the two congressmen had renewed “their push to seek a special master to oversee the Epstein files release, saying the government ‘cannot be relied upon to act with disinterest and objectively to do what is best for the survivors. It has its own conflicting interests.'”

Former Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg, earlier on Wednesday, told MSNOW, “I don’t think we’ll see the entire file until Trump is out of office.”

“I think part of the problem here for Congressmen Khanna and Massie is that the law that they wrote is riddled with loopholes. It does not have an enforcement mechanism. So they’re trying to figure out how to get the DOJ to turn over all the documents, but there’s nothing in the law that forces them to do so under penalty of whatever,” he explained.

Aronberg called it “a real big question whether or not they, as members of Congress, have the standing to get this judge in a closed case to force the DOJ to turn over the documents.”

On @Morning_Joe, I expressed skepticism that Judge Engelmayer would grant the request by Reps. Khanna and Massie to assert jurisdiction and grant a special master to oversee the release of the Epstein Files. Turns out that skepticism was justified. pic.twitter.com/WRyXX08UeS

— Dave Aronberg (@aronberg) January 21, 2026

READ MORE: Canadian Prime Minister Warns World Order Has Ruptured

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President Donald Trump drew sharp criticism at home as he delivered a widely panned speech to world leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Perhaps never before has Trump given a major speech with so many immediate national and international crises at stake, including the future of Greenland, the future of NATO and Western alliances, global trade, inflation and the cost of living, Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine, and the rise of China and authoritarianism.

Much of the reaction to Trump’s remarks focused on his delivery and the audience’s response.

“Trump can barely keep his eyes open during this speech,” mocked The Bulwark’s publisher Sarah Longwell.

“Trump’s on the Davos stage right now and the room feels like a waiting room. Low energy delivery. Zero reaction,” observed political commentator Brian Allen. “The room is so silent for Trump’s lie-fest at Davos you could hear a pin drop,” he added.

READ MORE: Canadian Prime Minister Warns World Order Has Ruptured

“Incredibly low energy performance today by Donald,” remarked The Lincoln Project.

Several commenters used strong language to express their criticism.

“‘Oh, no, this is going great,’ said no one watching Trump at Davos. Senile, mentally ill, reckless, and practically drooling on his speech, this is a ramblefest of grievance and revisionism,” commented The Lincoln Project’s Rick Wilson.

Others observed how his speech was being received.

“The throngs for Trump at Davos were nothing like I’ve seen before. I’m watching his speech in a packed overflow room. His rhetoric draws periodic chortles from the crowd,” commented Washington Post global affairs columnist Ishaan Tharoor.

And still others remarked on the validity of his remarks.

“Trump’s delusion is eclipsed only by the disrespect and insults and lies he is telling in Davos right now,” remarked Democratic strategist and CNN commentator Maria Cardona.

Journalist Ahmed Baba commented on the “contrast between Trump’s delusional Davos speech lying about his accomplishments,” and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s “grounded Davos speech eloquently depicting the world as it is as a result of Trump’s unhinged foreign policy could not be starker.”

Trump just mixed up Greenland and Iceland at Davos.

Then blamed a stock market dip on “Iceland.”

He’s threatening to seize land from countries he can’t even identify.

This is reckless incompetence on a global stage. pic.twitter.com/h2kuSwTy87

— Brian Allen (@allenanalysis) January 21, 2026

READ MORE: ‘Enemy Is Within’: Trump Boosts Post Casting NATO as a ‘Threat’ in Social Media Spree

Image via Reuters