Can President Donald Trump break a pattern held by several of his predecessors — rebounding into a positive net approval rating by next year’s midterm elections?

It will be challenging but not impossible, says CNN forecaster Harry Enten, who noted that if he doesn’t, it could spell trouble for congressional Republicans on the November ballot.

“I would say the report card is negative,” Enten said on Wednesday. “It’s minus. It’s no good.”

READ MORE: FCC Scrubs Website After Chair’s ‘Independent Agency’ Assertion Ignites Heated Clash

Enten then shared a critical statistic.

“Every single day since March 12th, Trump has been in the red. Negative. That is days in row, 281. He has spent more time underwater than Jacques Cousteau, for goodness’ sake.”

“The bottom line is this, the American people don’t like what Trump’s doing, and they haven’t liked what Trump’s doing for a long period of time: 281 days,” he explained, noting that his net negatives are on “all the key issues.”

“He’s underwater across the board.”

“Immigration, a key issue for him: underwater by six points. Foreign policy, which has been one of his better issues, underwater by 14 points. Trade and tariffs, of course, this has been a key component of Trump’s presidency: underwater by 15 points.”

READ MORE: Trump Bets ‘Dangling’ Cash Will Shift Voters’ Views: Report

“The economy, the reason Trump got elected to a second term, underwater by 16 points, and the Epstein case — which I think will be talking a lot about going into the latter part of this week — underwater by 29 points. Negative, negative, negative, negative, negative,” he exclaimed.

Enten noted that there are still ten and a half months until the midterms.

“But if history is any guide, it’s not a good one for you, because take a look at your term two, negative net approval ratings at this point, when positive by the midterm, well, we have three examples: Richard Nixon, he was forced out of office, of course. He never went positive. George W. Bush, he never saw positive territory again. Barack Obama earlier this century, he did not go positive by the midterm.”

And now, “It’s just negative across the board for the president of the United States. He is, again, gonna have to break history. He has done it before, but he’s really gonna have to do it if he really wants to give his Republican Party much of a chance come the 2026 midterms, because if the numbers look like this and look like this, well, this will become another X.”

Going into tonight, Trump’s net approval has been underwater for 281 days in a row. He’s spent more time underwater than Jacques Cousteau.

He’s negative on all key issues (econ, immigration, trade etc.)

No term 2 prez w/ neg net approval at this pt went positive by midterms. pic.twitter.com/0JHd89EHPi

— (((Harry Enten))) (@ForecasterEnten) December 17, 2025

READ MORE: GOP Crack-Up Continues as Another House Republican Calls It Quits

Image via Reuters

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), established by Congress in 1934 as an independent agency to regulate a wide swath of communications, is not an independent agency, according to its Trump-appointed chairman, during a raucous debate on Capitol Hill.

The FCC has jurisdiction over radio, broadcast television, satellite, and cable communications, and oversees licensing of broadcasters, with some authority to revoke licenses for regulatory or technical violations.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly called for the licenses of outlets he has criticized to be revoked.

In a heated debate, U.S. Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) challenged FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, a Project 2025 author, over the agency’s independence.

“Yes or no, please, yes or no?” Senator Luján asked Carr during a Commerce Committee oversight hearing on Wednesday. “Is the FCC an independent agency?”

READ MORE: Trump Bets ‘Dangling’ Cash Will Shift Voters’ Views: Report

When Carr immediately declared, “I think that…” Luján pulled him back.

“Yes or no, is all we need, sir. Yes or no, is it independent?” the New Mexico Democrat asked again.

“Well, there’s a test for this in the law, in the key portion of that test,” Carr replied.

“Yes or no, Brendan,” Luján again asked.

“So just so you know, Brendan,” the senator continued, “on your website, it just simply says, man, the FCC’s independent. This isn’t a trick question.”

“Okay, the FCC is not…” Carr began.

“Yes or no?”

After more back and forth, Carr ultimately declared, “the FCC is not an independent agency.”

The Bulwark reported that in 2021 Carr declared that the FCC is an independent agency.

The Bulwark’s Sam Stein reported early Wednesday afternoon, “FCC folks have been frantically scrubbing their website to remove reference to it being an ‘independent’ agency now that Carr this morning said it’s not.”

An archived version of the FCC’s website reads: “An independent U.S. government agency overseen by Congress, the Commission is the federal agency responsible for implementing and enforcing America’s communications law and regulations.”

READ MORE: GOP Crack-Up Continues as Another House Republican Calls It Quits

That page now calls it a “U.S. government agency overseen by Congress.”

Axios’ media correspondent Sara Fischer on social media declared, “This is INSANE. I took this screenshot of the @FCC website at 11:52 a.m. ET where it explicitly states the FCC is an independent agency. 25 minutes later, it has been removed following Carr’s comments during this hearing!”

“This, combined with SCOTUS appearing poised to uphold POTUS firing of FTC commissioners,” Fischer added, “shows how effective Trump has been in diminishing the independence of federal agencies that are supposed to regulate the media/ad/tech industries.”

.@SenatorLujan: “Just so you know Brendan, on your website it just simply says man the FCC’s independent this isn’t a trick question…Is your website wrong?”@BrendanCarrFCC: “The FCC is not an independent agency formally speaking.” pic.twitter.com/DkYoAgMA7S

— CSPAN (@cspan) December 17, 2025

READ MORE: White House Teases Out What Trump Will Say in Rare Oval Office Address

First there were the $5000 DOGE dividend checks. Then there were the $2000 tariff rebate checks. And now there are the tax refund checks.

The first two never materialized.

And yet, according to The New York Times, President Donald Trump “has reprised a familiar political strategy: promise people cash.”

“The White House is trying to tamp down Americans’ economic anxieties by dangling the prospect of checks and other paydays next year, hoping that the money might assuage voters who blame the president for their rising cost of living.”

READ MORE: GOP Crack-Up Continues as Another House Republican Calls It Quits

The president promised that on day one that he would end inflation, lower the cost of living, and make America affordable again, and he promised within 18 months Americans would see their electric bills cut in half.

“Americans give President Donald Trump his worst approval ratings ever for his handling of the economy, as they also express concerns about the cost of living, healthcare prices, and personal finances, a new PBS News/NPR/Marist poll finds,” PBS News reported on Wednesday. “Fifty-seven percent of Americans disapprove of how Trump is handling the economy, once viewed as one of the president’s strengths. Thirty-six percent say the president is doing a good job, the lowest this poll has found across both of his terms in office.”

Overall, the poll gives Trump a 38% approval rating, and a 54% disapproval rating.

The New York Times noted that the president will deliver an Oval Office address Wednesday night, and has “repeatedly teased” sending $2,000 tariff rebate checks.

READ MORE: White House Teases Out What Trump Will Say in Rare Oval Office Address

“But he has not devised a detailed plan for providing the rebates, an expensive policy that Republicans in Congress must approve and one that they have not yet considered.”

Trump last week told his Cabinet, “Next year is projected to be the largest tax refund season ever, and we’re going to be giving back refunds out of the tariffs, because we’ve taken in literally trillions of dollars.”

Last week, Yahoo Finance reported that the total tariff revenue collected for this calendar year about $236 billion.”

“And we’re going to be giving a nice dividend to the people, in addition to reducing debt,” Trump also claimed, despite the absence of a plan in place.

READ MORE: ‘Warning Sign’: Unemployment Jumps as Experts Sound Alarm on ‘Hiring Recession’

Image via Reuters