WASHINGTON DC – In the 11th century, King Canute infamously tried to prove he could turn back the ocean’s waves. Today, Donald Trump thinks he can defy political gravity. But with each passing hour, the US President’s comeuppance seems as inevitable as the tides that humiliated Canute more than 900 years ago.
The walls are closing in on Trump’s White House.
On Tuesday night, less than seven months before the US’s crucial midterm elections in November, the Associated Press reported the President’s approval rating had dropped to a record low of just 33 per cent. On the central issue of the economy – the top concern for many voters – just 30 per cent of Americans give Trump the thumbs-up. That was a nine-point reduction on poll numbers since Trump took the decision to join Israel’s attack on Iran on 28 February.
On Wednesday, Scott Kirby, the CEO of United Airlines, warned that with no end to the conflict in sight, he was ordering a 20 per cent increase in air fares for summer flights. Other airlines are expected to follow suit. The increases will notably impact holidaymakers and all those football fans who have not already booked their tickets to the US, Canada and Mexico for this summer’s geographically-dispersed FIFA World Cup.
Separately, the White House is now reportedly planning to offer budget carrier Spirit Airlines a $500-million loan in an effort to help it avert bankruptcy. The airline was already in trouble before the war with Iran, but the rise in fuel prices over the last seven weeks has added to its woes.
Underscoring the belief that fuel prices will not fall anytime soon, The Washington Post reported that Pentagon officials have warned Congress in a classified briefing that even if an elusive peace between Tehran and Washington is negotiated, it will take a further six months to fully clear the Strait of Hormuz of mines.
It reported that the timeline was “met with frustration by Democrats and Republicans alike” on the House Armed Services Committee, with the conflict’s economic impact likely to extend late into this year or even beyond.
Chris Wright, Trump’s energy secretary, meanwhile found himself on the White House naughty step after admitting in an interview on Sunday that the soaring price of petrol might not fall below $3 a gallon before the end of 2026. Currently, the national average price tracked by the American Automobile Association is around $4 a gallon and rising.
A fuming Trump pushed back on his own cabinet member, calling Wright’s comments “totally wrong” and said that petrol prices will fall “as soon as [the war] ends”.
Premium gasoline prices above $6 per gallon and diesel fuel prices above $7 a gallon are displayed outside of a Shell gas station in West Hollywood, California on 14 April, 2026 (Photo: Patrick T. Fallon / AFP via Getty Images)But there is no end in sight to the conflict, much to Trump’s frustration. On Wednesday, Iran demonstrated that it can still strike at ships off the coast of Oman, and warned of “new cards” it still has to play.
While Trump likes to repeat like a mantra that Iran “has no navy, no air force, no anti-aircraft equipment, no radar”, an entirely different analysis of the regime’s military strength is being presented privately to Congress.
Fox News reported on Wednesday that Lieutenant General James Adams, Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, warned the House Armed Services Subcommittee that Iran’s remaining missile and drone capabilities still pose a significant threat to US forces and to Iran’s neighbours.
“Tehran retains thousands of missiles and one-way Unmanned Aerial Vehicles capable of threatening US and partner forces throughout the region,” he told lawmakers.
Adams’ testimony directly contradicted the relentlessly upbeat and chest-thumping messaging that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has projected from the Pentagon briefing room.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Hegseth orchestrated the latest firing of a top military official who dared to challenge him. John Phelan, hand-picked by Trump to serve as Navy Secretary last spring, was unexpectedly dismissed just three weeks after the Army’s Chief of Staff, Randy George, was asked to step down from his post.
Phelan, who raised $12 million for Trump’s election campaign in 2024, and was the President’s neighbour in Palm Beach, appears to have blotted his copybook by challenging orders handed down to him by Hegseth.
“Phelan didn’t understand he wasn’t the boss,” a source familiar with events told the news website Axios. “His job is to follow orders given, not follow the orders he thinks should be given,” the person added, saying that Phelan and Hegseth just “didn’t get along”.
For the head of the US Navy to depart in the middle of an American naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz is unprecedented but speaks to the chaos that now lies at the heart of Trump’s administration.
Adding to the President’s woes: one of his most fervent early supporters, the right-wing commentator Tucker Carlson, apologised to the American public this week for supporting Trump’s reelection. Carlson, who has been increasingly distancing himself from Trump, told viewers of his webcast that he would be “tormented for a long time” by his decision to tie himself to Trump’s apron strings. “I want to say I’m sorry for misleading people. It was not intentional.”
In the middle of the Vietnam War, President Lyndon Johnson famously observed that “if I’ve lost [famed CBS anchorman] Walter Cronkite, I’ve lost America”. Trump losing – so publicly – figures like Carlson at a critical moment like this looks bad. It also suggests the former Fox anchor has concluded the President’s star is in irreversible decline and the smart move is to further decouple himself from a White House in crisis.
Trump may not recognise it yet, but with the midterms fast approaching, his goose looks cooked. Meanwhile, Iran shows no inclination to negotiate in earnest to end the war he started and give him the possibility to turn things around back home.
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