U.S. President Donald Trump gestures as he arrives to address the House Republicans’ annual issues conference at the Kennedy Center (renamed the Trump Kennedy Center by a board of directors appointed by President Trump) in Washington, DC, USA on January 6, 2026.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
With less than 10 months until the midterm elections, President Donald Trump and the Republican Party’s approval ratings are slumping in opinion polls. Now Trump is experimenting with left-wing economic populism.
President Trump last week called for interest rates on credit cards to be capped at 10% for one year, unveiled plans to ban major private equity funds from buying homes and said he would also ban defense companies from issuing dividends or stock buybacks. These moves block many policy demands from the populist progressive left, borrowing views from political opponents like former Vice President Kamala Harris.
This comes as Mr Trump, who entered his second term pledging to cut costs, finds himself in an economic downturn. A recent CBS News poll found that only 39% of voters approve of his record on this issue, while 61% disapprove, the worst poll since he took office.
This is a major problem for President Trump and Republicans in Congress, who could lose their slim majorities in both chambers in November’s elections. Democrats are attacking the administration with an election-year message centered around affordability, arguing that the president and his allies are failing to lower costs for ordinary Americans. This line of attack on prices worked well for Democrats in the gubernatorial race in late 2025.
Republicans hold a slim 218-213 majority in the House and a 53-47 majority in the Senate. A growing number of House Republicans have decided to retire at the end of their terms, and President Trump warned that if Democrats take over the House, “they’ll find a reason to impeach me.”
President Trump’s move appears aimed at addressing voters’ concerns about affordability. In a post on Truth Social announcing interest rate caps on credit cards, the president wrote, “Affordable!” But with Democrats consistently leading in the popular vote in Congress, not all Republicans on Capitol Hill are convinced that Trump’s populist turn is a life raft.
“Restraint, clear messaging, clear priorities will help,” Nebraska Republican Rep. Don Bacon, who is retiring at the end of this term, said in an interview with CNBC. “If you think about it, he actually seems more and more like a Democrat.”
“When you talk about restricting companies that buy homes or restricting the salaries of top corporate executives, that’s more of a Democratic message to me,” Bacon said.
Other Republicans were even more negative about the effort.
“We’ve been told that things like the things we’re talking about right now … will be hidden from the record,” said one longtime House Republican, who was granted anonymity to discuss Trump’s proposal candidly.
The Trump administration has defended the president’s populist moves amid complaints from some within the Republican Party.
“President Trump has been given a tremendous mandate by the American people to break with the obsession with consensus orthodoxy in Washington, D.C., which has let the American people down,” White House Press Secretary Khush Desai said. “The Trump administration is trying to turn the page on Joe Biden’s economic disaster by implementing traditional free market policies that work, like deregulation and tax cuts, while correcting America’s last pro-American policies.”
But even top Republicans in the House and Senate don’t exactly buy into President Trump’s recent moves to lower the cost of living for Americans, and appear to be united around the message that Trump is an “ideas man.” Mr. Trump has in the past thrown countless policy ideas at the wall to see what sticks, forcing his Republican allies to quickly adjust their priorities.
“The president is an ideas man, and what he is determined and passionate about doing is the same thing that we are all about: lowering the cost of living,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said at a news conference Tuesday, when asked about the proposed credit card interest cap.
“I wouldn’t get too excited about any outside-the-box ideas that are proposed or proposed,” Johnson added.
Republicans largely echo banks’ warnings about a 10% cap on credit card interest, arguing that such a cap could reduce access to loans and curb spending.
President Trump’s credit card interest rate cap proposal was revealed in a Truth Social post hours after Sen. Bernie Sanders (R-Vt.) tweeted about it. Sanders, who was a presidential candidate in 2016 and 2020, has long promoted populist economic policies and in 2019 proposed capping interest rates on credit cards. Sanders, along with Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley, who has populist leanings, proposed a bill that would impose a cap.
“Trump promised to cap credit card interest rates at 10% and stop Wall Street from getting away with murder,” Sanders wrote. “Instead, he loosened regulations on big banks that charge up to 30% interest on credit cards…unacceptable.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) speaks to the audience at a campaign rally for Rep. Jamal Bowman (D-N.Y.) in the Bronx, New York City, U.S., June 22, 2024.
Joy Malone | Reuters
A few hours later, President Trump posted on Truth Social that he was calling for a one-year cap on credit card interest rates of 10%.
Mr. Trump’s housing proposal is similar to that of former Vice President Kamala Harris. During the 2024 presidential campaign, Harris called on Congress to pass legislation that would curb investors from purchasing large numbers of single-family rental homes. Major private equity firms currently own less than 5% of single-family rental homes.
In a post on Truth Social announcing the policy, President Trump said, “I am taking immediate action to ban large institutional investors from further purchasing single-family homes, and I will ask Congress to codify it into law. People live in homes, not businesses.”
It is unclear whether President Trump’s rise to populism will ultimately provide any cover for the Republican Party. Republicans are running around the country trying to sell voters on a “big, beautiful bill” that would advance tax cuts and other policy items sought by President Trump.
Rep. Thomas Massey (R-Ky.), who has become a frequent foil for the Trump administration since spearheading efforts to force the release of files on notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, said it’s unclear whether the idea will even be popular.
“That populist economy is the reality,” Massey said in an interview. “There’s a good chance he’ll be popular. So there’s going to be some downsides. We’ll see how it goes and if he can actually pull it off.”
Pollsters say President Trump is looking for a “game changer” to change voters’ minds about the economy.
“He needs to convince people that things will get better economically in the short term, and I think all of these moves are intended to do that,” said Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling. “If it tightens and bottoms out, the other person might get away with it.”
How Trump will pull it off remains to be seen. Many of the proposals are likely to require parliamentary approval.
To that end, President Trump appears to be reaching out to Democrats, including those he has repeatedly denigrated.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts said President Trump called her on Monday after speaking at the National Press Club, where she laid out the case for a Democratic victory in 2026, arguing that “when you have a choice between ‘making the rich richer’ and ‘helping everyone else,’ winning an election means choosing ‘everyone else.'”
“I told the president that Congress could pass a cap on credit card interest rates if he actually fought for it,” Warren said in a statement after the president’s call. “I also urged him to help House Republicans pass the bipartisan ROAD to Housing Act, which passed the Senate with unanimous support and will build more housing and lower costs.”
Representative Ro Khanna, a California Democrat who represents Silicon Valley and is frequently discussed as a possible 2028 presidential candidate, welcomed the president in an interview with CNBC.
“I’m happy that Trump is proposing populist policies,” Khanna said. “I support the idea that private equity should be banned from buying up single-family homes. That was my bill.” “If he wants to propose progressive or populist policies that will help the American people, I will vote for it.”
But that doesn’t mean all leading Democrats are ready to support President Trump’s lower prices and win back midterm elections for Republicans.
Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), vice chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, said at a press conference this week: “I don’t know why anyone would take anything he says seriously. It’s his policies that are driving up prices.” “Unless he changes course, these prices will continue to rise.”
And President Trump may be using a series of economic proposals to shift the news cycle away from his weaknesses. The president has recently come under intense scrutiny for his use of military force after the arrest of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, his appearance in the Epstein dossier, and his aggressive deportation plans.
“Frankly, he’s a master of distraction. He’ll say something while he’s doing something, and then he’ll turn his attention to something else,” said Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.), who served as Interior secretary during President Trump’s first term.
