Noonan: Kirk Killing Has Trump World 'Cracking Up'

Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan checks in on President Trump nearly a year into his second term, and pronounces him "in a fix, surrounded by mood shifts, challenges and bad signs." All the polls seem to be pointing down, for one thing. Trump previously used immigration to galvanize his base, but he has effectively "shut down illegal immigration on the southern border," she writes. This, she adds, "is the paradox of politics: Every time you solve a major problem, you're removing a weapon from your political arsenal." At this point, immigration is only working against Trump, with attention focused now on "brutal" deportations, argues Noonan.

As she catalogs the negatives—including the split with Marjorie Taylor Greene and what appears to be a growing reluctance among Republicans to tolerate the "Trump tax" of volatile social media posts—Noonan floats a theory:

• "The assassination of Charlie Kirk looks increasingly like an epochal event. Did he understand how much he was holding together the Trumpian right? Without the force of his mediating presence they are cracking up."

For now, supporters see the next big chance for a reset as being the State of Union in January. "Maybe," writes Noonan. Read the full op-ed.