Ochenski: ‘While there’s no doubt Daines has been living in the highly-confined atmosphere of the DC MAGA bubble, he might just want to check old Donald’s latest polls, approval levels, disapproval levels, and massive failures on the economic and international scene before he ties that particular anvil around his neck.’

Helena, MT – In a new column, activist and columnist George Ochenski slams Senator Steve Daines for eagerly accepting and boasting his latest endorsement for his 2026 Senate reelection campaign, coming from none other than the most unpopular President in decades, Donald Trump.

Ochenski reminds Daines of the President’s deflating approval ratings from everything, including the economy, inflation, tariffs, foreign policy, and beyond, during what’s supposed to be considered his “honeymoon period”. And for folks, including Daines, skeptical of “fake news information”, those poll findings all come from the MAGA-friendly Fox News. 

“By celebrating Trump’s endorsement and continuing to support the administration’s harmful MAGA policies, Senator Daines is sending a clear message to Montanans: he does not care about his constituents and only cares about kissing Trump’s ring,” said Interim Executive Director of the Montana Democratic Party, Justin Ailport. “Daines doesn’t give a damn about farmers and ranchers who can’t sell their grain or livestock, he doesn’t care about retirees and their 401(k)s, and he damn sure doesn’t care about working Montanans and their families unable to make ends meet as the cost of living soars in Trump’s America.”

Read more below:

The Daily Montanan: Daines chains the old Trump anvil around his neck
Friday, April 25th, 2025
By George Ochenski

Montana’s now-senior senator, Steve Daines, was bubbling at the the post from Donald Trump offering him his “complete and total endorsement” for his re-election campaign.  

While there’s no doubt Daines has been living in the highly-confined atmosphere of the DC MAGA bubble, he might just want to check old Donald’s latest polls, approval levels, disapproval levels, and massive failures on the economic and international scene before he ties that particular anvil around his neck.

In short, this chaos-inducing president is setting new records alright — for the lowest approval ratings of any president in modern history at the 100-day level of his term.  Although this is supposed to be the “honeymoon” period for a new president, it’s fair to say the honeymoon is over for The Donald — and the American public is wondering what it’s going to take to get a divorce from “the world’s biggest clown and most economically incoherent president ever.” 

But hey, don’t take my word for it, how’s about some stats from “fair and balanced” Fox News on where their once-favorite president now stands according to their latest poll.  Simply put, Trump’s numbers are underwater and sinking fast with a new low of 38% approval, 56% disapproval on the economy; 33% to 59% disapproval on inflation; 33% to 58% disapproval on tariffs; 40% to 54% disapproval on foreign policy; 38% to 53% disapproval on taxes and even a 41% to 44% disapproval on guns. His dubious “high point,” on immigration, is 47% approve and 48% disapprove. As bad as they are, those rather shocking numbers coming from MAGA’s “safe” Fox News bunker aren’t as low as other polls.

Then there’s the rest of the world.

As Canadian farmer Peter Hamilton summed it up: “The biggest thing in Canada is we have friends all over the world. How many friends does America have right now?” Seems the threats and rants have provided good reasons to find other trading partners — and let the U.S. go down its dead-end street of isolationism and protectionism.  

In short, China is laughing at us since the total exports to the U.S. were about 15% of their exports and are expected to drop by 77% in 2025.  Meanwhile, Chinese exports to North America (without the U.S.) are expected to surge by 25%.  No surprise to anyone except the White House that the rest of the world is more than happy to buy Chinese goods — from electric vehicles to just about everything else on the shelves these days. 

Closer to home, those same tariffs and attempts to paint our centuries-long friends in Canada as our enemies, are not making Montanans happy.  Blackfeet tribal members have already filed a lawsuit challenging the tariffs since “the Jay Treaty signed in 1794, ratified by Congress and signed into law by then-President George Washington, which exempted tribes along the United States-Canadian border from being taxed or levied on goods between the nations.”   

Now, the Montana Farmers Union has joined that lawsuit — which also challenges the president’s authority to impose tariffs since that right is constitutionally reserved to Congress.  When Montana’s farmers and ranchers can’t sell their grains and livestock all over the world there’s trouble with a capital “T” brewing under the Big Sky.

Daines may be thrilled that the bully on the playground claims to be his friend. But that might not work out so well when that bully is responsible for massive job losses, stocks crashing, retirement savings disappearing, and the inability for Montanans to sell goods abroad — especially with 19 more months of chaos and failures before the next election.