With Election Day 2026 just 11 weeks away and early voting beginning in some states in less than five, common sense might suggest that Donald Trump would want to prove to the electorate that he and his allies are focusing heavily on the issues that matter most to Americans.

Alas, common sense is in short supply at the White House.

The president has spent much of his second term obsessing over a laundry list of pet projects, including (but by no means limited to) the ballroom, the Reflecting Pool, the “triumphal arch,” the fountains, the horse statues, the “Trump Promenade,” the helipad, the “statue garden” and the dozen or so additional renovation projects he’s prioritized in and around the White House complex.

In fact, focusing exclusively on White House projects, The Washington Post reported last week that the Republican administration plans to spend “at least $900 million for construction projects” in and around the presidential mansion. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the president’s 2016 rival, noted via Bluesky, “While Americans struggle to afford groceries, Trump is spending taxpayer money on the worst HGTV show ever.”

Given this and related mockery, coupled with polls that show broad public opposition to the president’s renovation and construction obsession, it seems obvious that someone close to Trump ought to take him aside and say, “Sir, we might want to tone this down until after the midterms.”

But since apparently no one near the president is willing to do this, he’s actually leaning into the subject with increased enthusiasm.

On the heels of Trump investing quite a bit of time and effort into the granite walkway outside the Oval Office, he shifted his focus this week to the renovation of the columns outside the White House’s North Portico.

This set the stage for the president hosting an impromptu tour of the White House complex on Wednesday morning, talking to reporters about the state of his various renovation projects.

This included the public’s first look at the White House’s new stone helipad, which will apparently be surrounded by new grass.

“I want to thank ScottsMiracle-Gro,” he said, adding that the company “contributed to my campaign.” (Yes, this did appear to be an instance in which the sitting president publicly touted a private company for its political donation.)

Trump also took the opportunity to assure the public, “I’m very good at flagpoles.”

And while that might arguably be true, lingering in the background is the inconvenient fact that no one cares whether he’s very good at flagpoles or not.

When the year got underway, national polling didn’t just show Trump’s approval rating sinking to embarrassing lows, it also showed a more specific problem: Roughly two-thirds of Americans were convinced the president simply had the wrong priorities.

A few weeks ago, we saw fresh evidence that this impression had actually intensified: The latest CNN poll found that 73% of Americans — a record high — agree that Trump simply hasn’t paid enough attention to the country’s most important problems. This dovetailed with a Quinnipiac poll that found 68% of Americans believe he’s not focused enough on “addressing the problems most Americans are facing.”

The Republican could take steps to change people’s minds, but he apparently doesn’t want to.

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