{"id":2573032,"date":"2026-02-24T13:15:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T18:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-faces-tough-sledding-guy-benson\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T13:17:41","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T18:17:41","slug":"trump-faces-tough-sledding-guy-benson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-faces-tough-sledding-guy-benson\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump faces &#8216;tough sledding&#8217;: Guy Benson"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">12<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ftrump-faces-tough-sledding-guy-benson%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2573032&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A Washington Examiner analysis by senior columnist Guy Benson argues that President Donald Trump\u2019s upcoming State of the Union address faces a tough path to boosting his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/under-trump-americans-have-seen-their-best-wage-growth-in-40-years\/\" title=\"Under ..., Americans Have Seen Their Best Wage Growth In 40 Years\">approval rating<\/a>. Benson says the speech will be watched largely by supporters, effectively \u201cpreaching to the choir,\u201d though a few curious viewers could tune in\u2014the key audience for widening support. He contends that untill the economy improves in a way people personally feel, it will be hard for Trump to gain momentum, describing the challenge as \u201ctough sledding.\u201d The piece also notes Trump\u2019s idea of inviting Olympic hockey players as a unifying moment for the country and mentions that the men\u2019s team will attend while the women\u2019s team will not due to scheduling issues. The State of the Union is scheduled to begin at 9 p.m.on February 24.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Trump faces &lsquo;tough sledding&rsquo; until people feel better off financially: Guy Benson<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_2514826\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p><em>Washington Examiner<\/em> senior columnist <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/in_focus\/4467557\/supreme-court-got-it-right-liberation-day-tariff-ruling\/\">Guy Benson<\/a> said President <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/supreme-court\/4467967\/trump-supreme-justices-rejected-tariffs-union\/\">Donald Trump<\/a> faces a &ldquo;hard&rdquo; challenge to sway his approval rating ahead of Tuesday night&rsquo;s <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/in_focus\/4466017\/trump-push-state-voter-rolls-matters-midterms\/\">State of the Union<\/a> speech.<\/p>\n<p>Benson said the State of the Union has a &ldquo;self-selecting pool&rdquo; of viewers, implying that Trump will likely have many of his supporters watching. He added that this speech will be &ldquo;preaching to the choir&rdquo; to an extent; however, there will also be some &ldquo;curious&rdquo; viewers who will tune in, and Benson said this is &ldquo;the key audience.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/4467232\/trump-guests-state-of-the-union-karoline-leavitt\/\">Karoline Leavitt teases Trump&#8217;s State of the Union guests and agenda<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/4463812\/state-of-the-union-guest-list-who-lawmakers-bringing-trump-speech\/\">State of the Union guest list: Who lawmakers are bringing to Trump&rsquo;s speech<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/4469101\/trump-state-of-the-union-democrats-not-going\/\">2026 State of the Union: Here are the most notable names skipping Trump&#8217;s address<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>&ldquo;When people start to feel a better economy, things could start getting better for the Republican Party,&rdquo; Benson said Monday on Fox Business&rsquo;s <em>Varney &amp; Co<\/em>. &ldquo;Unless and until that happens, it&rsquo;s going to be tough sledding like this, pun intended with the blizzard in New York, because President Trump needs to not just tell people that things are getting better, they need to understand it on a very personal level.&rdquo;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 100%; max-width: 640px; max-height: 360px; min-width: 320px; min-height: 180px; overflow: hidden;\">\n<div style=\"position: relative; width: 100%; padding-top: 56.25%;\"><iframe src=\"https:\/\/share.grabien.com\/share?id=3390648&amp;userid=11311&amp;usertype=user&amp;loginid=9421&amp;playercolor=%23000000&amp;playersize=auto&amp;code=00ea49872fd7a462ba1674d4f34ae437\" style=\"position: absolute; top: 0px; left: 0px; width: 100%; height: 100%; border: 0px;\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Benson highlighted that one thing Trump &ldquo;seems to want to do&rdquo; during his speech is invite members of the U.S. <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/olympics\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"296\">Olympic<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/watch-hollywood-celebrities-hawk-safety-seal-for-buildings-check-out-the-tiny-disclaimer-at-the-very-end\/\" title=\"WATCH: Hollywood Celebrities Hawk \u2018Safety Seal\u2019 For Buildings. Check Out The Tiny Disclaimer At The Very End.\">hockey team<\/a>, as both the men&rsquo;s and women&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/canadas-olympic-womens-hockey-team-loses-third-straight-against-mens-junior-a-hockey-teams\/\" title=\"Canada\u2019s Olympic Wo...s ... Loses Third Straight Against ...s Junior A ...s\">hockey teams<\/a> took <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >home gold medals<\/a> after defeating Canada. He said the invitation could be &ldquo;a unifying moment&rdquo; for the United States.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;It is so thrilling, and you could hear it in Trump&rsquo;s voice on that FaceTime or that speakerphone,&rdquo; Benson said. &ldquo;He was over the moon for Team USA, and they were loving it too.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/in_focus\/4468086\/usa-mens-gold-medal-hockey-win-somehow-becomes-a-political-football\/\"><strong>IN FOCUS: USA MEN&rsquo;S HOCKEY GOLD MEDAL SOMEHOW BECOMES A POLITICAL FOOTBALL<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Quinn Hughes, the brother of Olympic hockey athlete Jack Hughes, confirmed to ABC News on Tuesday morning that the men&rsquo;s hockey team will attend the State of the Union. However, the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/sports\/4468185\/us-women-hockey-decline-invitation-state-of-the-union\/\">women&rsquo;s hockey team won&rsquo;t attend<\/a> due to scheduling problems.<\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 100%; max-width: 640px; max-height: 360px; min-width: 320px; min-height: 180px; overflow: hidden;\">\n<div style=\"position: relative; width: 100%; padding-top: 56.25%;\"><iframe src=\"https:\/\/share.grabien.com\/share?id=3390890&amp;userid=11311&amp;usertype=user&amp;loginid=9421&amp;playercolor=%23000000&amp;playersize=auto&amp;code=2f4cf18d03f69eee999fba1b90d55562\" style=\"position: absolute; top: 0px; left: 0px; width: 100%; height: 100%; border: 0px;\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The State of the Union will begin at 9 p.m. Feb. 24.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Trump faces tough odds until voters feel better off<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2632,"featured_media":2573033,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/AP26054591086508-e1771946232607.jpg?w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[73605,74475,74474,3634],"class_list":["post-2573032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner","tag-foxnews","tag-guy-benson","tag-tough-sledding","tag-trump"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/AP26054591086508-e1771946232607.jpg?w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2573032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2632"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2573032"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2573032\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2573036,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2573032\/revisions\/2573036"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2573033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2573032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2573032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2573032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}