Just over a month ago, President Donald Trump was more popular than he was at any point in his first term. This was especially troubling because his administration was proving to be even more incompetent, corrupt, and authoritarian this time around. He was busy gutting the civil service, defying judicial orders, and creating migrant concentration camps abroad—but Americans didn’t seem to mind. Trump’s surprisingly resilient approval ratings had Democrats wondering, after his election gains with people of color and in blue redoubts like New York City and Detroit, whether anything could pull him down.

What a difference a month makes. “Liberation Day,” Trump’s announcement of massive tariffs on pretty much every other nation in the world, may go down as the biggest own goal in American—and perhaps global—political history. Trump is now less popular than any president has been at the 100-day mark in 80 years. In a new NPR survey that asked respondents to grade Trump (like the schoolchild that he is), 45 percent—including more than half of independents—gave him an “F,” while just 23 percent gave him an “A.”

This is a shocking slide, and Trump seems to know it: He mused on Monday about launching criminal prosecutions against pollsters. But Trump’s chances of bouncing back are remarkably slim. That 23........

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