As the Trump administration struggles to improve voters’ perception of the economy ahead of the midterms, two recent articles presented vastly different takes on the subject with the choice of a single word.

Consider these headlines:

The Washington Post: At every turn, Trump’s ideas for aiding U.S. consumers run into resistance.

MS NOW: Trump’s gimmicks aren’t working with consumers anymore.

What distinguishes a gimmick from an idea? The writer’s point of view, for starters. But there’s something else that ultimately matters: the amount of trust that people have in the person presenting the idea.

It’s no surprise that the famously left leaning MS NOW published a piece describing Trump’s efforts as gimmicks. The writer of the piece is Paul Waldman, formerly of The Washington Post, who wrote a column at the end of Trump’s first term entitled “Goodbye, Donald Trump. You were the worst of us.”

It is a surprise, however, to see a reported piece in The Washington Post describe Trump’s efforts as “ideas” that are being thwarted by the actions of others.

It is one of the clearest signs that the Post is taking seriously its promise to be more even-handed in its news coverage, even as it has been derided by some as having become “right wing” since the goals of the editorial page changed under the ownership of Jeff Bezos.

Presumably, the president cares little about the opinion of Waldman or the Post but cares a good bit about the opinion of voters. And one poll suggests that in the matter of gimmick v. ideas, voters are coming down on the side of “gimmick.”

A few weeks ago, YouGov asked 6,051 American adults whether they will receive the $5,000 payment that Trump promised if Republicans retain control of Congress in the November elections. Just 20% said “definitely” or “probably,” while 64% said “definitely not” or “probably not.”

The “definitely not” vote, at 43%, may have been influenced by the belief that Congress would block the measure. But there are also likely many who are thinking like Waldman: gimmick.

This doesn’t mean that all of Trump’s base has turned against him or don’t trust anything he says. Many are like Jeremy Cove, a 44-year-old Republican in Missouri, who told the Associated Press that he trusts the administration on vaccines, but not on climate change. “I love Trump; I voted for Trump, but some of the things he’s doing just makes me distrust more,” he said.

On social media, some are arguing that the Trump economy is “the greatest story never told,” citing a historically low poverty rate and record household incomes, among other factors.

To struggling families, that feels like gaslighting. As Mike Cernovich recently wrote, “The economy is growing if you’re an asset holder. If you’re a wage earner, it’s terrible.” It’s the K-shaped economy, as some analysts say.

Moreover, Trump’s own efforts — be they ideas or gimmicks — to counter economic hardship before the midterms seem to contradict the “greatest story never told” narrative.

As a real-estate agent in Boston offers Botox and Champagne to try to get people to an open house, and the Los Angeles Times publishes a guide to buying a home priced under $1 million, James Carville is newly relevant, with a twist suited to this president:

It’s the economy, sir.

The pop singer Madonna re-emerged at the MTV Music Video Awards last weekend, and not even Rolling Stone magazine was sure what to make of the performance.

Here’s an excerpt from Rob Sheffield’s coverage:

“Wearing a black beret, Sabrina (Carpenter) played the piano with Madonna writhing on top of it. They did their Coachella-slaying duet ‘Bring Your Love,’ with Sabrina twisting and crawling in her glitter-spangled black lederhosen. Madonna wrestled with black-clad storm troopers, then got rolled on a gurney through the crowd, until a really confusing interlude where she met a bizarro alien gospel choir in white gowns.”

In other words, we are not her target audience. I’m not even sure who her target audience is anymore.

Podcaster and commentator Sasha Stone remembers when Madonna opened the same awards show in 1984 and performed “Like a Virgin” draped in crucifixes and a wedding dress. That was tame compared to some of her later performances, because, as Stone explains, “The line has to keep moving to maintain any sort of shock value in a culture where anything goes. The only way to shock people is to have a baseline of normal, and by now, in Hollywood, there isn’t one.”

Comment of the week, however, goes to comedian Steve McGrew, who observed, “Madonna is still out there fighting Father Time like he stole her parking spot.”

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Why are crime rates falling and who, if anybody, should get the credit? Jay Evensen looks at the numbers.

“After a spike during the pandemic, cities and states tried a lot of things, and some of them obviously worked. Or maybe the nation is simply getting older. Crimes tend to be perpetrated by younger people. Whatever the reason, many of you probably haven’t been this safe from murder in your lifetimes.”

What to make of America’s falling crime rate?

Michael Kofoed explains the debate over American diesel exports and why the move probably wouldn’t work as intended.

“Advocates argue that banning exports would flood American energy markets with supply and thus drive prices down. However, the bottleneck in the supply chain is refinery capacity. Contrary to popular belief, profit margins in energy are quite slim because of volatile crude-oil markets and high transport costs. Just shipping the excess diesel would prove difficult and expensive.”

Why the proposed diesel ban could backfire on American drivers

Netflix is airing a series called “Famous Last Words” in which celebrities give interviews that won’t be aired until after their death. Naomi Schaefer Riley wishes that some people, like those in academia, would be more forthcoming while they’re still with us.

“One argument for tenure has always been that it allows professors to pursue the truth in research and teaching and to go against the grain of public opinion without fear that they will lose their jobs. But universities have become hubs of groupthink. It turns out that even if they can say what they want without getting fired, most faculty still don’t want to become social pariahs.”

The ‘famous last words’ I’d like to to hear now

In last week’s poll, we considered this question: What matters more, Trump banning CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House or the price of diesel fuel?

Here are a few of the comments:

From a person who voted “White House media ban” — “By banning reporters, Trump is violating one of our most sacred rights, freedom of the press. And though the price of diesel is hitting us all in the pocketbooks, and especially those who bring us our food supplies, we cannot continually have our constitutional form of government undermined by the whims of a power-hungry president.”

From a person who voted “price of diesel” — “The price of diesel has a strong economic impact on all of those Americans that use heavy equipment, over the road transportation, diesel pick-ups, etc. It will be a strong inflationary factor during a time period that many citizens are struggling to make ends meet.”

From a person who voted “other” — “False dichotomy of either/or. These situations are both/and. We elected our leaders to protect both the Constitution (free speech) and our economy. ‘The Democrats did it, too’ is irresponsible whataboutism.”

Finally, much has been made of the return of the Toys R Us chain, nine years after bankruptcy. In particular, there’s a storyline floating around that the toy store is back primarily in service of adults, not kids. As evidence, OutKick’s Austin Perry noted in his report that toy sales are stronger in households without kids than in households with kids.

“I know you ‘wanna be a Toys R Us kid,’ but you’re 36 years old. It’s time to let someone a little younger have a crack at the LEGO Star Wars set,” Perry quipped.

Even Fortune observed that the return of the brand seems driven by nostalgia, and not by the popular demand of 5-year-olds.

I’d be inclined to think this is an exaggeration, but for the muscular truck that passed me on a highway near Hartford, Connecticut last week. It was bright yellow and emblazoned with “Tonka” — the name of the children’s toy truck. Not the kind of thing you see every day.

When I later looked it up online, there it was: a special edition of the Ford Tuscany F-150, which had been marketed as an “opportunity to own a full-size version of one of the Tonka construction toy trucks made by Hasbro that you played with in your childhood. The made for fun vehicle brings to life all of the best memories of playing in a sandbox as a kid, just on a full-grown scale.“

The Toys R Us kids, in other words, are driving F-150s now. It’s enough to make you nostalgic ... for grown-ups.

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