COLUMN: Trump Begs for Votes After Signing a Fishing Executive Order

What Does This Executive Order Actually Say?

Trump’s proclamation thus reopens 4,913 square miles of ocean to commercial fishing. According to the White House, these restrictions were unnecessary because many fish species are highly migratory and already protected by other laws, notably the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. The Trump administration claims that this decision will support the longline fishing industry and Maine’s lobster industry, creating jobs and stimulating economic growth in coastal regions. On paper, it’s a victory for fishermen. In reality, it’s an environmental gamble whose long-term consequences no one knows.

Environmentalists are sounding the alarm

Of course, this decision is not universally supported. Environmental organizations are denouncing it as a direct attack on ocean protection. The Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument is home to deep underwater canyons, seamounts, and exceptional marine biodiversity, including whales, sea turtles, and cold-water corals. Opening this area to commercial fishing could potentially destroy an ecosystem that took millennia to form. But for Trump, environmental protection is a luxury America can no longer afford. The economy comes first, the planet second—or never.

And that’s how we sacrifice the future on the altar of the present. How we destroy what can never be restored for the sake of a few temporary jobs and a few hypothetical votes. I’m not naive. I know that fishermen need to work, that coastal communities are suffering. But this short-term mindset, this inability to think beyond the next election, is exactly what’s leading us straight into a wall. Trump isn’t thinking about 2050. He’s thinking about November 2026. And that’s terrifying.

Let’s break down this plea

Let’s go back to the message that started it all. “Another BIG WIN for Maine, and all of New England!” Trump wrote. Note the all-caps—that Trumpian habit of shouting in writing. Then comes the key sentence: “Hard to believe you vote for Democrats who did this to you, but not for ‘TRUMP,’ who gets you out of this Environmental and Economic Malaise.” Translation: You’re idiots for voting Democrat when I, the great Trump, am saving you. Arrogance mixed with pleading. Contempt disguised as generosity. And finally, the coup de grâce: “Please remember I did this for you, against strong Democratic opposition, and VOTE REPUBLICAN IN THE MIDTERMS!” Please, remember. Please. A president begging for recognition like a child pleading for his parents’ approval.

The Rhetoric of Transaction

What stands out in this message is the transactional logic underlying it. Trump doesn’t say, “I did this because it’s the right thing to do.” He says, “I did this for you; now you owe me something.” Every presidential action becomes an electoral debt. Every executive order is a political investment. This mercantile view of governance turns citizens into debtors and the president into a creditor. Did you receive a gift? Now pay back with your vote. This is politics reduced to its simplest form: a quid pro quo in which democracy is nothing more than a vast flea market.

This transactionalization of everything makes me sick. Really. Because it destroys the very idea of public service. A president isn’t supposed to give gifts in exchange for votes. He’s supposed to govern for the common good, period. But Trump has turned the White House into an electoral shop where every decision has a price, where every gesture expects a return on investment. And the worst part is that this logic is infecting the entire system. Other politicians are imitating him. Citizens are internalizing it. And little by little, we’re forgetting that things could be any other way.

Nine elections, nine rejections

Let’s be frank about Maine. This state in the northeastern U.S., with its four electoral votes, has voted Democratic since 1992. Bill Clinton, Al Gore, John Kerry, Barack Obama twice, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris. Nine consecutive elections. Maine isn’t a swing state—it’s a state that’s made up its mind. It’s determined to reject Trumpism, time and time again. In 2024, Harris received 7% more of the vote there than Trump. This is no coincidence; it’s a deliberate choice. Maine looked Trump in the eye and said no. Nine times. So why does Trump persist in courting them? Because he can’t stand rejection. Because his oversized ego can’t accept that an entire state despises him.

The Unique Feature of Maine’s Electoral System

One thing needs to be clarified: Maine, like Nebraska, does not use the winner-takes-all system for its electoral votes. The winner of the statewide popular vote receives two electoral votes, while one vote is awarded to the winner of each congressional district. As a result, Trump has managed to snatch a single electoral vote in the more rural 2nd district in the last three elections. Just one vote out of four. That’s his “victory” in Maine. A quarter of a victory. And that’s why he keeps begging, pleading, and imploring. Because that single electoral vote—that measly quarter of a victory—is all he can hope to get in this state that overwhelmingly rejects him.

There’s something pathetically human about this stubbornness. Trump can’t let go. He can’t accept that Maine doesn’t like him. So he keeps coming back, again and again, with his poisoned gifts and desperate pleas. “ Please, love me. Please, vote for me.” It’s almost touching, if it weren’t so dangerous. Because this inability to accept rejection, this obsession with total control, is exactly what makes Trump a threat to democracy. A healthy leader accepts defeat. Trump, on the other hand, denies it, fights it, and turns it into a conspiracy.

Why Trump Is Panicking

Let’s be clear: Trump is begging like this because the November 2026 midterm elections are shaping up to be a disaster for the Republicans. Historically, the party of the sitting president loses seats in midterms. That’s a constant. But for Trump, it’s worse. His approval rating is in free fall. Polls show him trailing in most key states. The Democrats are galvanized, mobilized, and ready to retake the House and perhaps even the Senate. Trump knows this. He can feel it. Hence this frenzy of executive orders, proclamations, and “victories” that he brandishes like trophies, hoping voters will remember him with gratitude in November.

A Strategy of Desperation

This proclamation on fishing is just one piece of a larger puzzle. Since his return to power in January 2025, Trump has issued a string of dramatic decisions: reopening protected areas to exploitation, imposing massive tariffs, freezing offshore wind projects, and withdrawing from international agreements. Each action is accompanied by the same refrain: “Look what I’ve done for you. Now, vote Republican.” It’s the strategy of desperation—that of a president who knows his time is running out and who is trying to scrape together every possible vote, even in states that hate him. The problem? This strategy only works with his already-secure base. The others—those who have rejected him nine times—won’t change their minds just because he signed an executive order on fishing.

I feel a sense of pity watching this frantic scramble. Trump is running all over the place, signing executive orders one after another, claiming victory on social media, begging voters to remember him. It’s the image of a man who feels the ground slipping away beneath his feet. Who knows that November is approaching and that the verdict will be final. So he fidgets, he gesticulates, he begs. But the truth is, none of this will change the outcome. Maine will vote Democratic. Again. And Trump will once again have to swallow the rejection.

Fishermen Applaud

Let’s be fair: for New England fishermen, this proclamation is good news. The longline fishing industry and the Maine lobster industry have suffered from restrictions imposed by Obama and reinstated by Biden. Reopening 4,913 square miles of ocean to commercial fishing could mean jobs saved, increased income, and revitalized coastal communities. Fishermen’s associations have welcomed this decision. To them, Trump has kept his promise. He has defended their interests against what they perceive as environmental overzealousness. In their eyes, Trump is not a pathetic supplicant; he is a hero fighting for their economic survival.

But at what cost?

But here’s the question no one wants to ask: at what cost? Scientists are unequivocal: the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument is home to a fragile ecosystem that will not recover if destroyed. Cold-water corals take centuries to form. Whale populations are already threatened. Sea turtles are struggling to survive. Opening this area to intensive commercial fishing is like playing Russian roulette with marine biodiversity. Maybe everything will turn out fine. Maybe the fishermen will stick to the quotas, and the ecosystems will adapt. Or maybe we’ll irrevocably destroy something irreplaceable for a few extra years of profit.

And that’s where I feel torn. Because I understand the fishermen. I really do. They aren’t bad people; they’re just trying to survive in an economy that’s crushing them. But I also understand the environmentalists. Because some things, once destroyed, never come back. And we humans have this unfortunate tendency to sacrifice the future for the present, to destroy what’s invisible to save what’s immediate. I don’t know what the right answer is. But what I do know is that Trump doesn’t care. For him, it’s just an electoral transaction. And that—that revolts me.

Governing or Campaigning

What is fascinating—and terrifying—about Trump is that he makes no distinction between governing and campaigning. To him, they are one and the same. Every presidential decision is an opportunity to score political points. Every executive order is a campaign talking point. Every proclamation is a political investment. He doesn’t govern for the good of the country; he governs to win the next election. And this blurring of the line between executive duty and electoral strategy is infecting the entire American political system. Other politicians are copying him. The media is amplifying it. Citizens are getting used to it. And little by little, we’re forgetting that a president could govern without constantly begging for electoral approval.

The Vicious Cycle of Validation

Trump needs constant validation. It’s pathological. Every action must be applauded, every decision must be celebrated, every gesture must be repaid with votes. This insatiable thirst for approval turns the presidency into a never-ending spectacle where the president is both actor and spectator, performing for applause while obsessively checking the polls. “Please remember,” he writes. As if voters were distracted children who must constantly be called to order. As if collective memory were a magic slate that gets wiped clean every six months. This infantilization of citizens is perhaps the most insulting aspect of Trump’s rhetoric.

I watch this circus and wonder how we got here. How did the office of the presidency—supposed to embody dignity and public service—become this pathetic spectacle of electoral begging? Trump isn’t the first to blur the lines between governance and campaigning, but he has taken this logic to its extreme. He has transformed the White House into a permanent campaign headquarters where every decision is calculated in terms of electoral gains. And the worst part is that it works. Not everywhere, not always, but enough for others to imitate him. And that’s how you destroy a democracy: little by little, one transactional decision after another.

Democrats Strike Back

Naturally, the Democrats did not let this announcement go unchallenged. Maine’s elected officials, a majority of whom are Democrats, denounced the decision as irresponsible, sacrificing the environment for the sake of cynical electoral calculations. Environmental organizations, which traditionally align with the Democratic Party, have announced legal challenges. Democratic candidates in the midterms are already using this decision as a campaign talking point: “Look at how Trump is destroying our natural heritage for a few votes.” The battle has begun. And Maine, that Democratic stronghold that Trump is desperately courting, risks dealing him another stinging defeat in November.

The Trap of Escalation

But be careful: Democrats must avoid the trap of one-upmanship. Responding to every Trumpian provocation means playing into his hands. It means accepting that politics is reduced to an exchange of media jabs where whoever shouts the loudest wins. Democrats must offer an alternative, not simply oppose him. They must show that it’s possible to govern differently—without begging for votes on every decision, without turning every action into an electoral transaction. It’s difficult. It’s less spectacular. But it’s the only way to break free from this vicious cycle where politics has become nothing more than a never-ending reality show starring Trump.

And that’s where I place my hope, however fragile it may be. In the idea that we can do things differently. That we can govern without begging. That we can make decisions without constantly checking the polls. That politics can once again become what it should always have been: a public service, not an electoral business. I know, I’m naive. I know that this idealized vision of politics may never have existed. But damn it, you’ve got to believe in something. Otherwise, what’s the point?

When Pleading Becomes the Norm

So here we are. An American president who signs an executive order on commercial fishing and immediately begs voters to remember it and vote for him. A man who turns every government action into an electoral transaction, every decision into a political investment, every gesture into a desperate plea for support. Trump isn’t governing Maine—he’s courting it. He isn’t serving fishermen—he’s buying them off. He isn’t protecting the environment—he’s sacrificing it on the altar of his electoral ambitions. And the most tragic thing is that this transactional logic is infecting the entire American political system. Others are imitating him. Citizens are getting used to it. And little by little, we’re forgetting that things could be any other way.

Maine will vote Democratic

But here’s the good news: Maine won’t fall into the trap. This stubborn state, which has rejected Trump nine times in a row, will reject him a tenth time in November 2026. Because Maine voters aren’t fooled. They see through the manipulation. They understand the cynicism. They refuse to be treated like electoral commodities that can be bought with a few well-placed executive orders. Trump can beg all he wants; Maine will remain blue. And this inevitable defeat, this predictable rejection, may be the only comforting thing in this sordid story. That despite all the noise, despite all the commotion, despite all the pleading, some states refuse to give in. Some citizens refuse to be bought. And that, perhaps, is what will save American democracy from Trump’s ruin.

I end this column with a strange feeling—a mixture of anger, weariness, and stubborn hope. Anger at the constant degradation of the presidency. Weariness at this repetitive spectacle of electoral begging. But also hope, because Maine is holding out. Because nine times, this state has said no. And it will say it again. Because despite all the cynicism, despite all the manipulation, despite all the pleading, there are still places where citizens refuse to be bought. Where dignity trumps the transaction. Where voting remains an act of conscience, not a commercial exchange. And as long as these places exist, as long as this resistance holds, there will still be hope. Fragile, certainly. But real.

Signed, Jacques Provost