Footage captured at the National Rifle Association's annual convention in Houston this week has set social media alight, showing attendees — self-identified Trump voters and NRA members — openly expressing frustration with the president. The video, posted on 17 April by political commentator Brian Allen on X, had accumulated over 203,000 views within hours of being published, with the post's caption reading simply: 'These aren't Democrats. These are his people.'
The clip, filmed on the convention floor at the George R. Brown Convention Center, featured a series of candid interviews. One attendee, described as a 17-year-old convention-goer, said the country needed 'a new president ASAP.' Another, identified in the post as a Trump voter, said he found Trump 'as a person... disgusting.' A third, described as an NRA member, called the president 'unhinged' and said he was 'doing a lot of things I don't agree with.' The remarks were notably unscripted and unsolicited, coming from within one of the Republican Party's most traditionally loyal constituencies.
An Absent President, A Restless Room
Trump did not attend the convention — his second consecutive absence from the NRA's annual meeting after attending every convention since 2015. The NRA had previously cancelled its headline NRA-ILA Leadership Forum last year, following Trump's decision to skip that event as well. NRA Director of Public Affairs Justin Davis told reporters that Trump's absence was a scheduling matter, saying the president was 'obviously incredibly busy with worldwide affairs right now.'
Not everyone accepted that explanation. Emma Brown, executive director of gun control advocacy group GIFFORDS, told The Hill that she viewed Trump's no-show as 'embarrassing' for the NRA, and a sign of the organisation's declining sway, adding that 'it is very unusual for a sitting Republican president to skip the NRA convention.' Brown also noted that the NRA spent $54 million on Trump's 2016 campaign but just $10 million in 2024, according to Federal Election Commission records compiled by OpenSecrets — a figure that reflects a relationship that has cooled considerably on both sides.
Polling Tells a Wider Story
The frustration on the Houston convention floor does not exist in isolation. Broader polling data has pointed to a gradual softening of support for Trump even within Republican ranks. A Pew Research Center survey conducted in January 2026 found that Trump's approval among Republicans had slipped to 73 per cent, down from higher levels at the start of his second term, with the share of Republicans confident in his ethical conduct falling from 55 per cent to 42 per cent in the same period.
A separate analysis by the Public Religion Research Institute, based on data collected in February 2026, found that Trump's overall favourability had dropped to 36 per cent nationally, down from 40 per cent in September 2025, with most Republicans still holding favourable views but the figure having slipped slightly from 85 per cent at the end of last year.
Trump's own base is turning on him.
— Brian Allen (@allenanalysis) April 18, 2026
At the NRA convention in Houston today:
"We need a new president ASAP. I don't like him. I haven't liked him in a while." — 17 year old attendee
"I think him as a person is disgusting." — Trump voter
"He's unhinged and doing a lot of things… pic.twitter.com/T4vyJaYEZD
Meanwhile, Morning Consult's tracking found that the share of Republicans who 'strongly approve' of Trump dropped in every competitive battleground state, with five states that backed him in 2024 — including Iowa, Kansas and Ohio — flipping to net-negative approval in a single quarter.
The footage from Houston matters less as a definitive measure of public opinion and more as a signal of something shifting in the political atmosphere. NRA conventions have historically been reliable ground for Republican presidents, and Trump, in particular, had cultivated a strong relationship with the gun rights organisation across both his campaigns.
That attendees at this year's event were willing to speak candidly and critically on camera — at what is effectively a gathering of the conservative faithful — suggests the discontent runs deeper than headline polling numbers alone might indicate. Trump has not commented publicly on the convention footage or his absence from the Houston event. The NRA's annual meeting in Houston continues through 20 April. Midterm elections are scheduled for November 2026.
Originally published on IBTimes UK
