President Donald Trump in Dearborn, Michigan, January 13, 2026. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
President Donald Trump is crashing headlong into an "absolutely lame duck" chapter of his second term, one political guru told The Daily Beast, and as he spirals more and more during this dangerous time, there is just one thing that will motivate him.
David Rothkopf is a former Clinton administration official turned prolific political commentator, including his role as a contributor and political analyst for The Daily Beast. Heading into Election Day, he appeared as a guest for the latest episode of the outlet's flagship podcast, where he told host Joanna Coles that the midterms, and the expected blue wave they are expected to bring, will definitively open a dangerous new chapter for Trump, as he struggles to contend with both his own failing health and his loss of power.
"The page is turning,” Rothkopf said. “This is the beginning of absolutely lame duck Donald Trump. This is the beginning of Donald Trump grappling not just with his mortality, but hearing the clock tick, tick, tick on the wall."
He also predicted the one thing above all that will continue to motivate Trump as he slogs his way to the end of his term: attention, and specifically, how to remain at the center of it.
"All of his behavior is going to be driven by this: ‘How do I remain relevant? Am I relevant? How do I use the power that I’ve got?'" Rothkopf explained.
Without Republicans in control of Congress to rubber-stamp his agenda or stand aside while he pursues whatever ends he wants, Rothkopf further predicted that Trump will go to increasingly dangerous lengths to keep getting the attention he craves, possibly involving his well-established fixation on nucelar weapons.
“Particularly if Congress is taken away from him as an option, it’s all going to be whatever goes on inside his head,” Rothkopf said. “We’re already watching the decay of this mind. I mean, there are all these early signs of dementia and everything else, but the next couple of years are going to be like watching a nuclear meltdown: the Chernobyl inside Donald Trump’s head.”
He added: “Trump has a relationship with nuclear weapons that should scare the s—— out of us all because he does consider it. He does want to think about it. And there are other stories of [him] saying, ‘Well, why don’t we use nukes?’ And military people saying, 'No.' I think there are military people who are already deeply fed up with Trump and have seen the damage... he and [Defense Secretary Pete] Hegseth have done to the military in manifold ways, who would resist. I really do think that’s a bridge too far.”
