Conservatives torch Trump delusion that his power will 'go on forever'

President Donald Trump gestures as he speaks to the media on the day of a NATO leaders' summit in Ankara, Turkey, July 8, 2026. REUTERS/Umit Bektas

President Donald Trump and many of his allies are acting as if his power will "go on forever," two prominent conservative commentators argued, pushing forward with ideas that could blow up in their faces if Democrats win power in the near future.

Over the weekend, The Atlantic's Charlie Sykes welcomed fellow conservative and security expert Tom Nichols as the latest guest on his podcast, "To the Contrary." The two men, noted as strongly and vocally anti-Trump conservatives, discussed "the frightening delusions of the Trump team," with Nichols in particular excoriating the administration and its allies for pushing forward with certain ideas that ignore the possibility of Republicans ever losing power again.

"I think the other thing that's remarkable about the way they talk and the way they're acting, and this brings us not just to JD Vance but to Pete Hegseth and... you know, all the rest of that clown car, they're acting as though this is going to go on forever and no one else is ever going to [hold power]," Nichols said. "You know, the people that aren't like that, I'll give them this much credit: some of the Senate Republicans when Trump says things like... they're going to blow up the filibuster, do this crazy stuff, you know, and guys like [Senate Majority Leader John] Thune are going, 'uh, there's going to come a day where we might not be in the majority and we might not like this.'"

Nichols added that some people within Trump's administration are likely to see the writing on the wall and "sense that the party is winding down, that the party's going to be over soon, and nobody wants to be there when the check comes."

Sykes further suggested that there are "two ways of looking at" this worldview, both of which he believes to be true at the same time.

"They're acting as if they will always be empowered. So that is that is you there's there's two different ways of looking at that," Sykes explained. "One is these people are delusional. Number two, they are extremely dangerous because, you know, they don't intend to give up power easily. They do not intend to simply walk out the door, and I think both those things are true at the same time."

He continued: "I mean, one of the reasons why, you know, pre-Trump, there had been some tradition of restraint is because of exactly what you're talking about is the belief that, okay, if we abuse our power, if we do X, Y, and Z, what's going to happen when the other guy has the same power that I am using? Will they use that against me? Which built in that sense of restraint? That is completely gone now. So, either they are completely living in an alternative reality, or they are quite serious about the project of never turning over power again."

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