Trump 'hyperfixates' on losing streak as he 'fritters away his last days'

U.S. President Donald Trump extends a pinky finger from inside a vehicle as he arrives in Geneva, Ohio, U.S., August 11, 2026. REUTERS/Kylie Cooper TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

President Donald Trump has spent the summer losing one court case after another. His new strategy as the 2026 election draws near is the same as the old strategy, recycled to try again.

The Bulwark's Andrew Egger wrote on Thursday that after watching courts, public resistance and basic reality block one grand promise after another, Trump appears to be returning to the same failed plays — only this time with more urgency and fewer new ideas.

At the end of June, the U.S. Supreme Court told Trump he couldn't remove Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook. The new strategy from the White House appears to be trying to do the same thing anyway.

Meanwhile, courts and constitutional limits stand in the way of many Trump ambitions, including using tariffs as a catch-all weapon and attempting to end birthright citizenship by executive decree. Trump is "still trying to do both anyway," noted Egger.

Then there is the strange saga of former Olympic canoeist David Hearn. The Justice Department was forced to admit that it lacked the necessary evidence to prosecute Hearn and other individuals accused of vandalizing the Reflecting Pool. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro dropped the case. Trump can't let it go, however. A Wall Street Journal report revealed that Trump is pressuring Pirro to find another charge she can slap Hearn with.

Egger explained that it has become the defining pattern of Trump’s past several months: failure, followed not by a retooling, but by repetition; doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different result.

The Bulwark writer recalled Trump's knack for quickly abandoning something if it wasn't working so he could move on to something else. When the mass deportation operation that shipped people to El Salvador's brutal prison was blocked in the courts, Trump moved on to deporting people to other countries. When trillionaire Elon Musk promised he could purge the government and save $1 trillion to $2 trillion from the budget, Trump was happy to let him try. Once it became clear he couldn't deliver, Trump moved on from his attempt to eliminate "waste, fraud and abuse" in the government. When Trump sent ICE and soldiers into blue cities, and the cities revolted, he pivoted to another issue.

This time around, it appears the menu of dramatic new ideas is shrinking. Trump's domestic agenda has stalled as lawmakers leave Washington for the August recess.

"Today, things couldn’t be more different. As his domestic agenda has stalled, Trump has run out of thrilling new initiatives to pivot to. As a result, he has begun to hyperfixate. It’s Trump’s summer of reruns, his summer of lost causes," Egger wrote.

The writer questioned whether it was the reason the Reflecting Pool case was back.

Egger argued that in a functioning administration, all of this would be alarming, but it also reflects a diminished Trump. The self-styled strongman who promised sweeping transformation is now spending what's left of his political capital trying to relitigate a collapsed case over a damaged pool.

"They’re a mark of just how far Trump has fallen off the pace," Egger closed. "This man, who views himself as a world-historical figure à la Caesar or Napoleon, who once plotted a glorious return to power that would see him driving his enemies before him like an avenging angel — he now finds himself instead frittering away his last days of trifecta power flogging his incompetent lackeys to figure out some way, any way, to make somebody pay for the violence done to his poor Reflecting Pool. Total stasis never tasted so good."

Trump has lost all summer. Now, with few fresh victories to claim, he is turning back to do it all again.

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