Trump weak enough to rout: former GOP advisor

U.S. President Donald Trump attends a maternal health event in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 11, 2026. REUTERS Evelyn Hockstein

A former Republican presidential adviser who now frequently criticizes President Donald Trump argued on Wednesday that the current GOP leader has weakened America militarily — and, in the process, made himself weaker politically.

“NATO was built by men like Harry Truman and Dean Acheson, George Marshall and Dwight Eisenhower, sustained by John Kennedy and Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton,” Steve Schmidt, who worked for President George W. Bush explained in reference to Trump’s recent visit to NATO and threats to withdraw America from the longstanding alliance. “It is the most successful military alliance in world history. It is what emerged from what Franklin Roosevelt called the United Nations — an alliance of free nations bound together by common defense, that says an attack on one is an attack on all. It is the greatest deterrent force in history, and Donald Trump despises it like he despises the values of these free nations.”

Schmidt then quoted Trump speaking during his visit to NATO in Turkey.

“I was very disappointed with NATO,” Trump said. “And frankly, if it weren't held in Turkey, where my friend happens to be a very strong leader, a very strong person, I — it's possible that I wouldn't have attended. I felt I had to attend because of the fact that, you know, I know he's gone all out — it was a big thing to have NATO come to Turkey, or any place else, it's a big thing — but we weren't treated well because we did something in Iran. We don't need anybody's help. I didn't even want their help, but before I asked, they said they wouldn't be there.”

Schmidt condemned Trump’s remarks, arguing that they have weakened America in its foreign policy and caused Trump to be ranked as among the nation’s worst presidents, if not the worst.

“Since he became president, Trump has lifted up our adversaries, insulted our allies, and made the world more dangerous,” Schmidt wrote. “We have never been weaker. A war lost to Iran — and the evidence of that is the Iranians have started the war again. They are humiliating the United States in the Persian Gulf, and Trump, who once mocked Jimmy Carter, is more impotent by an exponent of a hundred gazillion than Jimmy Carter was on the day that Trump might point to as his lowest and his weakest.”

He added, “Once again, Trump is threatening Denmark. It is incredible — the architect of the lost war to Iran, an incontinent, obese 80-year-old who slurs his speech, can't walk in a straight line.” Schmidt then played a clip of Trump falsely claiming that “Denmark doesn't spend money to really help Greenland, but it's an important part for the United States, and it's surrounded by China ships and Russian ships, and that's not gonna happen. The ships — it's not gonna happen. It was Greenland that, in my — and it continues to be — should be controlled by the United States, not by Denmark.”

In fact, America has had complete access to Greenland from a military perspective since 1951, meaning Trump is incorrect when he argues that the United States must acquire the island either for its sake or that of the United States. Yet although Trump has “wrecked” the United States’ role in a crucial alliance, Schmidt said he believes that his weakening of America could weaken him politically, as long as Democrats are savvy enough to avail themselves of it.

“In a few weeks it will be the fall,” Schmidt said. “Labor Day will be here faster than we can imagine, and then it will be a race to November. In November, we have to put a check on this. We have to have people who can tell Donald Trump no, that have the strength of character to investigate what's happening and what's going on. And one has to wonder if the Democratic leaders in the Congress are up to that job.”

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