MAGA allies 'playing dangerous game' as Trump’s 'wayward psychology' intensifies global risk

U.S. President Donald Trump reacts as he holds a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 30, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

Donald Trump has pulled back from the brink of reckless decisions numerous times throughout his second term as president, but according to a new analysis from the Financial Times, his MAGA allies are "playing a dangerous game" as their flattery erodes his ability to understand real-world risks and keeps him stuck in "fantasyland."

On Tuesday, Edward Luce, the chief U.S. commentator for the Financial Times, published an analysis warning that Trump's "state of mind" is increasingly becoming a "global risk." While he noted that some tend to write off Trump's threats and heated rhetoric as "daily flights of fancy to trolling," the excuses are "wearing thin" as his "wayward psychology" presents an intensifying global threat, specifically citing the potential for a military strike on Iran any day now.

Luce invoked the popular axiom, "Trump always chickens out," or "TACO," warning that Trump's ability to eventually retreat from his most potentially damaging threats and proposals could break down as he loses grip on reality and fails to understand the risks inherent in his actions.

"[TACO] only works, however, when Trump knows what is at risk," Luce wrote. "Whether foreign or American, people who tell him what he wants to hear, not what he needs to know, are playing a dangerous game. The road to Trumpian recklessness is paved with flattery."

Luce highlighted comments from NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, who has taken a flattering approach with Trump, depicting him "as a 'Daddy' who is doing the manly things necessary to keep the family safe," in the hope of steering him towards beneficial ends.

"The risk is that such honeyed words only push him deeper into fantasyland," Luce argued. "When a leader has an outsized estimate of his own powers, truth-tellers are indispensable. Who are Trump’s truth-tellers?"

The "Cabinet of sycophants" that Trump has surrounded himself with at the White House, Luce argued, has also seriously eroded his ability to understand the risks inherent in his actions. Absent real guidance and push back from them, few in Trump's orbit seem likely to steer him away from making catastrophic decisions.

"His top appointees outdo each other in praise for their leader," Luce detailed. "Trump is the greatest president in US history (Pam Bondi, attorney-general); he has created an American golden age (Howard Lutnick, commerce secretary); he has pulled off the most powerful military raid 'I would say in world history' (Pete Hegseth, defence secretary, after the Venezuela operation); and so on."

He continued: "These are one notch below saying that Trump can turn back the waves. A good public servant is supposed to give the commander-in-chief a realistic appraisal of his options. Can America be confident of Hegseth’s advice to Trump on Iran?"

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