U.S. President Donald Trump on Capitol Hill, the U.S. Capitol, in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 24, 2026. REUTERS/Annabelle Gordon
President Donald Trump's wild emotional swings are prompting questions about his mental, emotional and political stability after his Wednesday appearance at the U.S. Capitol.
As House Republicans appeared before cameras Wednesday morning to celebrate the achievement, Trump was posting on Truth Social that the bill would no longer get his signature and he was going to the Hill with demands of his own.
Speaking about the bizarre day and the social media rants that both preceded and followed, Salon columnist Amanda Marcotte joined The New Republic's Greg Sargent for his morning podcast.
The two political analysts brought up Trump's hostage crisis, which demands that the House and Senate pass the so-called SAVE America Act, which, verbatim, stands for the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility America Act.
"I’m beginning to think he actually genuinely believes that the SAVE Act is what’s going to save the Republican Party in the midterm elections," Marcotte told Sargent.
Trump, she said, has been "all over the map" when it comes to his "fantasies" about different ways to "steal elections," she continued. But in this case, Marcotte said she thinks that he is openly confessing that he wants to cheat to win the election.
"He can’t admit he’s unpopular, but he’s still pushing legislation that’s premised on the idea that he’s so unpopular that he can’t win an election without it," said Marcotte.
"So one minute his poll numbers are showing that he’s astronomically popular, and then the next minute he’s saying, good — it, prevents lots and lots of people from voting, otherwise we’re going to get killed. There you have it right there, right? That’s all of it right there," said Sargent.
Marcotte said she isn't certain whether it's because of Trump's advanced age, the "stress" is "getting to him," or if he's "falling apart," but he's getting worse.
"One of the wildest things about watching Donald Trump in the second term is seeing how much worse his narcissism has gotten. I didn’t think it was possible, honestly, in the first term, but the spiral that he’s in — he’s talked himself into incoherence," she observed.
She noted that he "ping-pongs wildly" between his narcissism, which is his inflated sense of self and his insecurity. The result has been that Trump is saying to himself that he can't win without cheating while also saying he's the most popular president of all time.
"And it’s like, you’ve got to choose, man," Marcotte said.
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