Trump 'holding a box of matches' while 'America is on fire'

Set for Tuesday, November 3, the United States' 2026 midterms are only seven months away. Democratic strategists are hoping that if the midterms become a referendum on Donald Trump's second presidency, voters will take out their frustrations on Republican candidates. And they are attributing a series of recent Democratic victories in special elections — some of them in GOP-leaning areas of Florida and Texas — as a sign of dissatisfaction with Trump.

Journalist David Rothkopf, known for his opinion columns for The Daily Beast, discussed the state of Trump's second presidency during an appearance on The New Republic's podcast, "The Daily Blast," posted on April 3. And he stressed that Trump is "out of control" on everything from the economy to gas prices to the war in Iran.

Rothkopf told host Greg Sargent, a former Washington Post columnist, "There's a reason people haven't attacked Iran, although we've been adversaries for almost 50 years. And the reason is, of course, this: there are 92 million people there, it's a big country — and when you attack it, it has a lot of options. And so, we're sinking into yet another quagmire this time because we have a president who doesn't take advice, who has no foresight. And frankly, it's been a fiasco so far, but there are a lot of signs that it could get much worse."

Trump, Rothkopf noted, is talking about possibly withdrawing the United States from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which the journalist describes as "one of the foundations of U.S. national security for 80 years" and "probably one of the most important reasons we did not have World War 3."

"Literally every single thing that he does is the wrong thing in the wrong way for the wrong reason," Rothkopf told Sargent. "And that's a pattern…. I mean, look at him right now. He just fired the head of the Department of Homeland Security, (Kristi Noem), in the middle of a security crisis. He just fired his attorney general, (Pam Bondi), who is a critical partner in this process. He is out of control in the economy, he is out of control on national security, he's out of control with our allies. Everywhere you look, America is on fire, and Donald Trump is the guy holding a box of matches. And all of a sudden, these Republicans are sitting there going, 'Gee, did we hitch our wagon to the wrong star?'"

Rothkopf added, "And guess what? You and I knew that answer before, right? Boy, have they! And it could be one of those watershed elections, and we don't see Republicans in control of the Congress or the White House — not just for years, but possibly, for decades."