President Donald Trump on August 27, 2026, at Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base in Houston, Texas (Photo Credit: NASA/John Kraus)
A journalist who has written four biographies of President Donald Trump, Michael Wolff, told a podcast on Tuesday that he and other Trump experts are surprised at how rapidly he has self-destructed since the start of his second term.
"Donald Trump’s narcissistic impulses have set the stage for the 'first act' of the president’s 'downfall,' says his longtime biographer.'It is hard to truly express how bad things are for Donald Trump at this point,' author Michael Wolff told the Inside Trump’s Head podcast," reported The Daily Beast's Erkki Forster on Tuesday.
"Wolff said even Tony Schwartz, the remorseful ghostwriter behind Trump’s 1987 book The Art of the Deal, whom he called 'one of those people who really understand Donald Trump,' told him he has been left stunned by how Trump has been on a path of self-destruction in his second term," Forster added.
Speaking to his podcast co-host Joanna Coles, Wolff observed that "I think that that is now a pressing question. I mean, in terms of certainly trying to understand Donald Trump and possibly in terms of understanding what may be this turn in history. Why is Donald Trump so self-destructive?”
He speculated that when Trump resumed office last year, he was determined to pursue his personal agendas without regard to the political consequences.
“The story of our podcast, now slightly more than a year old, is that he charged into this second term with more aggression, more venom, more determination than almost any president, certainly in modern memory, doing all sorts of things that were not thought out, in which he didn’t really make a political calculation on what their ultimate effect would be,” Wolff argued.
Now those chickens have come home to roost.
“‘OK, my numbers are sinking here. Obviously my immigration policies are incredibly unpopular. Having masked men in the streets; that’s not a good look. Shouldn’t I adjust that? The war in Iran, should I have gone into that? I’m a president who got elected on the promise of no more forever wars. Shouldn’t I have thought about that? Shouldn’t I have had an exit strategy?’” Wolff said. “I mean, this is where the self-destructive nature of this comes in.”
Earllier in October, Wolff argued that Trump may also be motivated in terms of his foreign policy by his fear about what Russian President Vladimir Putin might be able to prove about him.
“Steve Bannon and I were talking about what Putin might have on Trump, and Bannon went through all the things dismissing them," Wolff said. "He said, what I think he has on him are his college transcripts," which may prove that Trump struggled academically.
In September, Wolff argued that Trump has "departed reality," citing as an example his refusal to listen to experts about the threats posed by AI.
"What advisors are saying on a larger basis is he has departed reality," Wolff told Coles, continuing that Trump "can’t see clearly" that he should listen.
He continued, "In the case of the coming midterms, to deny that the Republicans are in serious trouble is again a departure from reality. So what the advisers, that is to say, the White House, and I detect Susie Wiles' hand in this... are taking issue with the president and with this president. Now, remember, these people know that he is Donald Trump, that he is mercurial, that he is, that he doesn't listen to people. They know this. They're used to this. So what they are saying is that this goes beyond that. We're in new territory."