U.S. President Donald Trump in Suffern, New York, U.S., May 22, 2026. REUTERS/Kylie Cooper
President Donald Trump's stranglehold on the Republican Party is asserting itself in one GOP primary after another, with a long list of Republican incumbents he opposed losing to Trump-back challengers — including Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky), Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana), at least five Indiana state lawmakers and, most recently, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas). Massie, Cassidy and Cornyn won't be going to the general election, and many Republicans are afraid of doing anything that might offend Trump. But according to scholar/author Michael A. Cohen, who publishes the "Truth and Consequences" column on Substack, Trump is showing signs of the thing that he fears the most: weakness.
During a late May appearance on The New Republic's podcast, "The Daily Blast," Cohen (not to be confused with Trump's former personal attorney and fixer) argued that as a "malignant narcissist," the U.S. president is terrified of showing any signs of weakness or vulnerability.
When host Greg Sargent noted that Trump is "obviously deteriorating" both physically and mentally, he got no argument from Cohen.
"I mean, there's no question about it: You've seen a significant deterioration," Cohen told Sargent, a former Washington Post columnist. "I think one of the problems with Trump is that he's always been somebody who has never appeared to be the most coherent individual in the world. Certainly not the healthiest person in the world, either physically or mentally. But it does seem as though he's gotten significantly worse. And as he's gotten worse, the arguments that the White House is using to defend him against legitimate questions about this are even more ridiculous."
Cohen continued, "I'm sure you saw this, but when he fell asleep at an Oval Office event, the White House tweeted out that he was just blinking when they caught him with his eyes closed. Like, are we that stupid? I mean, maybe some people are that stupid in this country. But I think most Americans are not that dumb. And they realize the man's falling asleep at public events."
According to Cohen, one thing that "narcissists" like Trump "cannot accept ever" is "being seen as weak" — and when he's falling asleep at meetings, it flies in the face of the larger-than-life image he wants to project.
"He has to seem strong — not just strong, by the way, the strongest person," Cohen told Sargent. "Not just healthy — he's the healthiest person. What Trump has done is surround himself with all of these people who, basically, their only job is to stroke his ego.… And the political fallout, the ridicule that it leads to of Trump, is almost a secondary consideration for them. Because what matters to these people is keeping the boss happy, because the boss helps them keep their jobs. It is a ridiculous situation. It is like the emperor has no clothes come to life. That's what we’re basically seeing here."
Cohen emphasized that when it comes to Trump, hardcore MAGA Republicans are much different from independents and swing voters.
Cohen told Sargent, "Within the Republican Party, he still has this hold. But outside the Republican Party, that hold has disappeared completely. Among independents, his numbers are just atrocious. And I think you see this gap between the people who love Trump, which is a very small minority of the country at this point, and those who loathe Trump, which is a majority of the country."
