Trump 'in panic surrounded by weaklings' as bad news mounts: conservative

The passage of the Epstein Transparency Act cemented a bad week for President Donald Trump, leaving him “in a panic,” according to conservative commentator Bill Kristol.

Writing in a piece for The Bulwark on Friday, Kristol noted that while Trump might have the started the week off “loving life” as he hosted a lavish dinner for the visiting Saudi Arabian autocrat, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, his fortunes took a grim turn after the passage of the bill requiring the mass disclosure of Epstein files. While Trump eventually changed his tone and supported the bill, he nevertheless took a defensive stance and accused the situation of being a distraction from his accomplishments.

Trump’s disclosure over having to release the Epstein files became even more apparent on Thursday, Kristol argued, when he lashed out at Democrats on social media.

“Trump must not have slept well Wednesday night,” Kristol surmised. “Because when he woke Thursday he unleashed no less than sixteen frenzied posts and reposts accusing Democratic members of Congress of treason and sedition.”

Trump directed his accusation at six Democratic representatives and senators, all with military and intelligence backgrounds, who released a video to social media reminding military officers of their right to refuse illegal orders. In a flurry of posts to Truth Social, the president described the video as “seditious behavior,” and amplified the suggestion those lawmakers deserved prosecution and the death penalty.

Kristol argued that Trump is panicking after the week’s events, and that this will probably make him more dangerous due to the loyalists surrounding him. By comparison, he explained that Richard Nixon was in a similar panic amid the Watergate scandal, but was reined in by strong members of his White House.

“Needless to say, Pete Hegseth is no Jim Schlesinger, Marco Rubio is no Henry Kissinger, Susie Wiles is no Al Haig, and JD Vance is no Gerald Ford,” Kristol wrote, comparing Trump’s administration to their Nixon-era counterparts. “We have a president in panic surrounded by weaklings who will submit to his diktats and sycophants happy to egg him on. And so we enter a period more dangerous than the last months of Nixon.”