Trump Is Suddenly Looking a Lot Smaller

[applegrove]

Trump Is Suddenly Looking a Lot Smaller

December 24, 2025 at 11:45 am EST By Taegan Goddard 123 Comments

https://politicalwire.com/2025/12/24/trump-is-suddenly-looking-a-lot-smaller/

Jonathan Lemire: “His party has been battered in recent elections. His poll numbers on even his signature issues—the economy, immigration—have tumbled. He’s seemingly lost touch with what got him elected, instead focusing on projects both petty and self-aggrandizing. As Americans worry about affordability, Trump and his family have profited wildly from his time in office. Republicans have begun to openly and repeatedly defy him. Democrats have started to outmaneuver him. Today, the Jeffrey Epstein scandal once more erupted with embarrassing revelations and unanswered questions. And every now and then, Trump seems to have a hard time even staying awake.”

“Every president is inherently a lame duck the moment he takes the oath of office for the second time. But many presidents have been at least able to delay their diminishment until after the midterm elections, at which point—political capital largely exhausted, the political world turning to the race to pick a successor—they tend to focus on things over which they still have control, such as foreign policy and legacy building. Remarkably, Trump, not even a full year into his second term, seems to have already gotten there.”

[tblue37]

1. Every now and then?! How about a LOT of the time, and under circumstance in which falling asleep

seems entirely unlikely, unless someone's physical functioning is severely compromised.

(Of course, he is up all night posting, but he did that during his first term, too, and still managed to stay awake during official situations and when surrounded by people, including people speaking directly to him.)

[Bluetus]

2. There is a very good chance he will not be alive 3 years from now

And if he is still taking breaths on his own, there will not be enough brain function for him to enjoy any of that. This may be why he is on a crash course to put his NIL on everything, including new wars and a collapsing economy.

This is a guy who has never, once in his life, thought about the good of anyone but himself. Why should anybody expect him to care about any damage he is leaving behind? It does seem that this is finally occurring to Republicans. 2026 will be the year of long knives as all these competing factions try to eliminate their competition. It does seem that they are hoping to take out Patel and Noem for starters. Then it will start to get interesting.

[meadowlander]

3. He mostly ran to stay out of jail and enrich himself.

Of course he ran out of actual policy goals even before the BBB was passed.