An expert has warned an ageing Donald Trump faces a ‘Chernobyl inside his head’ mental meltdown that could see him resort to using nuclear weapons as his power fades
Donald Trump is hurtling towards a “Chernobyl inside his head” that could see the 80-year-old reach for the nuclear trigger, a political analyst has warned. The terrifying prediction comes as the US President faces losing his grip on power ahead of crunch midterm elections, leaving him grappling with his waning influence and “his own mortality”.
Speaking on The Daily Beast Podcast, foreign policy expert David Rothkopf delivered a chilling assessment of the veteran Republican’s mental state as GOP control of Capitol Hill hangs in the balance.
Rothkopf warned host Joanna Coles that voters are watching the “decay of his mind“, cautioning that the coming years will be “like watching a nuclear meltdown: the Chernobyl inside Donald Trump’s head.” He added: “There are all these early signs of dementia and everything else.”
Rothkopf claimed that being stripped of congressional authority could drive Trump to seek increasingly reckless ways to dominate the global spotlight, specifically turning to weapons of mass destruction.
“Trump has a relationship with nuclear weapons that should scare the s*** out of us all because he does consider it,” Rothkopf said.
“He does want to think about it. And there are other stories of [him] saying, ‘Well, why don’t we use nukes?’ And military people saying no.”
The analyst suggested the risk of Trump deploying nuclear strikes, including against Iran, could surge as his relevance fades. However, he doubted top military brass would blindly follow suit.
“I think there are military people who are already deeply fed up with Trump and have seen the damage…he and Hegseth have done to the military in manifold ways, who would resist,” Rothkopf said. “I really do think that’s a bridge too far.”
He painted a grim picture of an aging president boxed into a corner, saying: “The page is turning. This is the beginning of absolutely lame duck Donald Trump. This is the beginning of Donald Trump grappling not just with his mortality, but hearing the clock tick, tick, tick on the wall.”
He added: “All of his behaviour is going to be driven by this: ‘How do I remain relevant? Am I relevant? How do I use the power that I’ve got?’ Particularly if Congress is taken away from him as an option, it’s all going to be whatever goes on inside his head.”
Despite the dire warnings, Trump struck a defiant tone on the campaign trail, using a final pre-midterm rally on Monday to boast about a lavish renovation project at Washington’s Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, despite the site suffering huge delays and soaring costs.
Brushing aside voter fury over the ongoing conflict with Iran and soaring cost-of-living pressures, which Trump has previously branded a “hoax”, the Republican insisted America is thriving under his watch.
“It’s the golden age of America,” Trump said. “We have a country that we can be proud of again. We were laughed at all over the world for four years. We were laughed at like we were stupid people.”