IMMEDIATE RELEASE 15 August 2026WASHINGTON MERRY-GO-ROUNDToday’s Events in Historical PerspectiveAmerica’s Longest-Running Column, Founded 1932Trump’s tipping pointBy Douglas Cohn and Eleanor Clift WASHINGTON – With the midterms fast approaching, this is Trump's tipping point, and the metaphors are multiplying. Will voters buy his sunny scenario, or is the jig up? Faced with a failing war and a sinking economy, President Trump is in a place where nobody knows what he will do next, except that he just announced he will defy the Supreme Court if necessary to achieve his agenda, and we would be fools not to take him at his word. He has also floated the idea of suspending the midterms while he crows about how well the economy is doing as the stock market hits another record high. First, the war. It is going so poorly that the Iranians say they may just wait him out until he leaves office. The Pentagon is running out of munitions, forcing Trump to stop bombing, which wasn't working anyway to restrain the Iranian hardliners. Economic pressure might work, but it is a fair guess that Trump will feel the pain on the home front before his adversaries succumb to it.Second, the midterms are shaking out poorly for Trump as well. Primaries put a damper on his favorite message that Democrats are electing left-wing radical extremists, socialists, and communists who pose an existential threat to our way of life. Moderate Democrats defeated more progressive candidates in key Senate and gubernatorial primaries.Third, polls show voters care most about the high cost of living and don't think Trump is in touch with their problems. Maggie Haberman, co-author of “Regime Change” about Trump's presidency, has said the ballroom he is constructing at the White House takes about 70 percent of his time. It appears to be the issue he cares most about.Fourth, the emoluments clause. Trump is violating the constitutional prohibition on gifts from foreign entities. He and his sons, his son-in-law Jared Kushner, and his buddy Steve Witkoff and his sons are crafting deals all over the world with no congressional or judicial oversight. Trump's latest scheme (or scam) is charging $100,000 to business interests who want an early look at his Truth Social postings. This is blatantly illegal. It is trafficking in inside information and violates SEC rules. Fifth, Trump doesn't ask for permission. He has already sold six of the 100 K access accounts. He does what he wants, and the courts have to catch up. He is daring the Supreme Court to stop him, convinced that the immunity they gave him for even criminal acts committed during his presidency will shield him from whatever. Justin Sun, who recently put $100 million into Trump's meme coin, did not have the money and was clearly a conduit. Use your imagination about the foreign interests wanting a piece of Trump.Sixth: He likes to float ideas; maybe he will suspend the elections, maybe he will run again in 2028. He is selling Trump 2028 merchandise. But his act is getting a little old. He is like a Las Vegas performer in the twilight of his career. The threats he issues about bombing Iran back to the Stone Age have been called off too many times to take him seriously. And the closer we get to the midterms, it is unlikely Trump will pull the trigger.Summing up, all roads lead to the midterms, and Trump is running out of time to change the trajectory of a presidency that has lost its dominance with voters. He cannot paint a rosy picture of the greatest economy ever and a war we won the first week despite what your lying eyes tell you. Voters see the reality, or at least most of them do, so the Republican Party is in for a rude awakening in November. Trump normally thrives on chaos, moving from one self-created crisis to another. But he cannot move on from a war that is spiking oil and gas prices, and he cannot move on from an economy hurting consumers by simply saying it ain't so, everything is great. And the self-dealing and grifting are of a magnitude that should embarrass and shame even a Supreme Court with three justices appointed by Trump.Even an exceptionally honorable, courageous, selfless, intelligent, and talented leader would have trouble digging out of this mess, and only a rapidly shrinking MAGA constituency still applies these attributes to him even as the metaphors multiply: sinking ship, going off the rails, road to nowhere, nowhere to run, stuck in the mud, flames of deception, lipstick on a pig, house of cards, and, of course, hoisted on his own petard. See Eleanor Clift’s book Selecting a President, and Douglas Cohn’s latest books The President’s First Year: The Only School for Presidents Is the Presidency and World War 4: Nine Scenarios (endorsed by seven flag officers).Twitter: @douglas_cohn© 2026 U.S. News Syndicate, IncDistributed by U.S. News Syndicate, Inc.END WASHINGTON MERRY-GO-ROUND
CandC-15-August-2026-Trumps-Tipping-Point.docx