Democratic strategist James Carville, who worked with Bill Clinton among many others, has a guess concerning the near future of President Donald J. Trump (R):
Donald Trump could leave the White House after November’s midterm elections, according to strategist James Carville. He predicted a Republican defeat could push the president toward an extraordinary decision.
The claim came as Democrats appeared increasingly positioned to make major gains in the 2026 midterms. Carville suggested Trump could resign and hand Vice President JD Vance an opportunity to steady the Republican Party. [Mandatory]
Yes, regardless of the performance of a President Vance (R), it’d be awfully nice to have the current demented old man out of the Oval Office. But will it happen?
I’ve already given one hint: demented. Combine with his pathological narcissism, and it seems very unlikely that a resignation will occur, because such a resignation would be an admission of failure. He could try to claim that he’d accomplished all he set out to do and was therefore resigning, but, in the face of the likely disastrous mid-terms, even his most loyal supporters would know that he’d failed, and failed so badly he might plausibly be judged as the worst President in American history.
An observation from Erick Erickson provides a second argument against Carville: But there is no evidence [President Trump] is invested in the Republican Party’s success, only his own. Watching Trump fumble about with personal grudges and clumsy attempts to manipulate Congress, the Fed, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, The Kennedy Center, etc, that damage the GOP while they fail in their own right is quite convincing evidence that Carville’s argument, Carville suggested Trump could resign and hand Vice President JD Vance an opportunity to steady the Republican Party, is a bit of ducky nonsense. I think Carville is still trying to see through an old, warped prism in order to divine the future of President Trump.
Former Rep George Santos (R-NY).
That’s a mistake. Trump is mentally ill. Many politicians have magnificent egos and mendacious mouths, but even expelled Rep George Santos (R-NY), who excelled in such matters, eventually admitted to at least some of the crimes. President Trump’s energy for twisting and turning, denying or suggesting the truth is good, not bad, seems endless.
And then there’s a collection of crimes for which he might be prosecuted when he does leave office. He’s immune so long as he stays in office, so he has quite some motivation to stay.
If Trump’s health takes a turn for the worse then all bets are off, of course. But, at the moment, I think Trump will have to be boosted out of office by application of a boot to his back end.
