Rick Wilson’s 2018 book Everything Trump Touches Dies argued that Donald Trump and the MAGA movement could damage the reputations, careers and stability of people and institutions that align with them. Recent essays by Paul Krugman and Heather Cox Richardson have brought that warning into the current political debate.
Krugman drew on the work of Robert Pape, author of the Substack series Escalation Trap, to argue that the prospect of Republicans losing control of the House—and possibly the Senate—could make Trump more willing to take extreme risks. Krugman compared the situation to “gambling for resurrection,” in which a failing business owner makes highly speculative decisions in the hope of avoiding collapse.
In Krugman’s view, a Democratic takeover of Congress could expose alleged corruption and misconduct from the preceding two years, creating severe political consequences for Trump and those around him. He argued that this could encourage the president to take actions intended to disrupt the election, including an attack on Iran, even if such a move would probably worsen Republican prospects.
Richardson focused on reports, cited by The Wall Street Journal, that Russian President Vladimir Putin had proposed a meeting with Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to discuss Ukraine. The reported three-way summit, she wrote, would elevate Russia’s status as a global power and signal a break between the United States and Europe—an outcome she described as consistent with Putin’s long-standing ambitions.
Richardson also cited national security scholar Tom Nichols, who argued in The Atlantic that the American president had abandoned the Western order. She said the decision appeared driven by Trump’s personal interests, his admiration for Putin and his conflict with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky rather than by U.S. national interests.
The response has extended across the political spectrum. Richardson noted that former federal prosecutor and conservative commentator Andrew McCarthy accused Trump of giving Putin “aid and comfort” and called for immediate congressional hearings over the reported escalation of the Trump-Putin relationship. She also highlighted claims that Russia is supporting Iran’s military operations against the United States with intelligence and drones while challenging U.S. allies in NATO.
Krugman warned that a politically weakened Trump might use his remaining authority for what he called “policy looting”: pursuing actions that could be unpopular or damaging to the country but aligned with his personal preferences. He rejected the idea that a midterm defeat would make Trump more cautious, arguing instead that political losses could remove incentives for moderation.
The article also criticized the Supreme Court’s support for an expansive theory of executive power, known as the “unitary executive,” which the author says has helped embolden Trump. Richardson’s concluding argument was that the constitutional system’s safeguards depend on lawmakers defending their institutional powers rather than placing party loyalty above them.
Her essay ultimately presents Trump’s relationship with Putin and the broader retreat from the post-World War II security system as a test of those safeguards. The article closes by referring to reports that the United States has warned Gulf nations to expect renewed attacks on Iran after the Midterm elections.
Sources: CleanTechnica.