President Donald Trump is struggling to stay afloat as a series of crises he helped create continues to pile up, political guru David Rothkopf argues.
Appearing on the latest episode of The Daily Beast Podcast, Rothkopf explained how the 80-year-old president is floundering in his attempts to contain the consequences of his administration’s actions—whether it’s his reshaping of the federal government or his deepening war with Iran.
“Over the course of the past 18 months, Donald Trump has dismantled the parts of the U.S. government that protect us from foreign election interference, that protect us from foreign spying,” the political analyst told host Joanna Coles.
Rothkopf pointed to how staffing cuts at the FBI and other national intelligence agencies over the last year have left the U.S. more vulnerable to foreign meddling than ever before.
Between January and August 2025, then-Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard slashed more than 500 intelligence jobs, including roles associated with the Foreign Malign Influence Center, which monitored efforts by foreign agents to manipulate the American public.
“They shut down... the group that tracked Russian interference,” Rothkopf said before predicting that Russia and Iran are going to interfere in U.S. elections over the next three months. “Trump is going to use that to his advantage,” he added.
“Buckle up, everybody,” Rothkopf warned. “The next 90 days are going to be a weird and wild ride.”
When reached for comment, White House spokesperson Davis Ingle told the Daily Beast in a frequently recycled statement: “David Rothkopf is a far-left loser who clearly suffers from a severe and debilitating disease known as Trump Derangement Syndrome that has rotted his peanut-sized brain.”
“Did you see the poll results he’s getting in the past few days?” Rothkopf asked. “Donald Trump has—on inflation, on his war, on his overall approval, on his approval with Independents—the worst poll ratings, not just of his career, but of any president of the modern era.”
Trump’s approval rating has plunged to 32 percent amid backlash over his unpopular Iran war and the continued strain of rising costs on Americans.
A CNN poll last week also found that a staggering 70 percent of respondents disapprove of how Trump is handling the economy and 73 percent believe the administration isn’t focusing on the most pressing issues.
“Donald Trump is drowning in failure,” Rothkopf declared. “Nothing he says or does is working anymore. And so he’s got to try these wild schemes to distract from it, to get attention, to hope it disrupts something.”
“When I look at these polls and when I look at thing after thing, whether it’s failures in the courts or failures in Iran or failures overseas or problems with the economy,” he concluded, “Donald Trump is drowning in failure, and we are going to pay the price as he tries to keep his head above water.”
New episodes of The Daily Beast Podcast are released every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday on YouTube, and on other podcast platforms the next morning. Follow our new feed on your favorite podcast platform at beast.pub/dailybeastpod and subscribe on YouTube to watch full episodes.
