Washington, DC, April 14, 2026 --  

Any early end to the Trump presidency likely means really bad times for America and the rest of the world.

As President Trump grows increasingly isolated in the face of plummeting approval ratings, his behavior is becoming more and more volatile. His blusterous Easter Sunday threat to wipe Iranian civilization forever from the earth led some lefty leaders (and retired MAGA congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene) to urge Trump's cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove him from office.

The cabinet, of course, will never do this. It is largely composed of mediocre sycophants chosen for loyalty (and disturbingly good looks) but most certainly not for independent thinking. This coterie of yes men will continue to nod their heads at Trump's catastrophically self-destructive decisions. Nobody on the team has the skills to guide the old man away from disaster.

Trump's self-inflicted problems are daunting. Gas prices are rising. The inflation monster that doomed his predecessor is ticking up. NATO allies are defying him. Israel is undermining him. His former allies in the MAGA movement are turning on him one by one with dramatic fury. Did we really hear Tucker Carlson say that Trump might be the Antichrist?

How in the world does this all end?

Perhaps the least dramatic way is simply for Trump's luck to turn. Maybe Iran's Ayatollahs will back down, fall to a coup, or perhaps the US Navy will be able to force open the Straight of Hormuz. Maybe unexpected factors will keep US inflation in check. If even one of these things happens, things might stay together enough to keep the status quo intact. But so far, none of these outs appears likely.

On the opposite extreme, perhaps Trump will find himself backed into a corner increasingly angry at a world full of enemies that defy his bullying. A rash decision by Trump to lash out at a defiant enemy goes unstopped by his sycophants and handpicked but morally-bankrupt loyalists in the chain of command. Widespread outrage at his ensuring war crime, egregious human rights abuse, or fantastically illegal act, brings his approval rating down to low double digits and send his negatives skyrocketing. Congressional fear of being primaried by Trump is eclipsed by fear of guilt by association and electoral punishment from an angry public. Trump is quickly impeached by the House (again) but this time (finally) removed by the Senate.

And then there is the middle and most likely path. Trump's popularity bottoms out at somewhere over 20 percent as Iranians keep the Straight of Hormuz closed and fuel costs remain high. US Inflation spikes, unemployment rises, and the economy enters recession. Stagflation returns for the first time since Jimmy Carter. Western heads of state quietly shun a weakened Trump and ignore his demands. Congress largely does the same, and after Republicans get disastrous mid-term results, Congress begins to openly defy the lame duck he has become. With few others listening to him, Trump increasingly uses the military, which has no choice but to follow his orders, to sate his ego. He launches a campaign to "own the libs" through a series of unpopular strikes against weak nations around the world for trivial reasons and relishes in his detractors' denouncements.

Trump might muddle on like this until 2029. Or he might be humiliatingly blocked from an egregious act by responsible statesman or federal judge. In a peak of fury, he might then vacate the presidency with a f-bomb laden post that he is "out of this dump" because Americans are a bunch of losers who don't deserve him.

None of these early exit scenarios look pretty. Failing health could always bring Trump a much quieter early end (but the same is true for any of us). Chances are that Trump will stay healthy enough to see his the end of his term.

Those who want to see Trump out of office early should be careful what they wish for -- likely scenarios are all very bad for America and the rest of the world. Rather than root for one these disasters, America's anti-Trumpers are better off learning to bear with their unpopular president for the next three years.

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