President Donald Trump is growing more dangerous right now than he has ever been before. Why? Because he’s cornered and he’s losing — and he knows it.
Last week, former Trump White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci warned that as Trump “gets worse, he becomes less powerful, and that makes him more dangerous.”
On Monday, columnist Ian Birrell warned, “A desperate man is a dangerous man – especially when his name is Donald Trump and his popularity is sliding due to self-inflicted wounds.”
Trump has told his MAGA supporters to pretend he is on the ballot. Voters don’t have to pretend. They feel him in every corner of their lives. Midterms often serve as a referendum on the sitting president, and this year Trump has made the referendum explicit.
Not in recent memory has Trump been on the losing side of so many scandals and crises, so much so that even members of his own Republican Party are backing away from him.
Here are five signs Trump is growing more dangerous than ever.
1. He’s Inventing Diplomacy
Trump is now in so much trouble over the price of gas and diesel he is making up an “energy ceasefire” between Russia and Ukraine that Ukraine was not even aware of until the president announced it.
“Effective immediately, there is an ENERGY CEASEFIRE in the War between Russia and Ukraine. Both parties have agreed. Do not break it!” Trump wrote on Truth Social, Axios reported.
Zelensky declared it was “news to me,” The Guardian reported, after Trump’s announcement. Ukraine has since said it would honor the ceasefire if Russia does as well. Russia, of course, immediately violated it, as CNN reported.
Trump made a similar announcement last month, and neither country confirmed a deal then, either. The fake ceasefire follows Trump’s fake claims of peace deals, which somehow did not lead to a Nobel Peace Prize.
2. He’s Buying Diesel From Putin
That fake ceasefire also came right after Trump’s U.S.-Russia diesel deal, a deal whose first shipment reportedly amounts to about a dozen hours’ worth of U.S. diesel demand. That’s fuel that could have come from nearby Canada if Trump had not blown up the very trade agreements he negotiated.
Some Republicans are vocally opposing the deal, in part because Trump just signed sanctions against Russia that Congress had passed, and in part because there is existing U.S. law prohibiting the U.S. from buying oil from Russia.
One Republican U.S. senator, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, says the deal may be illegal.
Over the weekend, David Frum at The Atlantic wrote that for the “American truckers and farmers Trump claims to be serving, the deal means little or nothing. Trump may not know or may not care that his latest gambit will not reduce diesel prices. His poll numbers are plunging to Herbert Hoover levels. He needs a last-minute electioneering gimmick.”
“But while the deal will not benefit American consumers, it has immense consequences for others,” Frum noted. “For Vladimir Putin’s Russia, the deal is a potential lifesaver. For war-ravaged Ukraine, it is the most outrageous and heartless Trump betrayal to date. For Trump’s entourage, the deal promises corruption opportunities on a multibillion-dollar scale. And for people trying to understand the Trump presidency, the deal is further proof of the accusation that Nancy Pelosi flung in Trump’s face in 2019: ‘With you, all roads lead to Putin.’”
3. He’s Turning an Execution Into a Livestream
Republicans are also speaking out against the administration’s plan to livestream the December 3 military firing squad execution of former U.S. Army major Nidal Hasan, convicted of the 2009 mass shooting at Fort Hood that left 13 people dead. If carried out, it would be the first U.S. military execution by firing squad since World War II, and the first ever in the nation to be livestreamed.
Trump said he “absolutely” approves of the livestream, CBS News reported.
BBC News reported that the “UN human rights office told AFP that livestreaming it would be ‘tantamount to a public execution and would breach the absolute prohibition of torture.’”
Even Trump’s own vice president, JD Vance, said if it is livestreamed, “I'm not going to be watching it.”
4. He’s Sending Federal Agents After a Democratic Member of Congress
Trump’s Homeland Security broke norms once again, this time with a raid on the home of a Democratic member of Congress weeks before Election Day.
“Federal agents on Monday searched the home of Democratic U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar as part of a criminal investigation, a startling escalation that brings renewed scrutiny to the frequent target of Trump administration derision in the final weeks of her reelection bid,” the Associated Press reported. “Longstanding Justice Department protocol cautions against overt law enforcement actions in the weeks before an election that could influence public opinion.”
Minnesota Democratic Governor Tim Walz responded, saying, “Americans see this for what it is - President Trump is abusing his power to go after political opponents weeks before an election.”
Journalist and author Ryan Grim added, “Trump has engaged in more brazen criminality and corruption than any president ever, and is now sending immigration investigators after his political enemies.”
5. He’s Saying Out Loud He Has No Limits
Last week, Trump declared, “I can do whatever I want,” when claiming he could have done “very bad things” to former presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Scaramucci also said, “I think it will end in darkness for Donald Trump.”
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He will pull out all the stops in an attempt to subvert the election and maintain control
A problem with Scaramucci's claim about pardoning everyone so they can't testify: once someone has been pardoned they have to testify. The 5th amendment no longer applies to them because self-incrimination is a moot point.