2026: TRUMP’S SWAN SONG?

Edited and Amended by Mickey Skidmore, AMHSW, ACSW, FAASW

We’ve all lived the exhausting reality of Trump for more than a decade now. Two impeachments; an insurrection; criminal convictions (both for sexual assault and fraud). Traditional decorum and of rule of law, of political gravity, of general decency — just do not seem to apply to him. Moreover, he seems to delight in his invincibility (thanks to his Supreme Court’s immunity ruling) and hypocrisy of one set of rules for him and another for everyone else (while weaponising the DOJ and Government resources to seek criminal retribution for anyone that dares to publicly utter a thought or idea not aligned with his warped and corrupt sensibilities). However, I am hopeful that 2026 may actually be the year that will bring a merciful end to Trump’s reign.

The first year of his return to office saw the appointment of some of the most inept, unqualified and disturbing cabinet postings in memory; a blizzard of executive orders; passage of the most partisan and income re-distributed legislation in the history of Congress. Toss in indiscriminate (and likely illegal) military strikes (now believed to be consistent with war crimes); the use of military in domestic raids by masked ICE and border-control agents (disregarding and flouting legal due process rights as well as contemptible defiance of court orders) to kidnap and “disappear” (deport) undesirables (people of colour); and of course the serial disfigurement of both the White House and the constitution itself — in the clown show that never seems to end. During this time, he has already transformed and upended the federal government. He has taken a bulldozer to the federal government and constitutional norms with sometimes intentional cruelty leading to potentially irreparable harm. 

Trump’s political brand has always been defiant, unremorseful and evasive — fuelling his MAGA outrage machine with an abundance of racism, incompetence and corruption to name a few. (I have long felt that MAGA was a really a front for their true underlying desires — Make America White Again). His recent TV address the week before Christmas however, seemed more like a manic episode — where he vomited lies at a national audience. As this spectacle unfolded, his volume grew louder (nearly shouting), his speech became more rapid, and his falsehoods grew more egregious. 

Clearly Trump’s political intentions were in response to growing discontent among the electorate resulting from the failed policies of his first year back in office (refusing to take any ownership a year in and casting responsibility for any short-comings or discontent solely on the previous administration). Trump and his team of deranged Christmas Elves concluded an unhinged remake of Bad Santa was just the thing his plummeting ratings needed. However, his used-car-salesman-on-cocaine demeanour sent a message of desperation; his efforts to command people to believe him rather than their own lived experiences reflect a growing collective displeasure with his administration. The on-going Epstein debacle further compounds this particular moment in US history suggesting signs that Trump’s downfall may finally be upon us.

As a clinician, I cannot help but draw psychological parallels to Elizabeth Kubler-Ross’ theory of stages people go through as they grapple with impending mortality. In this pre-Christmas address he displayed several of the stages (denial, anger, bargaining). He denied reality (promising things he has no authority to provide, when in fact he simply renamed a previously approved payment to the military). He ranted angrily. Indeed, he infused so much anti-immigrant hate speech that it could have been indistinguishable from a Nuremberg rally. (It is incredibly rich that he threatens Iran with intervention [“we are locked and loaded”] if they quell protest and descent with violent means; yet is blind to very similar conduct unfolding in his immigration efforts in US cities).

Again, Trump has always been rude and insulting — historically this has usually been calculated or seen as serving a political purpose. Yet, some have suggested that Trump may be the most loathsome human being ever to occupy the White House … and that he has become a stain on the honour and dignity of the office of the presidency.

Again clinically speaking, his recent and persistently socially inappropriate behaviour, loss of manners/decorum, worsening decline of a social filter or ability to control his impulses is suggestive of something more significant than rudeness or a stage of grieving. It is seemingly impossible NOT to acknowledge that all his behaviour is perfectly consistent with dementia. His increasing poor judgment; confabulation and increasing disinhibitions are clear red flags of (early) dementia. 

If you’d otherwise heard an aging relative howling at the moon (as Trump increasingly does via his sleep-deprived, late night Truth Social rants), you would gently remove any sharp implements from their immediate vicinity and start to to talk to them about the nice man who would soon arrive with the butterfly nets. Breaks with reality (like we saw in this TV address) used to end with thorazine drips and soothing elevator music after all. While his cell would need to be padded with golden cushions and perhaps be in oval shape, just as we would with a senescent great uncle, the American people need to get this guy some help — to keep an eye on him, and keep him away from nuclear launch codes for, like, ever. If there is any chance at all that he is suffering from dementia, it is everyone’s business.

The decade of Trump has been an exhausting one. Three more years could indeed feel like an even longer eternity than his first term. His recent TV address not only reveals an acknowledgement of his failures, but his desperation as well. Such behaviours are strongly indicative of someone who’s clearly lost control — of his presidency, of his party, of his messaging. Perhaps such incompetence to distract us from these obvious failures is seemingly the only strategy he has left. And while Trump has seemingly been viewed as politically toxic or dead before, somehow he always manages to slither back to his teflon state. However, with mid-term elections around the corner, and with the avalanche of corrupt evidence underscoring his failed administration, this time feels different. Is it possible that this time, 2026 could be Trump’s swan song?

REFERENCES

  1. This really may be the political end for Trump. msn.com/us/news/opinion
  2. It’s time to kick Trump, 79 out of the White House — and into a padded cell. thedailybeast.com
  3. All bets are off in Trump’s next three years. msn.com/us/news/politics