Tom Nichols

I think what you're seeing, though, is Republicans doing what, rather than rising in opposition or thinking about the 25th Amendment, they're doing a much more time-honored Washington tradition.

They're going to the press and they're ratting each other out.

and they're distancing themselves from the president.

I mean, you know, that whole report about the decision to go to war, basically you had everybody in the room saying, well, I didn't think it was a good idea.

The only guy who gets thrown under the bus in that whole account, and he's thrown under the bus by all of his colleagues, is Pete Hegseth.

The other thing that's happening, and this goes back to the conversation you were just having with Nancy about budgets, do the Republicans really want to go out there in a few months?

Because...

Just to back up for a moment, the economic damage from this war is going to reverberate now for months.

And I think a lot of Republicans out there are saying, you know, I can't really do anything about the 25th Amendment, but I don't want to run on a 40 percent defense budget increase while the president's saying we can't fund Medicare.

So I think that's, you know, there's a lot of trouble for Republicans because of Donald Trump, but I don't think he goes anywhere.

And I think that's actually worse for Republicans.

Instead of becoming the fuel for more Republican victories, Donald Trump has become a giant millstone, an albatross around the necks of Republicans now.

I think if the Democrats win in November, his presidency is effectively over.

And I think that will make him completely bananas and he will say and do even crazier and more dangerous things that will harm the reputation of the presidency and the United States.

But I also think that he will now be more constrained in what he can do, especially, I mean, I can't believe that we're even thinking of this because this was impossible a few months ago, especially if he loses the House and the Senate.

But if he loses the House, which I think now is just, you don't ever want to say anything's inevitable, but seems inevitable, then I think you get crazier rhetoric, but more responsible government in the short term.

You know, one interesting thing here, I think, is we've worried a lot about terrorism and payback and all those other things that you should worry about when you embark on this kind of war.

But, you know, Nancy's point about the Gulf states, you know, the Iranians may decide to play nice with Europe and the United States to keep us, you know, occupied elsewhere, but really take it out on the Gulf states.

And make it clear, don't ever do this again.

You chose poorly.