The Bulwark Daily
The Bulwark Daily

Tom Nichols: Impotence at the White House

August 18, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

Impotence at the White House

The American public has finally caught on. A Reuters poll shows Donald Trump's approval rating has fallen to 33 percent—the lowest of his presidency—with 80 percent of Americans, including 71 percent of Republicans, believing U.S. involvement in Iran will drag on for an extended period. For Tom Nichols, staff writer at The Atlantic and professor emeritus at the U.S. Naval War College, this represents a rare moment of political clarity. "They get it," he says. "People are finally clued into this primarily the way Americans do, which is it's finally affecting them personally."

Why the Iran War Is Different

The war with Iran has broken something fundamental in Trump's political operation. Unlike COVID-19, where Trump could blame China or Dr. Fauci, there is no one else to blame for this conflict. "He did it," Nichols says flatly. Trump cannot deflect because he spent years promising he would never start new wars—a promise Natalie Harp, his personal aide, parroted on OAN in 2021, declaring it "beautiful to see."

Continue reading the full summary in the app — free to try.

Read Full Summary →

Free • No credit card required

Listen to Audio Summary Open in App

What you'll learn

  • 1 (00:12) **Opening & Trump’s Cratering Polling** - Tom Nichols and Tim Miller discuss the latest Reuters poll showing Trump’s approval at 33%, with 80% of Americans (including 71% of Republicans) expecting the Iran conflict to drag on.
  • 2 (07:00) **Trump’s Visible Weakening & The “Madman Theory” Limits** - Nichols observes that Trump now looks “visibly weaker and more unhinged” than in his first term, unnerving even his own supporters.
  • 3 (08:43) **Jared Kushner’s “Lizard Person” Diplomacy** - The hosts react to a clip of Jared Kushner claiming “robust” back-channel talks with Iran, while Trump later denied any negotiations.
  • 4 (15:30) **Trump Threatens to Bomb Oman** - Nichols and Miller analyze Trump’s offhand threat to bomb Oman, a traditional U.S. ally and key backchannel in the region.
  • 5 (21:06) **The 25th Amendment Fantasy** - Tim Miller brings up calls from Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and Bill Kristol to invoke the 25th Amendment, but Nichols dismisses it as a “silly” procedural dead end.
  • 6 (24:43) **Iran: A Humiliation, Not a Victory** - Nichols makes the case that the U.S. has definitively lost the war with Iran, despite having blown up their equipment.
  • 7 (27:34) **Trump Will Make South Korea Pay** - Nichols explains Trump’s plan to squeeze South Korea for more money, even as North Korean troops are fighting alongside Russia in Europe for the first time.

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Show Notes

Trump is flailing so badly on Iran. He dispatched Jared Kushner to negotiate with the regime but then denies that any talks are happening at all. He also threatened to bomb one ally and hammered another for not helping him fight his war. And somehow, in all of this, Kushner—a private businessman and a consultant for the Saudis—is meeting with Hamas officials and Netanyahu while also looking out for his own financial interests. Plus: a primer on why we keep troops in South Korea, Hegseth may be mulling a presidential run, and Gen Alpha may save us all.

Tom Nichols joins Tim Miller.

show notes:

The Bulwark Daily

More from this podcast

The Bulwark Daily →