By Press TV Website Staff
An American author says US President Donald Trump is “mentally disturbed” and may use his powers to discredit midterm election results that seem to favor Democrats.
Speaking to the Press TV website, Abba A. Solomon noted that economic dissatisfaction, widespread opposition to Trump’s policies and concerns over executive power shape the political climate ahead of the midterms.
“As in the period after the November 2020 election, it seems Trump is determined to obstruct and discredit the normal counting and administration of the election. This time, associates he has positioned in authority may create a crisis,” Solomon said.
Americans will elect all 435 members of the House of Representatives and 35 senators on November 3, along with governors and other state officials in several states.
Republicans currently control both chambers of Congress, while Democrats are seeking the gains needed to challenge Trump's legislative agenda during the final two years of his term.
Recent polls have shown Democrats leading on the generic congressional ballot, although the surveys measure voter preferences rather than predict the final outcome. The election also comes amid widespread concern about living costs and protests under the “No Kings” banner, whose participants have challenged an expansion of presidential power.
For Solomon, the election offers an opportunity for Americans to register their judgment of a presidency he described in sweeping terms.
“‘Midterm’ elections results, two years into the president's 4-year term, often express public opinion of the current president. This November election especially is a chance to react to what is the most erratic chief executive in American history,” he said.
Solomon added that Trump's focus on his personal image, wealth and public vanity projects had coincided with unpredictable decisions on tariffs, foreign relations and the use of force at home and abroad.
He said ordinary Americans' access to affordable health care, their cost of living and their sense of safety from government violence had all been shaken.
He also denounced the administration's immigration enforcement practices, describing masked agents as “lawless hunters of those who seem ‘foreign.’” Solomon noted that significant portions of the US population were visibly of non-European origin and that the country had historically welcomed large numbers of new citizens.
Economic pressure and the war on Iran
Economic dissatisfaction, Solomon said, had undermined Trump's credibility with voters. He said that cuts to government programs had weakened Americans' purchasing power, particularly by reducing food and medical provisions for rural residents and people of modest means.
He also linked inflationary pressures to the president's trade and military policies. In Solomon's view, unilateral tariff decisions introduced in April 2025 had contributed to a rise in the cost of necessities, while the decision to initiate the joint aggression with Israel against Iran on February 28 without congressional support had intensified the inflationary spiral.
“I believe, and polling seems to show, that Trump has lost credibility with voters,” he said.
Affordability has become a major campaign issue. The US Consumer Price Index rose 3.7% over the 12 months to September 2026, while gasoline prices increased 9.1% during that month, according to the figures provided by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. An AP-NORC survey also found that 84% of voters considered the cost of living one of the most important issues in deciding their vote.
Solomon said the consequences of Trump's foreign policy extended beyond prices paid by households. Its effects on daily life, the national budget and the strain placed on military personnel were, he maintained, further eroding support for the president.
He expected voters across the country to favor Democrats, but warned that the normal administration of the election could itself become a source of political crisis.
The powers available to a president after declaring an emergency were particularly significant, Solomon said. Such powers could be exercised immediately, even if their use were subsequently challenged successfully in court.
Can Congress stop the war on Iran?
A Democratic victory in both chambers would not necessarily bring an end to the war, Solomon argued. Despite the unpopularity of Trump's decision to attack Iran alongside Israel, political resistance to acknowledging military failure could make disengagement difficult, he said.
“It will be difficult to escape the taboo of ‘cutting and running.’ That is, admitting defeat, failure. This is an illogical reality,” he said.
Solomon also pointed to the broad authority traditionally exercised by American presidents over foreign policy. Presidents had often ordered military action without a formal declaration of war, he noted, making congressional opposition an uncertain means of bringing a conflict to a halt.
The stakes extended to nuclear weapons, he added. Since the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 which killed some 214,000 people, the decision to use nuclear weapons had rested with the president.
Solomon added that Trump had filled the military chain of command with followers prepared to carry out his orders.
Trump putting self-interests above national ones
Solomon also pointed to Washington's decision to ease sanctions on Russian fuel amid disagreements with Kiev. He cautioned against interpreting the move as evidence of a lasting realignment of US foreign policy toward Moscow.
Foreign policy decisions, he maintained, were increasingly being made by Trump himself rather than by legislators and experienced policy specialists in Washington.
“The president has discharged experienced policy and intelligence experts from the US government and replaced them with loyalists and self-interested financial associates. This is a break in continuity,” he added.
The author said he did not believe it would produce a long-term US alliance with Russia at the expense of the country's traditional interests and alliances.
Solomon also noted that analysis of American policy, including decisions on tariffs, war and peace, was difficult because Trump “seems mentally disturbed.”
“There is a consistent theme of self-interest rather than the national interest,” he said, adding, “At the moment we are experiencing an anomalous period of one-man rule, outside of American political tradition.”
This makes it easy to access the Press TV website