In August 2018, Rick Wilson, a long-time GOP media consultant, published a book entitled Everything Trump Touches Dies. In it, he argued that MAGA and Trump will ruin the reputations, careers, and stability of the people and institutions that choose to align with him. Recently, Paul Krugman and Heather Cox Richardson published separate posts on Substack that bring Wilson’s warning forward to the present.

Krugman based his article on the writings of Robert Pape, author of the Substack Escalation Trap, who argues that, as the loss of control of the House and possibly the Senate becomes more likely, it is making Trump more dangerous than ever. Krugman wrote:

“It’s a well-understood proposition that the owners of businesses that are on the verge of going bust often engage in destructive behavior. And Trump is about to go bankrupt — not financially but politically. So he, like a failing businessman, has strong incentives to wreak havoc.

“Pape’s argument is basically a version of the phenomenon often called ‘gambling for resurrection.’ When a company is on the edge of failure, it makes sense for the owner to make highly speculative, even crazy investments that are highly likely to fail but might, just might, make enough money to pull the company back from the brink. After all, for the owner it’s heads he wins, tails his creditors lose.

“In Trump’s case, all indications are that his party is heading for defeat in the midterms. And while a normal president might be able to live with a Congress controlled by the opposing party, there has been so much corruption and malfeasance over the past two years that Democratic control of Congress, and the subpoena and investigative power that will bring, will have catastrophic consequences for Trump and everyone around him.

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