Several New York Times opinion columnists gathered to share their thoughts on President Donald Trump, warning of what they see as his efforts to unravel America’s democratic order and institutions.

E.J. Dionne warned of what he called “regime change” inside the U.S. by President Trump.

Dionne said that “we have to face up to” Americans “overlooking” how much Trump is “actually trying to fundamentally change and destroy, really, the traditional American system.”

He cited the shootings of Minnesota’s Renee Good and Alex Pretti, as an example: “There have been police killings, and there have been mishaps, but the country has never seen an entity like ICE operate completely outside the law in this way.”

Dionne cited a plethora of other examples, including the “corrupt” pardons Trump has granted, in addition to the “extraordinary” pardons he gave to those involved in the events surrounding January 6. He also cited the Justice Department as “really being destroyed and used for investigations of political enemies,” including Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, Minnesota Democratic Governor Tim Walz, and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey. And he pointed to “tariffs, by fiat, on our allies,” and Trump’s “weirdness over Greenland.”

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Further defining “regime change,” Dionne pointed to what Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought “has written about radical constitutionalism,” which Dionne called “a real desire to fundamentally alter the regime.”

Trump, Dionne added, is “throwing away all of the constituencies, the swing constituencies, who came to him in the last election.”

“I think he has become more and more aggressive at it and we need to face that this is not just some guy doing one random thing after another,” he warned. “This is somebody who is setting about — in a systematic way — to destroy institutions.”

David Brooks shared his thoughts on what he called Trump’s “four unravelings.”

“First, the unraveling of the Western alliance, the post-Cold War alliance,” he said. “Second, the unraveling that E.J. just described, our democratic order.”

“Third, the unraveling of our domestic security, the sense that we live in a relatively free — at least free of state violence, and we can no longer be sure of that,” he warned. “And then the fourth — and to me, the most important and the primary one — is the unraveling of Trump’s mind, if you want to put it that way.”

Brooks warned of “mental degradation.”

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“If you look through history at the minds of people who are driven by a lust for power and who have tyrannical tendencies, the arc of history bends toward degradation,” he said. “There’s just not many cases where somebody was becoming more and more power hungry, more and more tyrannical, and they said, ‘Oh, I better put on the brakes here and become more moderate.’ That just doesn’t happen. You get this process of mental deterioration that’s, in part, caused by the way the lust for power makes you drunk on power and is insatiable.”

He noted that those who are “driven by the lust for power” create environments that become “more sycophantic.”

Robert Siegel asked Brooks and Dionne if they believe America will have elections in November.

“At the very least, that’s not clear,” Dionne replied, “and I think it’s something that people began to worry about even more over the last several weeks when the F.B.I. raided the Board of Elections down in Georgia, in Fulton County.”

He pointed to the presence of Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and said, “I think a lot of people saw this as an attempt to affect the election. Then Trump himself spoke of nationalizing the rules of the election — he then said in 15 places, which sounded like Democratic states. The beginning of that statement he made was: Republicans should take over the elections.”

Brooks had a different opinion.

“I have every confidence that we’ll have an election,” he said, noting that he thinks that Trump has “internalized that we are a democracy and that he needs to step down in 2028.”

He pointed to historical references, then said, “I just have tremendous faith in the power of the people manning our institutions, in the military, in the election officials on the state level and Republicans on the state level. So I think we’ll hold.”

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A year into Donald Trump’s presidency, a trio of polls from across the ideological spectrum all come to the same conclusion: voters say Joe Biden did better a better job.

President Trump has become “politically toxic,” Axios reports, finding that he has “squandered virtually every advantage that won him the presidency.”

A Harvard CAPS/Harris poll “found that 51% of registered voters say Trump is doing a worse job than Biden, compared with 49% who say he’s doing better.”

The right-leaning Rasmussen Reports found that “48% of likely voters say Biden did a better job as president, compared with 40% who chose Trump.”

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A YouGov/Economist survey “found that 46% of U.S. adults say Trump is doing a worse job than Biden, compared with 40% who say he’s doing better.”

What were once Trump’s strengths are now his weaknesses.

“49% of adults ‘strongly disapprove’ of how Trump has handled border security and immigration, according to a new NBC News poll.”

And when it comes to younger voters, Trump has “cratered.”

“The YouGov/Economist poll found Trump at -42 net approval among 18–29 year-olds — a 51-point swing from +9 at the start of his presidency,” Axios reported.

CNN data analyst Harry Enten recently said that Trump “built his two presidential victories on winning voters without a college degree,” adding that, “Donald Trump’s base with non-college voters is absolutely collapsing.”

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The political danger for Trump is spreading beyond voters.

Punchbowl News reported on Thursday that Trump’s pressure tactics on congressional Republicans aren’t working — and his polling numbers are making his threats less effective.

“When the only tool you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail,” Punchbowl reported. “Such is life with President Donald Trump, who’s warning that Republicans will be made to suffer — either in primaries or on Election Day — for voting against his unprecedented tariff regime.”

But Punchbowl observed, “if Trump’s approval ratings stay where they are, Republicans may continue to buck him, betting that opposing an unpopular president is smart for the midterms.”

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Over the past 24 hours, rumors have swirled over the possible early retirement of a five-term Republican member of Congress who had already announced he will not seek re-election. Given Speaker Mike Johnson’s extremely slim majority in the House, even one vote can make all the difference in his ability to pass legislation.

Those rumors have come to a head after U.S. Rep. Neal Dunn of Florida told NBC News’ Scott Wong, “I’m not making any comments right now.”

Florida Politics’ Peter Schorsch reported that a “top source” said that Dunn “will announce an early retirement next week for a ‘time certain’ that will be before the Midterm.”

Politico is reporting that Speaker Johnson says he has asked Dunn to serve out his full term and not retire early.

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“Neal Dunn is a beloved member of Congress and a great man, and you know, he’s informed us he’s not going to run for reelection,” Johnson told reporters Wednesday. The Speaker said he was “not sure” what Dunn will decide.

“But I’ve encouraged him to stay and be a part of this, and I think he wants to do that.”

“An early exit from Dunn, 72, would deal Johnson another massive blow as he tries to maintain his narrow majority,” Politico noted. “Currently, Republicans can afford to lose no more than one GOP vote on party-line measures, though they are expected to pick up a vote in a March special election.”

It’s unclear if Johnson was successful.

“House Republican leadership believes that Neal Dunn is going to resign by July,” reported Punchbowl News’ Jake Sherman. “I know Dunn is denying it. But the leadership thinks he’s gone in five months.”

Currently, thirty Republicans have announced their planned exits from the House, with some retiring and others running for a different office.

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