US President Donald Trump gestures towards attendees during a rally in support of Republican US Senate reelection candidate Roger Marshall (R-KS) in Park City, Kansas, US, October 19, 2026. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
President Donald Trump, a man who once prided himself on his improvisation abilities, has now become "predictably unpresidential," according to one expert.
The full depth of Trump's unpresidential actions has been on display recently, legal expert Joyce Vance wrote in a new essay for her Substack, "Civil Discourse." She pointed to Trump's recent deal to buy Russian diesel fuel under the guise of lowering prices ahead of the midterms, and the administration's stark turn away from Ukraine at a critical moment of its war against Russian aggression.
Trump has also displayed a uniquely unpresidential trait during his second administration by attacking judges that he thinks are standing in his way, she continued. That was evidenced by his early-morning tirade against Judge Ana Reyes, who is demanding that the administration stop construction on the East Potomac links.
"He called her a 'crazed lunatic' and suggested she 'may be insane,'" Vance wrote. "In other words, more of the behavior we’ve come to expect from this president on days that end in 'Y.' That’s not to minimize what he does, because it’s dangerous, and it’s serious. But he’s also predictable—predictably unpresidential, whether he’s currying favor with Putin or pretend-campaigning for Republicans who wish he wasn’t on the stage with him just weeks away from the midterm elections."
Vance also pointed out that the tirade served as a reminder of where the president's priorities lie ahead of the midterms.
"This is how the president—who told the Judge in the BBC case, a case he himself brought, and that we discussed in The Week Ahead, that he’s too busy to be deposed in that case—is spending his time," she wrote.