Candace Owens Says Donald Trump's Presidency Is 'Coming Apart' Before Midterms

Conservative commentator Candace Owens told listeners on Monday that the Trump administration is unraveling. She pointed to the departure of White House press secretary Katie Zacharia and to a Pentagon plan to livestream a military execution.

"I do feel like we are at the end of the Trump administration, like everything's coming apart and things are getting crazier and crazier," Owens said on her podcast, Candace.

The remarks come two weeks before the Nov. 3 midterm elections. They also come as polling shows the president in a weak position. Donald Trump's approval rating stands at 38 percent, with 59 percent disapproving, according to PolitiKool's polling average.

Candace Owens on Katie Zacharia's Exit

Owens opened the episode by mourning Zacharia's departure, partly in jest. "She did bad, but she meant well," she said.

Zacharia's exit came days after her first briefing on Oct. 13. At that briefing she took three questions from reporters before ending the session, and questions followed about her legal credentials. A White House official said she was "transitioning out" of the role, Fox 29 reported on Friday. Trump said he had encouraged her to reconsider, and that she had been "suffering" because the media had been "brutal" to her.

Owens said she now wants the job to go to activist Laura Loomer or Turning Point USA CEO Erika Kirk, a suggestion she made sarcastically. "We should just throw an accelerant on top of this dumpster fire that is the Trump Administration 2.0," she said.

Pete Hegseth and the Iran School Strike

Owens contrasted Zacharia's exit with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth staying in his job. "That Pete Hegseth, who's still there, he's lying about bombing Iranian schools filled with children," she said.

During the U.S. strikes on Iran, a missile hit an elementary school in Minab, in southern Iran. Asked about the Pentagon's investigation, Hegseth said, "We're not going to let reporting lead us or force our hand into indicating what happened," Al-Monitor reported.

In July, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a New York Democrat, and her colleagues demanded the report's release. They said U.S. investigators had concluded that a Tomahawk missile struck the school, killing about 120 children. As of the senators' July 13 letter, the Pentagon had not published its findings.

The Livestreamed Execution

Owens called the plan a "bizarre push for public execution." She said influencers had tried to present it as normal when it was "maybe a sign that this administration is crashing and burning."

Hegseth said the firing squad execution of Nidal Hasan would be public. Hasan is the former Army psychiatrist convicted of killing 13 people at Fort Hood in 2009. Pentagon officials announced on Oct. 8 that it would be livestreamed, WSMV reported. The execution is set for Dec. 3.

"We'll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it's public," Hegseth said.

Owens Echoes Tim Dillon's Midterm Prediction

Owens played a long clip from comedian Tim Dillon, who mocked Zacharia's exit and the execution plan and predicted Democrats would take the House and possibly the Senate. "He is just on the money, on the money with everything that's going," Owens said. She also speculated that Trump "probably is having an absolute meltdown."

The polling backs the House half of that prediction. The Senate is less clear. PolitiKool's Senate tracker rates control a toss-up, with seven races too close to call.

Democrats lead the generic congressional ballot by 8.1 points, 48.2 percent to 40.1 percent, according to PolitiKool's polling average. Only 29.6 percent of Americans approve of Trump's handling of the economy, PolitiKool's polling average shows.

What Comes Next

Much of the rest of the episode covered Owens's long-running claims about Turning Point USA and Erika Kirk. She tied the administration's troubles to the assassination of Charlie Kirk. That link rests on her own theories about Turning Point USA and the killing, which she repeatedly offers without evidence. "The administration is falling apart," she said.

The next test of whether Owens's view holds with voters comes on Nov. 3.