Four years later, he has become an influential voice, especially recently with his reports of chaos and panic in the campaign operation of Vice President Kamala Harris and his prediction of a win by former President Donald Trump.

He has stepped it up even more, appearing on Tucker Carlson’s podcast on Tuesday in which he shocked the host by declaring that a victory by Trump will bring violence, divorce, and “the greatest mental health crisis in the history of the country.”

Halperin, who leads the Morning Meeting on 2Way with former Trump spokesman Sean Spicer and Democratic political strategist Dan Turrentine, also expressed concerns about a Harris presidency, especially in her ability to create a government.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that the polling as I’ve characterized it this week is accurate, that right now Trump would win and that the numbers are moving in his direction,” says @MarkHalperin. Kamala Harris’ “problems in each individual state with different demographic groups… pic.twitter.com/3nbDF3RatM

— 2WAY (@2waytvapp) October 12, 2024

“I really do worry about her, even if she emerges from this election with the country in love with her, not the whole country, but enough to have a honeymoon if she rises to the occasion, if world leaders don’t seem poised to take advantage of her in some way, even if all that happens, I really do worry about her getting a government in place,” he said.

But it was his reaction to Carlson’s question about a Trump victory that stood out and that I reprint below. His bottom line is this: Democrats will break down because they just don’t get how anybody could vote for Trump.

Mark Halperin has better political sources than anyone in media. He now believes Donald Trump is likely to win. If that happens, Halperin predicts the psychological collapse of the Democratic Party — “greatest mental health crisis in the history of the country.”

(1:23) The State… pic.twitter.com/YtMTq14T4u

— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) October 15, 2024

Tucker Carlson: Let’s say Trump wins three weeks from today. What happens?

Mark Halperin: I say this, not flippantly. I think it will be the cause of the greatest mental health crisis in the history of the country. I think tens of millions of people will question their connection to the nation, their connection to other human beings, their connection to their vision of what their future for them and their children could be like. And I think that it will require an enormous amount of access to mental health professionals. I think it’ll lead to trauma in the workplace. I think there’ll be some degree of — 100% serious? 100% serious. I think there’ll be alcoholism. There’ll be broken marriages. Yeah, they think he’s the worst person possible to be president. And having won by the hand of Jim Comey and fluke in 2016 and then performed in office for four years and denied who won the election last time and Jan. 6, the fact that under a fair election, America chose, by the rules pre-agreed to, Donald Trump again, I think it will cause the biggest mental health crisis in the history of America. And I don’t think it will be kind of a passing thing, that by the inauguration will be fine. I think it will be sustained and unprecedented and hideous. And I don’t think the country is ready for it.

Carlson: So, mental health crises often manifest in violence.

Halperin: Yeah, I think there’ll be some violence. I think there’ll be workplace fights. There’ll be fights at kids’ birthday parties. I think there’ll be protests that will turn violent. I hope they’re not, but I think there will be some. But I think it will be more — it’ll be less anger and more a failure to understand how it could happen. You know, like the death of a child, or your spouse announcing that, you know, your wife announcing she’s a lesbian and she’s leaving you for your best friend. Like something that’s so traumatic that it is impossible for even the most mentally healthy person to truly process and incorporate into their daily life. I hope I’m wrong, but I think that’s what’s going to happen for tens of millions of people because they think that their fellow citizens supporting Trump is a sign of fundamental evil at the heart of their fellow citizens and of the nation. That’s how they view it.

Carlson: Well, that’s very heavy.

Halperin: So, that’s one thing I think will happen. And then I hope that Trump handles it well. I hope that he recognizes both his responsibility and his self-interest and that he chooses in his words and in his Cabinet and White House appointments, nominations, and in his initial legislative agenda, I hope he sees a confluence of interest between minimizing that mental health crisis and the success of his presidency. And I think he might. I’m bullish on him seeing the alignment of those two things. 

Carlson: Wow. And if he loses, what happens?

Halperin: Well, it will depend on how he loses. It’ll depend on if it’s close and if he and his supporters see wrongdoing in casting and counting in the seven states. It’s very difficult for me to imagine her winning by enough that that doesn’t happen. I’ve been disappointed in the efforts in the states. There are some in every one of the seven, but they’re not mature enough to prepare to explain to people elections are messy, but this one wasn’t stolen. Our electoral votes were awarded correctly to Kamala Harris. I think if that somehow goes well, and if Donald Trump himself doesn’t challenge the results, Twitter can do what it wants to do, I think. I think that the negative impact of her winning on the psychology of the losers will not be as great, but I don’t think it’ll be nothing. And I think there’ll be all sorts of things, lawfare, replacing Biden with her after, you know, Trump had spent millions trying to beat Biden, the media’s completely full body on the scale. I think all those things will lead to mass skepticism that the election was fair. And I think it’ll be up to luck that the result is clear-cut enough that people don’t feel reflexively it was unfair. I think it’ll be up to what Trump’s attitude is, and I think it’ll be up to the governors of the states, whether they’re Republicans or Democrats, and most the battleground-state governors are Democrats, to be as transparent and clear about any irregularity and its potential impact on the outcome, if all that happens, and Kamala Harris decides to in the transition and in her inaugural address and in her legislative agenda to be gracious, I think, I think that we could be in a decent place. I think they’ll probably be a Republican Senate. And I think people have failed to game out if there’s a Republican Senate, a Democratic House, a Democratic president, all of MAGA and those unhappy with her winning will put their chips in the Senate and say it’s up to the Senate to keep her from turning this into a far-left country, and that goes first and foremost in the initial instance, to nominations. I think it will be very difficult for her to nominate anyone acceptable to the Left who can be confirmed by that Senate.

Carlson: So, they’ll just keep people in place.

Halperin: Well, I mean, you can’t be acting forever. It’s very limited what you can do as an acting secretary, and she’ll want her people. So, I worry a lot about that. You know, one of the huge dysfunctions in this country, regardless of party, is, and every president will tell you this and probably has, the difficulty of getting your people in place because of the background checks and the confirmation process. You think about her: She started running for president not that long ago. She hasn’t had time to start a rigorous transition. I really do worry about her, even if she emerges from this election with the country in love with her, not a whole country, but enough to have a honeymoon if she rises to the occasion, if world leaders don’t seem poised to take advantage of her in some way, even if all that happens, I really do worry about her getting a government in place because I don’t think a Republican Senate is going to confirm the kind of people who Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders and AOC are going to demand her to nominate.

SEE THE LATEST POLITICAL NEWS AND BUZZ FROM WASHINGTON SECRETS

Carlson: You hear people mutter darkly about some kind of civil conflict, the possibility of that. Are you worried about that?

Halperin: Less than most, but I don’t dismiss it entirely. Again, I’m a big believer in governors, right? Civil conflict will take place in the state of some governor by definition. I hope the governors all have great bipartisan plans for minimizing this and for policing peaceful protests and not allowing them to escalate but not trampling on the First Amendment. I think we could have violence regardless of who wins. I think both sides are capable of that. I think the chances of it are minimized if the losing presidential candidate makes it clear they don’t want that to happen. And if the governors are vigilant in devising plans to balance public safety with the First Amendment. If those things happen, I really, I’m not all that concerned about violence. If those things don’t happen, I’m deeply concerned about it.