A grandson of Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim told me his grandfather was originally a follower of Rabbi Y.Z. Dushinsky, and then became a follower of Rabbi Aaron Roth, famed author of Shomrei Emunim.
His grandfather recalls Rabbi Dushinsky saying the Zionists would never garner the support needed to form a state and Rabbi Aaron Roth saying the opposite (presumably, this was during the same period, not as things evolved).
The story was told to demonstrate the greater prescience of Rabbi Pappenheim’s eventual Rebbe, Rabbi Aaron Roth.
For someone else who claimed a state would never arise (although this was not stated as mere trend forecasting, but rather misguided “emuna”, see here.)