Trump’s 2026 Midterm Defeat Forces Republicans to Confront MAGA’s Political Future

has sunk the GOP again. He did it in 2018, when the party lost the House, and in 2022, when a promised red wave fizzled. He did it again in the Georgia runoffs of January 2021, which cost the party the Senate. On Tuesday, Democrats took both chambers of Congress, riding a huge anti-Trump blue-nami.

The president’s rock-bottom approval ratings were the anchor that sank many good GOP candidates this week. Reuters/Ipsos recorded his approval at a record low of 31 percent in mid-October, the lowest of any president on record in a midterm election year, and his long-winded, meandering speeches in deep-red states in the last month of the campaign only highlighted the GOP’s Trump problem.

About the Author

Gregory W. Slayton

Gregory W. Slayton is a former senior U.S. diplomat, chairman of Slayton Capital, and author of Portraits of Ukraine: A Nation at War.

Featured Tags

has sunk the GOP again. He did it in 2018, when the party lost the House, and in 2022, when a promised red wave fizzled. He did it again in the Georgia runoffs of January 2021, which cost the party the Senate. On Tuesday, Democrats took both chambers of Congress, riding a huge anti-Trump blue-nami.

The president’s rock-bottom approval ratings were the anchor that sank many good GOP candidates this week. Reuters/Ipsos recorded his approval at a record low of 31 percent in mid-October, the lowest of any president on record in a midterm election year, and his long-winded, meandering speeches in deep-red states in the last month of the campaign only highlighted the GOP’s Trump problem.