From The New Yorker · Susan B. Glasser · · 2m
Trump faces his reckoning
Political Washington believes the 2026 midterms could finally end Trump's dominance, with millions of Republicans expected to reject him.
In brief
Political Washington believes the 2026 midterms could finally end Trump's dominance, with millions of Republicans expected to reject him. Trump's unpopular policies and political arrogance have convinced Washington insiders that Republicans will suffer historic losses in the 2026 midterms. Originally reported by The…
Second terms go badly
Ronald Reagan faced Iran-Contra. Bill Clinton was impeached. George W. Bush ended with financial crisis. Trump's second-term scandal may not have happened yet.
Trump is the crisis
By reelecting Trump in 2024, the United States created a different problem: a President who is himself the crisis, not merely facing one.
Impeachment won't work
The Constitution requires a two-thirds supermajority to remove a President. Trump, twice impeached and twice acquitted, has already proven this barrier insurmountable.
Washington expects defeat
Political Washington believes the 2026 midterms will be different for Trump. Campaign insiders think this may finally be the Big One, his decisive rejection.
Republicans will reject him
Trump's defeat would come not from Democrats but from millions of Republicans in red America voting to renounce the President, his policies, and his handpicked candidates.
Trump sabotaged his party
Trump started an unpopular conflict with Iran, imposed costly tariffs, and launched a trade war with Canada. All drove up prices when his 2024 campaign promised to curb inflation.
His arrogance cost him
Trump mocked concerns about his rash actions while insisting the election focus on him and his record. He told Georgia voters, "I don't give a damn" about the economy.
“I don't give a damn”
The Reflecting Pool speech
Trump's closing campaign speech at the National Mall spent twenty-three minutes justifying his renovation of the Reflecting Pool before addressing his electoral case to voters.
Boasting about maintenance
Trump called Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to praise the pool renovation. Burgum, a former North Dakota governor, said "Today is a day of gratitude to President Trump."
“Today is a day of gratitude to President Trump”
His unfinished projects
Trump closed his speech pitching unfinished projects: a world championship golf course and the biggest, most beautiful triumphal arch anywhere to build.
From greatness to statues
Ten years ago Trump promised to Make America Great Again. His final campaign ended with him bragging about steam-cleaning Washington's statues and re-grassing its parks.
The beginning of the end
If the 2026 midterms represent the beginning of Trump's end, the author writes, the end cannot come soon enough for the nation.
The bottom line
Trump's unpopular policies and political arrogance have convinced Washington insiders that Republicans will suffer historic losses in the 2026 midterms.
