Referring to DeSantis as “DeSanctimonious,” he accused him of being a “mediocre” governor, of “playing games” and of lacking “loyalty and order.” The screed was not the statement of a politician for whom things are going well. Indeed, this has been a disastrous week for Trump. The stage was set for a big night for Republicans. A first-time president’s party usually takes a beating in the midterms, and things looked particularly favorable for Republicans this year. Joe Biden is an aging and historically unpopular president who is increasingly erratic in his public appearances. Inflation is at a 40-year high, violent crime is on the rise and voters are still angry with Democrats over Covid restrictions and school closings. And yet the Republicans missed the political equivalent of an open goal. Votes are still being counted, but it looks like the GOP will win a narrow majority in the House of Representatives, while the Senate will remain in Democratic hands. How did this happen? It’s hard not to conclude that the Trump phenomenon is a big part of the story. The former president dominated the primaries. Across America, candidates had to enjoy Trump to have a chance at winning their party’s nomination. That meant playing along with his stolen 2020 election fantasies and a host of other buzzwords and priorities that might resonate with Trump and the MAGA faithful, but alienate the average voter. The result was a party represented by fringe and fringe candidates in winnable states. In Pennsylvania, for example, the party nominated the unpopular TV doctor Mehmet Oz for the Senate seat and a hardline “stop the theft” extremist named Doug Mastriano for the governor’s race. They lost both matches. In New Hampshire, Don Bolduc, another Trumpist, lost by eight points, while Chris Sununu, the incumbent Republican governor, was re-elected by sixteen points. Across the country, nearly every statewide Republican reject — candidates who promise to rewrite election rules as part of Trump’s election security — has been rejected by the electorate. One telling detail comes from the NBC exit poll: voting trends among those who said they “somewhat disapprove” of Biden. In this bloc of disgruntled moderates, the center-right Republicans did well, but were ousted by MAGA hardliners. Trump is not the whole story of course. In retrospect, Republicans seem complacent in their messaging on the economy, happy to simply point out that prices were rising rather than tell voters what they planned to do about it. Abortion also appears to have been a major factor, with the threat of pro-life bans mobilizing Democratic voters. But even taking these other issues into account, the clear takeaway is that Trump is an electoral liability for his party. And the penny finally seems to be dropping for more and more Republicans. Kayleigh McEnany, Trump’s former White House press secretary, urged him to delay his much-teased presidential campaign announcement scheduled for next week. Other longtime aides didn’t mince their words. “Republicans have followed Donald Trump over a cliff,” David Urban, who advised Trump’s 2016 campaign and served in his administration, told The New York Times. Before the polls closed Tuesday, Trump was asked, win or lose, how much he would be responsible for the outcome. “Well, I think if they win, I should take all the credit. And if they lose they shouldn’t blame me at all,” he replied with a twinkle in his eye. He was vintage Trump: shameless, funny, honest and narcissistic. Trump shows no signs of backing down. His announcement is still scheduled for next week, and as his rant against DeSantis shows, it won’t go quietly. And why should he, many Republicans will say. He remains the face of the GOP, has a loyal following and the support of many high-ranking officials in a party he rebuilt in his image. But Republicans who are convinced of the damage Trump continues to do to their party have the best chance to throw him overboard. Whether or not they will be bold enough to take it on is another question.
