The most important US midterm trends I’m seeing | Molly Jong-Fast

The one I worry about most is voter anger – which both parties are not taking seriously enough That chill in the air you are feeling is not the weather, it is the Republicans freaking out about the 2026 midterm elections. Midterms are always referendums on the incumbent, though the party in power usually would rather they weren’t. This midterm feels less like a referendum on Trumpism than a dirge. It’s easy to see how Republicans got here, lulled into thinking that their guy Donald Trump, could once again defy political gravity.

Trump certainly thought he could. When it became clear he couldn’t, Trump tried to defy political gravity by federalizing elections and messing with mail-in voting (many would call this cheating) or redrawing the map to gain seats in states like Texas (many would also call this cheating). Even Trump