Republicans brace themselves for a midterm tsunami

The latest opinion polls show that Americans are deserting Trump and his ailing party in waves and returning to the Democratic fold

- By David Smith

In January 2025, Donald Trump took the oath of office, declared himself “saved by God to make America great again” and issued a barrage of executive orders. In the ensuing months the US president and his allies moved at breakneck speed and seemed indomitable.

But as 2025 drew to a close, with Trump struggling to stay awake at meetings, the prevailing image was of a driver asleep at the wheel. Opinion polls suggest that Americans are turning against him. Republicans are heading for the exit ahead of congressional contests in November that look bleak for the president's party.

“He came into office and, like a blitzkrieg, was violating laws and the constitution,” said Larry Jacobs, director of the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at the University of Minnesota. “The American political process is slow-moving and so he was able to do things that were extraordinary.

“But this is a guy whose legacy may well be the political collapse of Republicans in this era. Put another way, rather than asking who is going to be the inheritor of the Trump mantle and the so-called Maga movement, we may be talking in a year or so about which candidates can escape the odious distinction of having been connected with Trump.”

Emboldened by his political comeback in the 2024 election, Trump hit the ground running. In 11 months he signed 225 executive orders, 56 memorandums and 114 proclamations. Many mirror proposals from the conservative Project 2025 policy document and have been met with significant legal challenges, with numerous actions deemed illegal and unconstitutional by federal judges.