‘Trump Has Lost the Country’: Ross Douthat Warns Conservatives Will Bear the Brunt of Trump’s Failings

New York Times columnist Ross Douthat published a new Interesting Times episode on Wednesday, arguing that President Donald Trump has “lost the country” one year into his second term and makes the case its the right who will suffer the most from Trump’s “failed” leadership.

“I want to tell you a secret. One that most conservatives on the internet don’t want you to know. A year into his second presidency, Donald Trump has lost the country,” Douthat began in the clip, before playing a highlight reel of pundits breaking down Trump polling:

“The majority of voters believe the country is worse off today than it was a year ago.” “Approval rating at 37 percent, the lowest of his second term.” “A failure. Fail, fail, fail.” And the grand coalition that he united to defeat Kamala Harris has evaporated.

“And all of this was predictable. From the first days of DOGE through the debacle in Minneapolis, the Trump administration has consistently governed as if swing voters aren’t part of its coalition. And now, guess what? They’re not,” he continued, adding:

But here’s the thing. It isn’t moderates and swing voters who lose out when the Trump administration becomes unpopular. It’s people on the right. People like me, and certainly people further to my right who support many of the things the Trump administration has tried to do, from securing the border to pressuring American institutions to become more ideologically diverse, to resetting and rolling back D.E.I. All of that, all of that agenda will just disappear if the Republican Party can’t win elections.

Douthat sounding the alarm on the long-term political prospects of the GOP comes as many polls show the Democrats with an edge going into the midterms – at least in terms of recapturing the majority in the House. Democrats winning a Senate majority still appears to be a very heavy lift as the map favors the GOP.

Watch the full clip above.

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