Trump Prepares Republicans for Wipeout in 2026: The President ‘Always Loses the Midterm, Even if They’ve Done Well’

 

President Donald Trump seemed to be preparing Republicans for a 2026 midterm election wipeout on Thursday, telling Fox News that the sitting president “always loses the midterm, even if they’ve done well.”

“This is a midterm election year. Three times in the last hundred years, the party in power was able to maintain control. Four times in the last 150 years,” noted Fox News host Sean Hannity during an interview with Trump on Hannity. “You discussed this when you met with Republicans this past week. So historical trends are not with you.”

Trump replied:

If you go back a long way, the sitting president, whether it’s Democrat or Republican, always loses the midterm, even if they’ve done well. Almost always. And, you know, you’d think it’d be like a 50/50 deal. Even if the president’s done a great job. I think we’ve done a great job. We’ve done maybe the best job ever in the first year, but they always seem to lose the midterm. There’s something down, deep psychologically with the voters, that they want maybe a check or something? I don’t know what it is exactly, but you would think when you have a victory and then on top of the victory you have a great, successful presidency would be an automatic win, but it’s never been a win. I mean, almost never been. You said two times or three times in a hundred years, it’s right around that number.

He continued, “It doesn’t make sense and nobody’s been able to define why, so I think hopefully we’re gonna change that because we’ve had incredible– we passed a Great Big Beautiful Bill, tax cuts for everybody, no tax on tips, no tax on social security, no tax on overtime, deductions if you buy a car.”

“We have so many things and we’re respected all over the world again like we’ve never been respected before,” Trump concluded.

While Trump predicted this week that the Republican Party would defy the polls and secure an “epic midterm victory,” many White House allies have been less optimistic.

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) warned Republicans on Wednesday that they hadn’t “done enough” to maintain control of the House of Representatives in 2026, while veteran Republican strategist and former Bush White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove warned last month that the Trump administration was “making mistakes that could result in a nasty 2026 midterm defeat.”

Two of Trump’s biggest supporters at Fox News – hosts Laura Ingraham and Jesse Watters – also predicted a wipeout for House Republicans in 2026.

“The midterms right now look ugly, unless the Republicans really get serious,” cautioned Ingraham in November.

Watch above via Fox News.

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!

Tags: