New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman said Saturday that Republicans are panicking about November, and she shared what one of Donald Trump's voters told her about the president.
"I was in Miami last Saturday, and I was talking to a man who had been a Trump voter," Haberman said at the Texas Tribune Festival in Austin. "He said, and I quote, 'He turned out to be a real disappointment. He's just another politician.'"
Haberman said that remark gets at the president's biggest political problem.
"That is the danger for Trump, when someone who runs as different is seen as more of the same," she said.
Texas Tribune co-founder Evan Smith interviewed her. She said the Republicans she talks to see trouble ahead.
"Every Republican I talk to is completely freaked out. It's gonna be bad," Haberman said.
She said Trump ran on three main promises and has broken all of them.
"If you run on Joe Biden didn't fix the economy, it's clear that I am the only one who can do this, I am going to reduce prices, I am going to keep inflation down, I am going to fix this and also forever wars are bad and I am gonna drain the swamp and you break all three, voters can tell," she said.
According to Mediaite, Smith had pointed to the gap between that message and Trump's record, including high prices tied to tariffs, the war in Iran and Justice Department actions critics call retaliatory.
A clip of her comments posted on X by Marco Foster had more than 140,000 views by Saturday evening.
Others said the same thing this weekend. At the same festival, GOP strategist Karl Rove said his party was making a mistake by putting Trump front and center in the midterms. On MS NOW, congressional reporter Mychael Schnell said one House Republican told her, "We're going to get crushed. The only question is by how much?"
Some Republican candidates have started keeping their distance. Rep. Byron Donalds' campaign for Florida governor removed most mentions of Trump's endorsement from its website, which Trump called a "Fake Story."
Maggie Haberman: “Every Republican I talk to is completely freaked out. It’s gonna be bad. If you run on Joe Biden didn’t fix the economy, it’s clear that I am the only one who can do this, I am going to reduce prices, I am going to keep inflation down, I am going to fix this and… pic.twitter.com/szPKN6TUQ3
— Marco Foster (@MarcoFoster_) September 26, 2026