The midterm elections could swing massively in favor of Democrat candidates, and it's because of an issue with Donald Trump the GOP have not addressed.
Greg Sargent of The New Republic and Amanda Marcotte believe the problem of age will weigh heavy on the election cycle next year. Trump, 79, is "not looking good these days" according to Marcotte, who says the "elephant in the room" of the 2026 midterms is the president's age.
She said, "I will not be surprised if turnout is really high in the midterms. And that’s all before you even get into the fact that the elephant in the room is that Donald Trump is 79 years old, and he is not looking good these days."
"And I think that his ability to be a strongman leader of the MAGA cults kind of depends on him looking like someone who’s going to survive for the next few years. I think there’s a bet that increasingly few people are interested in taking."
This is an issue that is, according to Sargent, starting to register with "a lot of MAGA figures." Sargent said, "A lot of MAGA figures are now questioning Trump’s strength and his ability to hold the movement together. And that’s its own sort of death knell."
Trump has struggled to bring the GOP back together after the party found itself split on economic issues and healthcare. The economic issue, Marcotte believes, is what is affecting Trump's second term most of all.
She said, "I do think that the economy is really… I mean, even Trump has been persuaded, obviously, that he should be worried about the bad economic news because he’s trying to stick to talking points. He fails."
"But it’s clear that whoever sat him down and said, this affordability issue is going to hurt you, got through to him because he’s trying to use the word, even though, you know, affordability sounds as weird in his mouth as saying please or thank you. He’s just incapable of understanding that people struggle to afford things.
"Even though he’s been broke how many times. Because he’s rich guy broke so he still has money to pay for whatever he wants. But it’s interesting."
