President Donald Trump could be heading toward a far more volatile period if Republicans lose control of Congress in November, conservative writer Jonathan V. Last warned Tuesday.
Writing in The Bulwark, Last described a “remarkable series of fractures” within the GOP and Trump’s MAGA movement and suggested the president and his allies may have “lost control of events.”
“The Trump playbook is cooked,” Last declared Tuesday.
But his chief concern is what happens after the midterms, warning: “The period of maximum danger may still lie ahead of us.”
He predicted Republicans would lose at least one chamber of Congress, exposing Trump’s administration to investigations while the war continues and his party begins looking toward its next presidential nominee.
“The midterm defeat won’t be the end of Trump’s problems,” he wrote. “It will be the beginning.”
Last next questioned whether Trump would willingly give up his grip over the party or accept a diminished role in American politics. He suggested chaos would continue inside the GOP until Trump formally announces he would not seek a third term.
“The longer he postpones that announcement, the more chaos there will be inside the party as the machine continues smoking, shaking, and breaking apart,” Last wrote.
He pointed to several signs of fractures inside the party, including the GOP'S attempt to revive warnings about migrant caravans that drew pushback from former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA). “It’s not working,” Last said.
He also pointed to trouble surrounding Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and his prospect of an impeachment vote, and Tucker Carlson’s fierce criticism of the Iran war, an issue he added that would not “abate before the election.”
“What we do know is that there is no remaining constituency for a war Trump chose, lost, and now can’t get out of,” Last wrote Tuesday. “And the people maddest about these facts are the core of the former MAGA base.”
