Meet President “Donald Lame Duck”
(Note: This article appeared originally on November 4, 2026 on Substack)
By Howard Barbanel
The results from the 2026 midterms could not have been more disastrous for President Trump and the Republicans. Things have to be pretty bad in the mind of John Q. Public and a lot of people have to hate the President a whole lot to deliver the humiliation and drubbing inflicted on Mr. Trump. It was the kind of beat down one might see in an MMA fight on the White House lawn or in professional wrestling.
Some friends have been texting me with assertions that the election was rigged. But the losses were so widespread and in so many red and purple states with sterling election systems (as opposed to California) that that charge is wholly disengaged from reality.
When you manage to turn Texas and Georgia blue, well, that’s some accomplishment. When you manage to lose the House and the Senate and many governorships to boot, that really evinces a special kind of talent. The Democrats couldn’t have done it without Mr. Trump’s help. He crisscrossed the nation telling everyone and anyone that Americans should vote like he was on the ballot. Boy did they ever.
It is axiomatic in politics that you need to be likable. The President has spent the past year or so making himself anything and everything but. I voted for him and I’m a Republican but let’s be honest here, Trump can be as grating as nails on a chalkboard. It all starts with his penchant (or obsession) that he dominate the news on any given day and even in any given hour, even in the middle of the night. He made the mistake of overarching ubiquity during Covid when he made the pandemic all about himself to a point where more Americans were suffering from his tweets and press conferences than from the pandemic itself.
The election outcome highlights his poor judgement. Take a look at his candidate selections – Ken Paxton in Texas was so bad he brought Governor Abbott down with him. In South Carolina, a deep red state if there ever was one, selecting Lindsay Graham’s inexperienced sister was a dud of major proportions. There was a huge laundry list of similarly low-quality candidates across the nation. Popular incumbents who wouldn’t genuflect before his derriere were shunted aside. There was no clear message that addressed the concerns of the average voter. Democrats were laser-focused on “affordability” and Iran. Trump and his candidates were everywhere but the place Americans cared about – their gas tanks, grocery carts and cost of housing. (Mortgage rates, anyone?) The basics. How do you miss that?
His made-up fake war with Canada made things more expensive and irritated states along the border such as Maine and Michigan who trade heavily with that country. His war with Mexico sure didn’t help in Texas. The real war with Iran has been veering up, down and side to side almost hourly with no clear message to the American people about why we are fighting (sorry, tweets don’t cut it) and how and when we’re going to win. The war exploded the cost of gasoline, diesel, natural gas, heating oil and anything derived from petroleum. Since everything we eat gets shipped in trucks and container ships, the cost of fuel translates into more expensive food. Someone living on $70,000 a year (or less) when faced with their half-empty gas tank and then dreading the supermarket check-out feels prices up close and personal. It’s the economy, stupid.
This epic defeat has huge ramifications. Losing the Senate means that the GOP might not recapture it for another six years or more, hobbling any successful GOP Presidential winner in 2028. Losing the House means for the next two years Trump, his family and his allies will be subpoenaed, investigated, impeached and prosecuted nineteen hundred ways to Sunday. It will paralyze anything and everything in Washington. It will be a ten-ring circus with a new investigation initiated every week.
A Democrat Congress also is very bad for Israel as so many of the new members are hostile to the Jewish State and to Jews in general. Look for a rapid and rabid increase in antisemitism with an Islamist now even in the Senate. It will hobble defense spending, gradually enfeebling our armed forces. This will have the effect of weakening the US and the West and giving remit to bad actors everywhere to wreak even more havoc than we see globally now.
Finally, this kind of rout of Republicans gives Democrats hope of winning the presidency in 2028 – hey, if you can turn Texas, Georgia, Kansas and the Carolinas blue, you don’t need to abolish the electoral college! People like AOC might actually have a shot at becoming President. Imagine Ilhan Omar as Secretary of State. You laugh? Don’t. With a Socialist Congress, a Democrat President could irrevocably transform the country to the extent it will become California or New York.
The bright spot here (if any) is that Republicans have finally been freed from forced obeisance to President Trump. There is nothing good he can do for them anymore. He’s shown that loyalty brings no rewards and lack of loyalty might actually help you get reelected. Trump has a very limited future as a maimed lame duck – but wounded animals can strike out viciously. Look for a lot of drama ahead.