There is a saying in politics: “Every election is fundamentally about the next one.” On November 3, the Republican Party suffered what some have labelled a near “extinction-level” loss in the 2026 midterms. With the results likely to offer an indication of what lies ahead in the next presidential election, what options do Republicans have for 2028? First, we need to understand why this latest “blue tsunami” occurred. The midterms were a rejection of Trump, not an endorsement of the Democrats.

Last Tuesday’s outcome reflected voters holding Trump responsible for economic disaster, huge increases in the cost of living, his failing war on Iran, and his catering to Israel. It is also a condemnation of the Trump family using the Oval Office to enrich themselves and their friends to an unprecedented degree.

Coming into the midterms, voters saw the Trump administration as corrupt and as having abandoned the populist grassroots that had helped him get elected in the first place. A bad economy, failed tariffs, and an unwanted war widened the gap between the MAGA loyalists – who remain loyal to Trump as a political figure – and the America First factions of the Republican Party, which remain loyal to the values that Trump had campaigned on but failed to deliver. It was the separation of these two groups, once seen as interchangeable, that ultimately destroyed the Trump coalition, which had brought Trump and the Republicans to power in Washington.

During the latest midterms, we witnessed many prominent voices in the conservative movement openly oppose Republican leaders. Popular conservatives such as Tucker Carlson and Marjorie Taylor Greene spoke out publicly against several Republican candidates, including Mike Rogers in Michigan and Ken Paxton in Texas. Former Trump supporter Nick Fuentes advocated for months for his followers to vote for Democrats. Their argument was that Trump had betrayed America First principles and could no longer be trusted. Many former grassroots Trump voters who had supported him because of his economic agenda and because he had said that he wanted “no more wars” had suffered greatly due to the increasing cost of living and job losses. In the end, Trump lost support among young voters, Hispanic and Latino voters, Black men, and suburban and independent voters.

These........

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