{"id":2697766,"date":"2026-11-04T07:27:59","date_gmt":"2026-11-04T12:27:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignthe-nationwide-collapse-of-the-republican-party-is-trumps-fault\/"},"modified":"2026-11-04T07:32:26","modified_gmt":"2026-11-04T12:32:26","slug":"utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignthe-nationwide-collapse-of-the-republican-party-is-trumps-fault","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignthe-nationwide-collapse-of-the-republican-party-is-trumps-fault\/","title":{"rendered":"The Nationwide Collapse Of The Republican Party Is Trump\u2019s Fault"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Futm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignthe-nationwide-collapse-of-the-republican-party-is-trumps-fault%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2697766&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Last night\u2019s results weren\u2019t just a modest Democratic gain &#8211; they were a sweeping national defeat for Republicans at both state and federal levels, worse than 2006 and likely to have long-term consequences for the GOP.<\/p>\n<p>The piece argues the primary reason for this collapse is President Donald trump\u2019s decision to start a war with Iran. That conflict, which the author says the U.S. has effectively lost so far, raised everyday costs for Americans &#8211; higher gas and food prices, and broader inflation tied to transportation &#8211; and broke Trump\u2019s 2024 promises of no new Middle east wars. Voters who expected \u201cAmerica First\u201d policies like no new wars and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/exclusive-tom-cotton-senate-republicans-will-make-any-build-back-better-votes-painful-for-democrats\/\" title=\"Exclusive\u2014 Tom Cotton: Senate ... Will Make Any \u2018Build Back Better... Votes Painful for ...\">strict immigration enforcement<\/a> felt betrayed and turned against Republican candidates across the country.<\/p>\n<p>Other mistakes by the Trump governance-chaotic tariff policies, corruption among appointees, the president\u2019s egotistical behavior, and missteps like his handling of the Epstein files-also contributed to the rout.But the author contends those failures became far more damaging as of the Iran war, which magnified voters\u2019 frustration.<\/p>\n<p>Trump entered his second term positioned for a strong presidency but spent two years on costly foreign interventions and ineffective domestic policy, accomplishing little while deflecting blame when criticized. Attempts to explain the losses by pointing to \u201cbad candidates\u201d don\u2019t hold up, the author says: well-funded incumbents and long-standing GOP strongholds fell to Democrats in states like Texas (where Democrats won a Senate seat and the governorship), south carolina, Iowa, Maine, and Ohio, and surprising Democratic victories occurred elsewhere.<\/p>\n<p>The author insists responsibility rests squarely with Trump,who chose war without a clear plan or an effort to convince americans it was necessary. By doing so, and by abandoning the anti-war stance that helped him supplant the Bush-era GOP, he\u2019s effectively wrecked the party he remade &#8211; at least for now.Whether he recognizes this and can rebuild the party over the next two years is uncertain; Trump himself minimized the role of the war in post-election remarks, blaming gas prices and candidates instead.<\/p>\n<p>the piece laments that the popular \u201cAmerica First\u201d agenda (no new foreign wars, domestic focus, strict immigration enforcement, pro-family policies) has been undermined by Trump\u2019s actions, tho the author believes it could be successful again someday. The article is by John Daniel Davidson, senior editor at The Federalist.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Last night wasn\u2019t just a blue wave or a blue tsunami, it was a nationwide collapse of the Republican Party at the state and federal level \u2014 an historic defeat, far worse than 2006, that will have repercussions for the GOP for decades to come.<\/p>\n<p>And it is overwhelmingly President Donald Trump\u2019s fault. <\/p>\n<p>Anyone watching election coverage Tuesday night, or following it on X, heard all kinds of coping from conservative and neocon commentators, blaming poor candidates or botched campaigns or inadequate GOTV efforts. But the overarching reality is that none of these things were determinative. The midterms were a referendum on the Trump administration, and above all on Trump\u2019s decision to go to war with Iran.<\/p>\n<p>That war, which as of this writing we have lost \u2014 with no real prospect of winning it anytime soon \u2014 had concrete, everyday effects on Americans\u2019 lives. After February 28 of this year, they began paying more not just for gas but also for groceries and nearly everything else, anything that must be transported by a diesel-fueled truck. As National Review\u2019s Michael Brendan Dougherty <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/michaelbd\/status\/2117812027359981964?a=h0MHf5vCLc8RcGwPjAM&#038;s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">noted on X last night<\/a>, \u201cRunning on the slogan of America First and then not even bothering to sell a war of choice to the American people that ended up changing almost every household budget in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This was a war that no Trump voters were asking for in 2024. In fact they were promised the opposite: no new Mideast wars. That, and mass deportations were the two things voters wanted from a second Trump term. He betrayed them on both counts, launching the Iran war and doing too little on mass deportations. And the result is that voters, clearly perceiving the betrayal, have rejected Republicans everywhere.<\/p>\n<p>The war and the everyday costs it has imposed on the American people have driven this collapse, but it\u2019s not the only factor. There were other self-inflicted failures by the Trump White House: the chaotic tariffs, the shameless corruption of Trump officials, the general megalomania of the president and his often-expressed contempt for ordinary people. Even his bizarre and defensive handling of the Epstein files was an indication that he was not focused on the necessary things.<\/p>\n<p>These were all of course lesser causes of the defeat, and ones that might have been overcome or mitigated if it weren\u2019t for the Iran war. But the war and its costs colored all these things, made them more visible and glaring. People noticed when they might have otherwise overlooked them.<\/p>\n<p>And it\u2019s a real shame, because Trump came into office in January 2025 on a glide path to an historically successful second term, then proceeded to waste two years in foreign adventures and desultory domestic policymaking. He accomplished little, yet repeatedly struck a defiant pose when anyone questioned him. That\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/aishahhasnie\/status\/2117812253114155045?a=91KlP4I03qTisQsFyt4&#038;s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">exactly what he did on Tuesday night<\/a>, blaming the candidates and the voters instead of taking responsibility for his own abject failures. <\/p>\n<p>For those who, like Trump, would try to conjure up some other explanation for Tuesday\u2019s historic defeat \u2014 anything other than the war in Iran \u2014 there is precious little evidence to go on. Consider the refrain about \u201ccandidate quality.\u201d In Texas, it\u2019s no use arguing that Ken Paxton was a weak candidate to square off against James Talarico. Incumbent Gov. Greg Abbott, a three-term Texas governor with a massive war chest, also lost. Before last night, Democrats hadn\u2019t won a statewide race in Texas since 1994. They now have a U.S. Senate seat, the governor\u2019s mansion, and perhaps the office of lieutenant governor and attorney general (both statewide elected offices in Texas).<\/p>\n<p>In South Carolina, Senator Darline Graham \u2014 recklessly appointed to succeed her brother Lindsay Graham after his death earlier this year \u2014 lost to Annie Andrews, a Democrat. In the Iowa Senate race, Democrat Josh Turek defeated Republican Ashley Hinson. In Maine, five-term Republican Senator Susan Collins lost to Democrat Troy Jackson. In the Ohio governor\u2019s race, Democrat Amy Acton defeated Republican Vivek Ramaswamy. All over the country, in key races, Democrats pulled off upset victories. Deeply weird and radical Democratic candidates like Talarico in Texas and Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan ousted or defeated Republicans. As results come in this week in Alaska and elsewhere, the picture will likely get worse for the GOP.<\/p>\n<p>It is not hyperbole or over-simplistic to lay this historic catastrophe at Trump\u2019s feet. He chose to go to war in Iran \u2014 the one thing he didn\u2019t have to do, the one thing that would be deeply unpopular with both his base and the Democratic base, demoralizing the one and energizing the latter. No one, as far as we know, forced him into that decision.\u00a0He went to war willingly, with no plan and no theory of victory, and then refused to do what was necessary to win \u2014 refused even to try to sell the American people on the war or even make a serious case for it, at any point in the conflict.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not too much to say that for Trump to do this, at this point, having conquered the GOP of George W. Bush largely by repudiating the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, means he has destroyed the party he took over and remade. Or at least he has destroyed it for now.<\/p>\n<p>Whether Trump is capable of seeing what he\u2019s done, and salvaging what remains of his once right-populist party over the next two years, remains to be seen. He appeared to be aware that the Iran war was a problem in <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/aishahhasnie\/status\/2117845867260514618?a=BINR044_OsLiYnqRSsc&#038;s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">his remarks on Fox News Tuesday night<\/a>. But he also wanted to blame the candidates and credit Democrats. \u201cI don\u2019t think it was the war. I think it was the gas prices,\u201d he said, apparently not recognizing the relationship between those two things. Asked whether he\u2019ll make any cabinet changes, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ShelbyTalcott\/status\/2117849001210896776?a=WJ6GZLwwQgnLTmy6tJE&#038;s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">he said<\/a>, \u201cI don\u2019t think so. It had nothing to do with my cabinet \u2026 It\u2019s just a point in time. There was a mood in the air, I guess.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Yes, there was a mood in the air. The mood was anger at Trump\u2019s historic betrayal. He ran and won in 2016 and 2024 on a widely popular America First agenda that consisted of no new foreign wars, nation-building at home, no more illegal immigration, pro-tradition and pro-family policies. That agenda is popular with a clear majority of American voters. It\u2019s a winning agenda. It will be again someday. But right now it lies in ruins, destroyed by the one person voters had entrusted to carry it out.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      John Daniel Davidson is a senior editor at The Federalist. His writing has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the Claremont Review of Books, The New York Post, and elsewhere. He is the author of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Pagan-America-Decline-Christianity-Dark\/dp\/1684514444\/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Pagan+America&#038;qid=1695306441&#038;sr=8-1\"><i>Pagan America: the Decline of Christianity and the Dark Age to Come<\/i><\/a>. Follow him on Twitter, @johnddavidson.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Trump&#8217;s Iran war ruined GOP; voters punished the party<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":518,"featured_media":2697767,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/Trump-midterms.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[87468,5894,71852,3634],"class_list":["post-2697766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-party-collapse-2","tag-politics","tag-republican-party-2","tag-trump"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/Trump-midterms.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2697766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/518"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2697766"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2697766\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2697770,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2697766\/revisions\/2697770"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2697767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2697766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2697766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2697766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}