Trump to Conservatives: We Are Watching you.

by Rod Williams, Nov. 6, 2026 - Voters took Trump's words to heart and voted as if he were on the ballot, resulting in a historic loss for Republicans. Now, many Trumpinista politicians and pundits are questioning what went wrong. Even J. D. Vance, who was never really on board with the Iraq War, is saying it was the war. It's unusual for a vice president to throw the president under the bus. Normally, the vice president would want to stay in the good graces of the president and inherit the mantle. I guess Vance sees there is no mantle to inherit. I think it is too late for a break with Trump to help J. D. Vance. I think we can stick a fork in him; he's done. 

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, who unsuccessfully challenged Trump for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, blamed Trump for the midterm losses. “This midterm, no question, was a rebuke of the president and the Congress by Democrats, independents and some Republicans that crossed over,” he told Fox News’ Laura Ingraham.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz described the losses as “a Watergate-level repudiation” in a social-media post, writing Trump’s "tariffs have made everything too expensive” while “the Iran war has dragged on too long.”

Other pundits are saying it was the quality of the candidates. You think so? Darleen Graham was obviously not ready for prime time, and other Republican candidates were pretty weak. The best example of a bad candidate is Ken Paxton in Texas. Republicans had an incumbent candidate of quality in John Cornyn, but due to a personal vendetta, a good person was jettisoned by a vindictive president to be replaced by a corrupt candidate that Trump liked. 

Paxton had been indicted in 2015 on felony securities fraud charges for allegedly misleading investors about his financial relationship with a technology company. In a plea deal, those charges were dropped after restitution and community service. That was just the tip of the iceberg. There were credible charges of bribery, self-enrichment, and misuse of his office. Paxton was impeached by the Texas House in 2023 but acquitted by the Senate after a two‑week trial.  I would say candidate quality matters, and the person responsible for promoting bad candidates was Donald J. Trump. 

To question what went wrong is to question Trump, and he doesn't like to be questioned; he wants devotion and adoration. He wants supplicants, sycophants, and loyal followers. Trump will always have those. Years from now, when Trump is long gone, there will still be people who think our greatest hour was the Trump presidency.  I think the cult of Trump is much like the cult of Peron in Argentina. Over 50 years since he last served in office, Peron still has defenders. 

So, while Trump has his loyalists who will never abandon him, I think we will see the MAGA movement splinter, and many will abandon MAGA altogether, and others argue over who is the real MAGA (or America First). Even before this election debacle, we saw it happening with the split off of people like Marjorie Taylor Greene and Tucker Carlson. 

With the election defeat, more people will abandon Trump. I expect to see more and more people to begin leaving the administration, and when Democrats start investigating the Trump corruption, I expect to see people abandoning Trump like rats abandoning a sinking ship. The only thing that will keep some on board is the Trump bargaining chip of a pardon for loyalists. 

Donald J. Trump is the lamest of lame ducks. I don't know how much power to keep in line or intimidate he has left. Following such a humiliating defeat, he can't have a lot. However, he didn't seem to get the memo. 

On Thursday, a memo from the White House Office of Public Liaison was sent to about 3,000 conservative organizations, listing a series of Trump accomplishments and vowing that a Democratic Congress wouldn’t reverse them.  The memo ended with one sentence highlighted in yellow: “As always, we are monitoring statements, press releases, and media engagements from your organizations.”

(link)

Top Stories