Republicans trapped in Trump's popularity death spiral as 'the world burns'

U.S. President Donald Trump looks on at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 8, 2026. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz

As Republicans rush headfirst into the 2026 midterm elections, they're losing any illusion that the party can survive without President Donald Trump.

Writing for The Guardian, Sidney Blumenthal, former senior advisor to former President Bill Clinton, wrote that two major events last week proved that "the cult survives, the [Republican] party withers."

Last week, Trump-backed candidates knocked off GOP state lawmakers who dared resist his redistricting demands, while the rest of the party kept feeding his hunger for loyalty with a proposed $1 billion gift for his vanity ballroom. The message was unmistakable: the party is shrinking, and Trump’s grip on the GOP is tightening even as his popularity keeps fading.

"The Republicans have no instinct for separation from Trump, no will to stage an intervention, no ability to muster an ultimatum." said Blumenthal. "They have been complicit in their captivity, co-conspirators in their demise. As the ballots were being cast in Indiana to terminate the Republican dissenters, Republican US Senate leaders proposed $1 billion for security improvements to Trump’s extravagant ballroom."

Trump had claimed that his ballroom would never be paid for with taxpayer dollars and large and corporate donors would be the ones to bring it to fruition. Many of those giving money also have lucrative federal contracts. The GOP Congress has decided this isn't enough and intends to hand Trump a massive check so the president doesn't have to leave the White House for an event ever again.

Blumenthal called it "a tribute to Trump, momentarily assuaging his desire to be worshipped as a god, is a major campaign gift to the Democrats."

Meanwhile, he continued, "the world burns."

Trump’s hold on the Republican Party is no longer a mere matter of personal loyalty, rather it has become a system of political survival. It began with fear of his wrath, but it has hardened into something far more corrosive: a party-wide dependence on his approval, his donors, and his base.

Blumenthal explained that Republican lawmakers privately despise his behavior, yet they still keep their heads down because they have calculated that the cost of resistance is higher than the cost of submission. That calculation has turned the GOP into a party that no longer knows how to say no to its own leader, even when his actions are dragging it toward disaster.

"This is why the Indiana primaries matter so much," said Blumenthal. "They were not merely local contests; they were a demonstration of Trump’s ability to punish dissent and reward obedience. For Republicans who once imagined they could survive by quietly tolerating him, the message is now unmistakable. Cross Trump, and he will come after you. Support him, and he may spare you — at least until the next demand. In that sense, the party has been reduced to a kind of political hostage situation, in which members are not freely choosing a strategy so much as trying to avoid becoming the next target."

The former presidential advisor's bleak warning is that there is no secret to rescue the GOP. There are no responsible elder statesmen waiting in the wings to swoop in to save Republicans. There are no institutional brakes strong enough to slow Trump down, warned Blumenthal. The old guard is gone, the guardrails are gone, and the Republican Party has largely accepted its transformation into a Trump vehicle with fewer independent instincts than ever before. The result is a party that may still win occasional battles, but is losing the larger war over its own identity, credibility, and future.

"The Republicans would rather self-destruct than attempt to rescue themselves," Blumenthal closed.

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