Trump and the GOP’s new 'creepy' messaging signals 'bad omens for MAGA'

US President Donald Trump speaks during a midterm election campaign rally to support Republican US Senate candidate Ken Paxton, in Corpus Christi, Texas, US, October 27, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

With the midterm season coming to a climax, a number of occurrences both domestically and abroad are signaling “bad omens for MAGA.” According to Mother Jones’ Washington D.C. bureau chief David Corn, a recent spate of “creepy, weird” behavior by President Donald Trump and losses by his key allies overseas suggest that Americans and people around the world are “fed up” with the MAGA movement once and for all.

In Serbia and Brazil, notes Mother Jones, Trump allies suffered “stinging and surprising defeats” as voters rejected far-right, MAGA-aligned governments. An anti-corruption movement spearheaded the outcome in Serbia, while Brazil saw a dramatic comeback for President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who beat Trump ally Flávio Bolsonaro so badly that the latter fled to the U.S. “Both of the losing candidates, Bolsonaro in Brazil and [President Aleksandar] Vučić in Serbia, wrapped themselves around Donald Trump,” Corn explained. “So we see in Serbia and Hungary authoritarian figures who try to emulate and ride the Trump wave being tossed out of office. And in [South America], where we’ve seen a right-wing tide… they beat it back” in Brazil. Voters everywhere, notes Corn, seem to be sick of the government grift that has characterized the reign of Trump and his allies.

Meanwhile, closer to home, Trump has been “obsessively” commenting on the physiques of Republican candidates – frequently praising their posteriors – in what Mother Jones calls “one of the stranger closing arguments in modern American political history.” As outlet contributor Garrison Hayes put it, “This has to be, like, the definition of being off message. Like, definitionally off message.” Trump’s remarks regarding rear-ends extended to rapper Nicki Minaj, who appeared at a rally, where Trump asked her to stand before lauding her backside, which fueled the “silly rumor” she might be named press secretary. “It reminds me of what happened in 2016 when Trump was campaigning and he would say, ‘Hey, where’s my Black friend?’” noted Corn. Hayes agreed with this assessment, saying, “Here we are in the closing moments of this midterm election, and the way that the Trump administration has decided to utilize a Black person in order to, I imagine, appeal to Black voters is offensive. It’s almost a caricature of the kind of racism that has become emblematic of this administration.”

Hayes also called out a recent White House AI “slop” post portraying top Democrats as sombrero-wearing singers, musing, “This feels like the slop election in some ways, right? Incoherent is the name of the game.” The Mother Jones contributors also pointed to a “cringe” ad for California Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton, which intimated that voting GOP was akin to experimenting with lesbian sex. The fact that Trump and his allies have leaned into this “creepy, weird” messaging, conclude Corn and Hayes, makes it clear why voters are rejecting MAGA.

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