Report exposes Trump’s surreal behavior behind closed doors after shellacking

U.S. President Donald Trump looks on as he speaks to reporters onboard Air Force One, on travel from West Palm Beach, Florida, to Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, U.S., February 16, 2026. REUTERS Elizabeth Frantz

When President Donald Trump's Republican Party lost the 2026 midterms in a landslide, the immediate GOP reactions varied, from Trump's surprising decision not to fight the results to conservative interest groups insisting their party would have won if Trump had listened to them. Now a new report indicates that Trump is literally in a state of dazed denial about the historic defeat he suffered on Tuesday.

"In the days since his defeat, he has sounded like a man in denial," reported The New York Times' Peter Baker on Sunday. "With his party still picking through the wreckage of a political earthquake, a seemingly oblivious President Trump signed a steel beam for his new White House ballroom and flew to Florida to give a speech on the space program. He seems flat these days, maybe a little dazed."

After describing how Trump dominated American politics from his surprise victory in the 2016 presidential election until last week, Baker points out that Trump has yet to openly accept that his heyday is behind him, something his predecessors did not struggle to do when faced with similar setbacks.

"Unlike other presidents who suffered midterm defeats, Mr. Trump has largely not acknowledged the setback," Baker wrote. "After Mr. Bush’s Republicans lost both houses in 2006, he admitted it was a “thumping.” After President Barack Obama’s Democrats lost the House in 2010, he admitted it was a “shellacking.” Mr. Trump, by contrast, has offered no expression of humility or much recognition of public discontent with him."

Baker added, "Like other presidents after midterm defeats, Mr. Trump now faces an inevitable erosion of influence. After President Bill Clinton’s Democrats were swamped in 1994, he was left to argue plaintively that “the Constitution gives me relevance.” There were echoes of that last week when the White House was reduced to posting an online message saying, “TRUMP IS STILL YOUR PRESIDENT.”"

Speaking with AlterNet shortly after the midterm results, political analyst and expert Dr. Allan Lichtman discussed two comparison points for the 2026 midterm elections — 1994 and 1894.

"One comparison that immediately comes to mind is the power shift in 1994, when for the first time in decades, the Republican Party took back both the House and the Senate, with major gains in both chambers," Lichtman said. "In fact, the gain in the Senate this time, which is at least seven seats, was exceeded only by the 1994 elections."

In 1994, Democratic President Bill Clinton lost control of Congress to Republicans. When this journalist compared the 2026 outcome to that of 1894, when Democratic President Grover Cleveland lost control of Congress to Republicans, Lichtman agreed.

"I think the analogy is apt," Lichtman wrote. "That was a big rout for Grover Cleveland and his Democratic Party. And interestingly, it presaged what was a long-term Republican sweep of American politics. The only Democratic president after Grover Cleveland and before Franklin Roosevelt was, of course, Woodrow Wilson. It was an even bigger rout than we saw this time. The distinction I would draw, though, is that in 1894, it was almost entirely due to the Great Depression of the 1890s, the worst depression that the nation had experienced before the Great Depression of the 1930s."

He added, "The rout in 2026, of course, was to a significant extent based upon the sour economy, but there was more involved here. The unpopular war was a factor unto itself, independent of its effect on the economy. Typically, we have a rally-around-the-flag effect early in a war, even in Iraq and Vietnam."

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