'They staged the cannibal's banquet — and they were on the menu'

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U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters next to U.S. Senate members on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 24, 2026. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

Political consultant and author Stuart Stevens has no sympathy for Republicans who were forced to contend with President Donald Trump, who didn't care much about them during their elections.

In the new book by Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, the authors addressed Trump's having "some satisfaction" seeing Republicans on the ballot lose when he also wasn't running for reelection.

"The next month, when Republicans performed badly in the off-year elections, Trump would say he was 'honored' that people were saying that they couldn't win without him on the ballot," says the new book, Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump.

MS NOW host Katy Tur asked Stevens about it, but he couldn't possibly care less about the plight of the GOP.

"Look, I have zero sympathy for these Republicans," he said frankly. "You know, they staged the cannibal's banquet, and in a surprise, they were on the menu. What do you expect from Donald Trump? This is the same erratic, self-centered guy who doesn't care anything about governing."

This week, Republicans are facing off against the president, killing one of their only pieces of legislation to address the affordability crisis.

"I think that we sort of grade on the curve here if we start saying, well, they haven't done everything that Donald Trump wanted to. They are supposed to be a coequal branch of government," Stevents said.

He noted that there's a tendency of the political establishment and pundit class to "both-sides" a Congress that fails to pass legislation. Fewer than 40 bills passed the House and Senate in 2025. It set a modern record for the lowest legislative output in the first year of a new presidency, according to data gathered by C-SPAN and Purdue University.

The legislative session for 2026 is still going, but thus far, it isn't looking great. Most legislation focuses on naming post offices, approving nominees from the president and authorizing veterans hospitals. There have been 186 roll call votes, meaning the members indicated whether they were present in the chamber.

Stevens remarked, "Democrats actually are trying to govern. Republicans, for the most part, are just doing what Donald Trump says, and Donald Trump could not care less about the midterms; he could not care less about them; he could not care less about anything but what is immediately in front of him that his name is going to be on," something or something that "involves getting him richer."

He said it was like that in 2016 and it will be true this time around as well.

"They all kind of try to pretend this is otherwise and ultimately it just doesn't work, because Donald Trump isn't that person that they keep trying to think he might," Stevens closed.

- YouTubeyoutu.be

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