President Donald Trump closed off Friday with another failure, adding to a growing list of humiliating defeats in 2026. These losses aren't part of the discussion among MAGA loyalists, in large part because they're ignoring failure, two analysts discussed on Monday.
In a wide-ranging interview, Zeteo’s Asawin Suebsaeng told The New Republic's Greg Sargent that Trump’s string of flops has left his MAGA base in denial, forcing allies like White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt to spin obvious losses as victories in North Korean-style propaganda.
The conversation began with the huge news that the Justice Department would drop its legal attacks on Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, for now. In a New York Timesreport, prosecutors revealed that there was no real case against Powell, as there wasn't any evidence, but they moved forward anyway.
Suebsaeng said that the good news is that none of the DOJ lawyers can justify the charges before a judge, whether or not they're making a good faith effort to do so.
Sargent pointed to the mass resignations as another sign of Trump losing. In the case of former Attorney General Pam Bondi, she failed to prosecute Trump's enemies to his satisfaction.
"They’ve mostly imploded in buffoonery, really," said Sargent of the prosecutions that Bondi did move forward with.
Both of the reporters believe another crash is coming for the DOJ, whether it's acting AG Todd Blanche making the case against Trump's targets or another DOJ prosecutor.
"And yet, in spite of all that, in MAGA world, you’re not allowed to say Trump has lost ever in any sense," said Sargent. "So the U.S. attorney for D.C., Jeanine Pirro, is now saying the investigation will be picked up by the Fed’s inspector general."
He pointed to Leavitt's comments in a gaggle outside the White House on Friday in which she claimed, "the cases are not necessarily dropped, it’s just being moved over to the inspector general who has critical tools at their disposal to continue to look into the financial mismanagement at the Fed. This has obviously been a priority for the president."
She then falsely claimed that the renovations of the Federal Bank are "costing taxpayers billions of dollars." The Fed doesn't operate on taxpayer dollars. It is fully self-funded and there are no taxpayer dollars being spent on the construction.
Sargent called the comments absurd and insulting, particularly because she's twisting herself in knots trying to "reassure the audience of one that he’s winning."
Suebsaeng compared it to the propaganda from North Korean state media.
If you talk "about the way the Republican Party elite treat Donald Trump and Trumpism, the way they talk about their supposed God-emperor and how he can never fail, he can only be failed—I’m sorry, it reminds me of literally only one other government on the face of the planet. And that’s the one that exists in North Korea’s Pyongyang and how they treat their totalitarian dictator. I mean, it’s not an exaggeration at all to say that the two things are comparable."
Sargent agreed, saying that whether it is Leavitt or Fox News host Sean Hannity, "you can map it almost directly onto North Korean propaganda."
Suebsaeng explained that the administration appears to be losing more, "and in some cases a lot more—than they and their cult would ever publicly admit, or especially President Donald Trump would ever be willing to admit, otherwise his ego would cave in on itself. And also, at the same time, there is a pathetic weakness and massive gaping hole of insecurity that undergirds all of this MAGA authoritarianism."
He confessed he might "feel sorry for them if they weren't so despicably cruel."
Sargent said that it appears the position for the GOP is that "Republicans quite literally and explicitly expect that the way this is supposed to work is that they get to rig elections and Democrats roll over and take it. That’s their position."
Suebsaeng said that they justify such actions, "But yes, their position has always been like, it is morally crooked or maybe even illegal if you do a tenth of something. If we do nine tenths or a hundred percent of something, we get to do it just because it would hurt our feelings if you said we didn’t get to do it. And by the way, the Roberts Court agrees with us. So ha ha, check the scoreboard."
Suebsaeng closed by saying that Trump and the GOP "deserve each other."