Conservative commentator Bernard Goldberg warned President Donald Trump in a recent editorial that the president is poised to lose the 2026 midterm elections because of his unpopular immigration and economic policies… and wonders whether Trump’s advisers have the courage to tell him.
Goldberg, a veteran of both CBS News and Fox News, wrote in The Hill that Trump’s use of ICE to target immigrants and protesters on US soil is increasingly unpopular, including with other influential right-wing pundits like podcaster Joe Rogan. In addition, Goldberg argued that Trump has not paid enough attention to the economy, noting that 68 percent of Americans and 48 percent of Republicans feel this way.
“Which raises a question: Is there anyone in Trump’s orbit brave enough to tell him the truth — that his party might actually lose the midterms if he doesn’t start appealing to more than just the MAGA die-hards?” Goldberg writes.
Goldberg also cited a recent editorial by economist William Galston in The Wall Street Journal.
“During the first year of his second term, President Trump has governed as if he needs to please only one subset of those who voted for him in 2024 — his hard-core MAGA base. This is a mistake,” Galston wrote.
This is not Goldberg’s first departure from the president who ostensibly shares his conservative identity. In October Goldberg wrote on his Substack that Trump was spending too much time seeking personal revenge instead of pursuing policy priorities, although he added that Trump’s base may applaud his actions regardless.
“To the MAGA faithful, this isn’t abuse of power — it’s justice. They’ll tell you these folks had it coming. That they were the ones who launched a political war against Trump, and now it’s his turn,” Goldberg wrote.
This is not the first time Goldberg has specifically claimed that Trump’s base eggs him on to decisions that do not serve his political interests. In 2017, Goldberg wrote for the Panama City News Herald that "his hard-core base loves him because he sticks it to all sorts of elite types, mainly the liberal media elite.”
Goldberg later added that "I said no matter what others thought of his performance, his most avid fans loved it because anyone who takes shots at the media is their kind of guy."
