President Donald J. Trump delivers remarks at the David S. Mack Center for Training and Intelligence in Garden City, New York, Friday, August 14, 2026. (Official White House Photo by Molly Riley/Flickr)
The term "cult of personality" has been applied to a long list of U.S. presidents, from Ronald Reagan to Barack Obama. And it is often used in connection to President Donald Trump. But according to Democratic insider and former Bill and Hillary Clinton adviser Sidney Blumenthal, Trump's "cult of personality" is facing an existential "crisis" at a time when he needs it the most.
With the 2026 midterms a little over two months away, Blumental emphasizes in an op-ed for The Guardian, Trump's forceful personality isn't mitigating GOP election fears.
"Trump intuitively comprehends that the midterm elections are about him in a way that makes this midterm unlike any other," Blumenthal argues. "In the marrow of his bones, he senses it is a crisis of his cult of personality…. Trump's MAGA was never a new party structure, but constructed on his wreckage of the old Republican Party. In its place, every particle of the replacement is connected to the leader to advance his supremacy and self-enrichment. Everything flows upward, all heads tilted, all knees bent. MAGA has always been MAGA Inc of, by and for one man. The movement is the man."
But "when charisma fails," Blumenthal writes, "the movement" itself "implodes."
"If the leader is not worshipped," the former Clintons adviser explains, "his uber-principle — the leader principle — collapses: no fuhrerprinzip, no Führer."
Hoping to save the GOP's majorities in Congress, Trump is urging Republican voters to "pretend" that he's on the ballot. But that pitch, Blumenthal says, is falling flat.
"Trump's plea for their unconditional love — 'pretend, please' — defies gravity," according to Blumental. "He is running against Isaac Newton, and Newton always prevails. Intensity is gauged by 'strongly approve' and 'strongly disapprove' poll numbers. More than the general statistics of approval or disapproval, these provide insight into the motivation of voters that determine the contour of elections. Trump now stands at 13 percent 'strongly approve' in the most recent Reuters-Ipsos poll."
The Democratic Party insider adds, "His 'strongly disapprove' rating is at 49 percent. His total approval is at 33 percent, while disapproval is at 65 percent. Those in the 'somewhat approve' category include low propensity soft voters especially inclined to skip midterm elections. And this poll was taken before his declaration of trade war against Canada…. His anxiety to rescue his invincible image from the reality he's created makes him more inescapable than ever. Any effort to restrict him will provoke his rage."
