Can the GOP Survive Trump’s Approval Numbers?
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Steve Hayes is CEO and editor of The Dispatch, based in Annapolis, Maryland. Prior to co-founding the company in 2019, he worked at The Weekly Standard for 18 years, covering Washington, politics, and national security. Steve is the author of two New York Times bestsellers. He also worked as a contributor at CNN and Fox News, and currently serves as a political analyst at NBC News. When Steve is not focused on The Dispatch, he’s probably traveling with his family, grilling, or riding his mountain bike.
Jonah Goldberg is editor-in-chief and co-founder of The Dispatch, based in Washington, D.C. Prior to that, enormous lizards roamed the Earth. More immediately prior to that, Jonah spent two decades at National Review, where he was a senior editor, among other things. He is also a bestselling author, longtime columnist for the Los Angeles Times, commentator for CNN, and a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. When he is not writing the G-File or hosting The Remnant podcast, he finds real joy in family time, attending to his dogs and cat, and blaming Steve Hayes for various things.
Michael Warren is politics editor at The Dispatch and is based in Washington, D.C. A former on-air reporter at CNN and a senior writer at The Weekly Standard , he has spent more than 15 years covering lawmakers on Capitol Hill, the White House and the executive branch, the conservative movement, and political campaigns. When Mike is not reporting, writing, editing, and podcasting, he is probably spending time with his wife and three sons.
John McCormack is a senior editor at The Dispatch and is based in Washington, D.C. Prior to joining the company in 2023, he was Washington correspondent at National Review and a senior writer at The Weekly Standard. When John is not reporting on politics and policy, he is probably enjoying life with his wife and daughters in northern Virginia or having fun visiting family in Wisconsin.
The podcast transcription below was generated using artificial intelligence and may include occasional errors or misspellings.
[intro music] Welcome to the Dispatch Podcast. I'm your host, Steve Hayes. On today's roundtable, we look at President Trump's role within the Republican Party as it relates to the upcoming midterms, and Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed's association with socialist streamer Hasan Piker. Then the panelists each choose a race we think you should pay extra attention to this November. And finally, not worth your time, fantasy football. I'm joined today by The Dispatch's Editor-in-Chief, Jonah Goldberg, Politics Editor Mike Warren, and Senior Editor John McCormack. Let's dive right in. [theme music]
Okay, gentlemen, we are gonna spend some time on politics. We are 2 months out from the 2026 midterm elections. There are a couple dozen competitive House races, depending on how you count them, probably 6, 7, 8 competitive Senate races, maybe a couple more. And this is going to have significant potential consequences on the final 2 years of the Trump administration. Although, as John wrote earlier this summer, it may not have many significant consequences on the final 2 years of the Trump administration. Donald Trump had a good number of Republicans over to the White House last night to the new Rose Garden, where he had a dinner. He served them cheeseburgers. They talked about the 2 months in front of us in the midterm elections. The Trump Super PAC released 2 new television ads pointing toward the midterm elections, featuring only Donald Trump talking about Donald Trump and Donald Trump's accomplishments. Donald Trump's overall approval right now, according to the RealClearPolitics average, is -16.7. His approval on the economy, -26.7. His approval on inflation, -39.1. His approval on foreign policy, -19.9. His approval on Iran, -26.5. His approval on what I think is his best issue, immigration, -9.8. The country believes that the United States is on the wrong track versus the right track. There's a 24-point gap there, and many Republicans in competitive races are doing what they can to localize the race, to make the race about their district or their state. And yet Donald Trump, in his comments to Republicans on Wednesday evening, promised that he would be campaigning in battleground states ahead of these elections. Mike,
is Donald Trump doing exactly what Democrats want Donald Trump to do at this moment, with somebody so unpopular promising to weigh in for the next 2 months on behalf of imperiled Republicans?
Yes, but I don't know if it's an irrational move on Trump and the Republicans. I mean, look, all of those numbers [chuckles] are very, very bad for Donald Trump, very, very bad for Republicans. On the other hand, there is so much enthusiasm against Trump from Democratic voters. Okay, so Democratic voters are coming out in 2026. I, I don't think there is any risk of that not happening. Independents, it's bad for Republicans among independent voters. That's the Democrats' challenge right now, is just to get them motivated to vote for Democrats. What do the Republicans need to do? They need to motivate their voters who are not motivated at all at this point in, in the race. So who is the best person in the GOP to unify Republican voters, to get them excited about voting when…
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