It’s been a very bad week for MAGA.
Insane Nonsense
One Thing We Learned
Fox News would be discussing this for weeks had Biden equated drug factories with nuclear weapons manufacturing.
Trump has clearly lost it.
Trump Feels Bad for the Men in the Rape Case
Trump seems to have forgotten there are more women voters and more independents who may be wavering than there are men who might be persuaded to vote Republican by this foot-in-mouth episode.
The Right’s No-Good, Very Bad Week
I’m not sure what the title of this post is supposed to mean, but please consider MAGA Is Having a Normal One
It’s not the best time to be a MAGA soldier online. Poll after poll shows that Democrats are massive favorites to take back a majority in the House of Representatives next month, and they’re increasingly viewed as favorites to take back the Senate as well. The Argument/Split Ticket model currently gives Democrats an 89% chance of winning the House, and a 61% chance of taking the Senate. Trump’s approval is now at -26 with likely voters. It’s hard out there!
Surely the online Right has cooked up some fantastic responses, right? What have the loyal patriots of the MAGA machine been doing as the electorate turns on them?
Far-right Twitter personality @Howlingmutant0 — best known for racist, misogynistic, and antisemitic jokes that have attracted the attention of followers like Vice President JD Vance — was stunned that after years of cultivating a fanbase of white nationalists, he faced a revolt from that fanbase after it was revealed he has a mixed-race child.
But hey! This is all just internet stuff, podcasts and influencers. Maybe right-wingers in office are doing better.
Jack Smith, the former special counsel in charge of investigating Donald Trump, was on the Hill this week to defend his scrutiny of the president before Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee. The title of the hearing was “Oversight of Jack Smith’s Abuse of Authority and the Targeting of Republicans and Related Matters.”
It all went south for Republicans during questioning by Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., whose inquiries about whether Smith attended an Atlanta Hawks basketball game completely fell apart.
The questioning was meant to somehow establish that Smith had improper ties to Georgia prosecutor Fani Willis, who indicted Trump in a separate state case over alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Schmitt is visibly grinning to himself during the exchange, revealing texts Smith’s staff sent about attending a basketball game.“I don’t think you know that we have this stuff,” Schmitt says smugly before accusing Smith of perjury.
What a bombshell But wait! It turns out that some poor staffer made a mistake. They either forgot that women’s basketball exists, or confused the Atlanta Hawks with the Iowa Hawkeyes, as Smith confirmed that he was actually at a women’s college basketball game between Maryland and Iowa, and nowhere near Atlanta.
The moment was so humiliating it spawned the first ever Congressional Surrender Cobra.
What makes the entire thing so funny is how utterly confident Schmitt was that he had a major, blockbuster scandal to reveal. It’s common to build a press strategy to try and amplify big moments in Congress. Right as Schmitt’s line of questioning was falling apart, conservative influencers were tweeting seemingly pre-prepared talking points. After the hearing, Schmitt had a recording of the Charlie Kirk Podcast lined up to celebrate his big win, and bumbled his way through it without ever acknowledging he got the only fact that mattered completely wrong. And Schmitt had, just that morning, been pumped up by Axios as a potential VP candidate for 2028. RIP to Schmitt’s VP chances (Born Sept 29th, died Sept 29th).
Things went no better on Pennsylvania Avenue: The White House deputy chief of staff posted a six-second clip that may have been thinly veiled QAnon signalling while the president tried to rebrand AI as SI (superintelligence).
Why is MAGA being overrun by scandals, insane nonsense, and infighting? This is what happens when a party is facing electoral disaster and knows it. The political media is having a field day writing article after article about Republican midterm panic. The war with Iran remains toxically unpopular, the price of gas is still high, and there’s little good news to focus on. Small wonder that the online right is collapsing into failed conspiracy theories, racist nonsense, and back-stabbing.
Trump Cheers Inflation?!
The Wall Street Journal reports Trump Says Inflation Could Pay Down the Debt ‘Very Rapidly’
President Trump said “certain levels of inflation” could help pay down the national debt “very rapidly” in an interview with Time magazine where he also said the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate policy is hurting the economy more than inflation is.
Trump accused the Fed’s rate-setting committee of acting out of spite toward him, twice accusing officials of “Trump derangement syndrome,” while sparing his pick, Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh, from blame for last month’s interest-rate increase.
Sentiment and Polls Say the Same Thing
On September 29, 2026, I noted US Consumer Confidence Plunges to the Lowest Level Since 2014
Views of the present situation and future expectations both declined dramatically.
Even more telling On September 25, 2026, I noted Consumer Sentiment Drops in September to Just Above Record Lows
Republican attitudes decline the most, but from higher levels.
Partisan Sentiment Changes
After particularly large declines in sentiment this month, Republican sentiment is now 20% lower than January 2026.
Oh, don’t forget Mortgage Rates Have Largest Weekly Gain in Four Years
Since February, mortgage rates have surged from 6.00 percent to 7.54 percent.
The implosion of MAGA is a stunning but welcome event.
Article posted with permission from Mish Shedlock
