Trumpism Will Outlast Midterm Losses and Trump Himself, So the Left Needs an Economic Populist Politics to Defeat It
Source: Joseph G. Peschek. "A Midterm Rout Will Hurt the GOP, but Trumpism Will Endure." October 30, 2026. jacobin.com
The Gist
The author says Republicans will probably do badly in the midterms because the economy is weak and the Iran war is unpopular. But he argues Trumpism is a lasting movement that won't vanish when Trump leaves office or after an election loss. To beat it, he says the Left needs to offer real economic solutions for working people rather than just returning to politics as usual.
Conclusion
Even if Republicans suffer a rout in the midterms, Trumpism will persist beyond them and beyond Trump's presidency, so defeating it requires the Left to build a politics that speaks to working people's economic pain, rather than relying on a return to the old normal or on centrist liberalism.
Premises
- Republicans are likely to lose heavily in November, given nationalized midterm elections, a weak economy, an unpopular war with Iran, and Trump's very low economic approval (28%).
- Trumpism is a distinct, durable form of right-wing politics that fuses pseudo-populism, nationalism, and authoritarianism with predatory pro-capitalist policy, and it aims at lasting hegemony in American politics.
- Trumpism has deepened and radicalized between Trump's terms: it intensified authoritarianism and election-fraud lies, built blueprints for taking control of the administrative state (Project 2025), embraced far-right cultural thought, and abandoned economic populism for corporate-friendly policy.
- Its current behavior (undermining confidence in elections, raiding Ilhan Omar's home) is consistent with a movement seeking dominance and treating electoral checks and critics as enemies.
- Americans' economic pain is largely caused by Trump's own policies (the regressive One Big Beautiful Bill Act, tariffs, the Iran war, deportations), and Trump is indifferent to it, creating an opening for repudiating Trumpism.
- Centrist and corporate liberalism has been unable to restrain the 'elemental forces' that fascist-style movements unleash, so the old normal is insufficient to prevent another far-right resurgence.
- The Left can fill this opening with counter-McCarthyite education, building on electoral successes like Mamdani's campaign, and progressive populist economic plans such as strategic price controls.
Assumptions
- Electoral defeat of a party does not necessarily dismantle the movement or ideology behind it.
- Trumpism is an enduring movement distinct from Trump the individual and from the Republican Party's electoral fortunes.
- Economic grievance is the main lever for dislodging working-class support for right-wing populism.
- Leftist economic populism will persuade voters more effectively than centrist liberalism.
- Historical analogies to fascism (via Gramsci) are apt for understanding Trumpism.
- Current polling accurately reflects public sentiment and will translate into midterm results.