The empty bar in Trump’s hometown that shows his Maga foot soldiers are quitting

NEW YORK – It was, as one Maga foot soldier put it, the “worst-case scenario” for Republicans. Not only did the Democrats take the House of Representatives in the US midterm elections, they also won a sizeable majority in the Senate, meaning Donald Trump will spend his final two years as President with the opposing party in full control of Congress. It was a stunning rebuke for a President who swept to power for a second time just two years ago, and it has left his Maga allies reeling. Many feel a mixture of shock, defiance and frustration at Trump, amid the cost of living crisis caused by his war with Iran. Shorts “We don’t just need a pep talk,” Ian McMath, the press secretary of the New York Young Republican Club, the largest youth Republican group in the US, told The i Paper. “We need to take stock as people were not interested in our message.” McMath added: “We had this coalition in 2024 and just two years later it has swung against us. Republicans pushed away younger voters even though they are the most energetic wing of the party. A lot of young conservatives, people who were all about Trump in 2024, they checked out this time around.” McMath was at a watch party for Bruce Blakeman, the Republican candidate for governor of New York, but after the vote was called for his rival just after polls closed, McMath cut his evening short and was in an Uber heading home a little after 11pm. Earlier in the evening, there were signs that Republicans were staying away from public events, sensing the bad night ahead for them. At the Beach Cafe in Manhattan’s Upper East Side, where the likes of Donald Trump Jr and Republican strategist Roger Stone have been seen partying in recent years, only a few tables were occupied by couples and tourists having a quiet midweek dinner. One member of staff told The i Paper that the bar had been full at the weekend, with people celebrating the New York Marathon, which was in stark contrast to last night. Tickets for the watch party at the Metropolitan Republican Club in New York were still available right up until the last minute, a sign that few in the party wanted to witness what was likely to amount to a very public backlash. Meanwhile, at Union Hall in Brooklyn, a watch party filled with Democrats told a far different story. People were dancing in the bar and shouted “USA! USA! USA!” when James Talarico, a Democrat, won a Senate seat in Texas, part of a wave that flipped the traditionally Republican state. And there was a huge roar when it was announced that Democrats had retaken the House. In Austin, Texas, where a Democrat won the governor’s race for the first time in 35 years, residents honked their horns so loudly that one person on X likened it to an “Eastern European city that just overthrew a dictator”. But across the nation, many Republicans turned off their TVs and went to bed early as it quickly became clear that it wasn’t just a Democrat wave, it was a tsunami. Aaaaaand the roof has officially been blown off at the news James Talarico won the Senate race in Texas. Chants of USA! USA! People are in absolute shock and joy pic.twitter.com/ztwAQbHJF1— Daniel Bates (@danielgbates) November 4, 2026 Matt Terrill, a former chief of staff to Marco Rubio, Trump’s Secretary of State, admitted that the election was a “bad night, no question about it” and blamed inflation for the results. “The fundamentals of the economy are strong,” he said. “Stocks have hit record highs, median incomes are up for households across America. But what Americans are seeing day in day out, they were seeing the price of gas. That’s hard to message around.” “If you believe President Trump, as I do, the price of gas will come down soon on the heels of the Iran conflict ending,” Terrill added. However, others who move in Maga circles are far more critical. Andrew Hale, a fellow at Advancing American Freedom, a conservative think-tank in Washington, called the results a “blue wave” and a “damning verdict on the Trump administration’s bad economic policies and corruption”. Disillusioned supporters of Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers at an election night watch party at the Westin Book Cadillac in Detroit (Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty) “This is the worst defeat for the Republican Party in history,” he added. “The Republican Party must stop pretending that Donald Trump is normal and apologise to the American people.” Another Republican strategist, who asked to remain anonymous, said: “I wouldn’t want to be in the White House for the next week. Everybody knows this is on Trump but he’s not going to admit it. He has to end the Iran war and fast. This was a bloodbath.” Angie Wong, a Republican strategist based in Florida, said she was feeling “really good” ahead of the vote, but in a late-night text she wrote: “I am shocked. Democrats not only won the cities but also the rural counties where I thought their policies were not popular.” “Clearly the Republican message of anti-socialism wasn’t a selling message, not when you had voters who had to choose between filling the gas tank or filling their prescription.” The next two years now look grim for Republicans – and for the President. In their first 100 days in control of Congress, the party has pledged to repeal much of the Trump administration’s agenda from the last two years. They will also probably use congressional committees they control to investigate the President and his family for self-enrichment and the Jeffrey Epstein story may soon return to the headlines with subpoenas flying in all directions related to the President’s former friendship with the late paedophile. Even so, Trump – who reportedly watched the results come in from the White House – is unlikely to change course and has already promised to become “Veto Man”, blocking any laws he does not like. There are also dangers for Democrats, according to Terrill, who said the party would likely “overplay their hand” by impeaching Trump or Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. “That’s not what those independent voters want, that’s not what the general electorate are going to want to see,” he said. “Democrats have not offered a solution. They ran against President Trump but they didn’t run for anything”. For now, all there is for Republicans to do is hope that things will change and that the 2028 presidential election doesn’t go the same way. “The Republican Party has got to work on its messaging,” McMath said. “People will vote with the pocketbook. A lot of Democrats voted for us in 2024. Delivering on domestic issues has to be a priority”.