The Very Bad Midterms to Come for the GOP

Steve Hayes is joined by Jonah Goldberg, Kevin Williamson, and Michael Reneau to discuss our latest editorial on a post-Trump reality, comments by White House special envoy Steve Witkoff to Vladimir Putin as the U.S. pursues negotiations for an end to the Ukraine war, and finally, a Labor Day edition of Not Worth Your Time. —Addressing the “Burn it all down” crowd —You don’t know what time is it —Let’s talk about followership —Not Worth Your Time: Employment 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 Reneau is the executive editor at The Dispatch and is based in Greeneville, Tennessee. Prior to joining the company in 2022, he was editor of WORLD Magazine and for several years was editor of a daily newspaper in East Tennessee. When Michael isn’t editing, he stays plenty busy with his wife and four kids. Kevin D. Williamson is national correspondent at The Dispatch and is based in Virginia. Prior to joining the company in 2022, he spent 15 years as a writer and editor at National Review, worked as the theater critic at the New Criterion, and had a long career in local newspapers. He is also a writer in residence at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. When Kevin is not reporting on the world outside Washington for his Wanderland newsletter, you can find him at the rifle range or reading a book about literally almost anything other than politics. The podcast transcription below was generated using artificial intelligence and may include occasional errors or misspellings. Steve Hayes 0:00 [intro music playing] Welcome to the Dispatch Podcast. I'm your host, Steve Hayes. On today's roundtable, we have a long discussion about the Dispatch editorial and the coming post-Trump reality. Then we'll spend a moment on comments by Steve Witkoff to Vladimir Putin as the US pursues negotiations on an end to the Ukraine war. And finally, not worth your time, Labor Day edition. We talk about jobs that we've had that we've learned the most from and jobs that we've had that are the most fun. I'm joined today by my Dispatch colleagues, Kevin Williamson, national correspondent, Michael Renaud, our executive editor, and Jonah Goldberg, co-founder and editor-in-chief. Let's dive right in. Steve Hayes 0:57 [theme music playing] Steve Hayes 1:08 Gentlemen, welcome. The midterm elections are November 3rd, 2026, 8 weeks from today. Early voting across the country starts soon, within a matter of weeks. Last week on our roundtable discussion at the end of the week, we discussed some of the races we'll be looking at between now and Election Day, and we'll be doing a lot more of that, of course, over the next several weeks as we approach November. Today, however, we want to try to imagine what the world looks like on November 4th, the day after those midterm elections, and in the days and weeks that follow. So let me offer a caveat that 2 months is a long time in politics, and the conditions today could, of course, change ahead of those elections. But the patterns are pretty clear. The trends are all heading in the same direction. Republicans control both houses of Congress and the White House. Historically, the president's party does poorly in the midterms. This year, President Trump and the GOP are being blamed for high prices and a volatile economy, an unpopular war in Iran. Concerns about government corruption are in the headlines on a near-daily basis and by Gallup's counting at an all-time high. Steve Hayes 2:21 Nate Silver says the GOP has a, quote, "low probability," unquote, of retaining the House of Representatives, and his snapshot of competitive Senate seats based on current polling averages has Democrats leading 9 of 11 races, Steve Hayes 2:39 which would mean somewhere in the vicinity of a two-seat Democratic Senate majority leader. The New York Times reported over the weekend, quote, "The share of Americans who associate themselves with the Democratic Party has grown significantly over the past year. The shift signals the party's largest advantage since 2008. The data shows Democrats with a 10-point advantage over Republicans." Interactive transcripts are available to Premium members. Join to follow along with the audio. Join Now More We Think You’d Like