Why does Charlie Sykes say Trump's own voters turned on him in the 2026 midterms?

Charlie Sykes argued the defeat was all Donald Trump: he linked the economy, corruption, Epstein, unneeded wars and his own erratic behaviour in voters' minds. Sykes said Trump came to believe he had repealed political gravity and lived in a post-shame world, betting that money and racist appeals would carry candidates like Ken Paxton in Texas. Voters in Kansas, South Carolina and Texas rejected that bet.

• Sykes said that if Paxton had won, the country would be living in a world where a trillionaire can buy a Senate seat.
• Sykes noted the losses came in red states, not in Berkeley or Burlington, Vermont.
• Sykes expected Trump might want to restart bombing Iran as a distraction, but said his own administration was already split over the war.

▸In their words

“the Donald Trump, Elon Musk, J.D. Vance theory of the case was radically rejected.” Charlie Sykes · at 24:41 — open in the transcript →

Source: our own transcription of the episode. The full conversation is on On with Kara Swisher (2026-11-05). Read the whole episode summary →

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