Republicans who want a future in politics may want to distance themselves from Trump

After suffering an absolute drubbing in last week’s midterm elections, Republicans seem to have learned few lessons.

America was not subtle or ambiguous in its rebuke of President Donald Trump, MAGA and Republicans — no fewer than 30 incumbent House Republicans lost their seats, Senate Republicans lost eight seats and five states changed party control at the gubernatorial level, all to Dems. It was a bloodbath.

Republicans lost many of the gains Trump had made in 2024, most notably among independents and Latino voters. Democrats won voters under 30 by a whopping 48 points; they won men for the first time since 2008; and they even tied with white voters. Dems haven’t won white voters in a presidential election since 1964.

All of that should compel MAGA and the GOP to do some serious self-reflection. And yet, they seem farcically determined to have learned no lessons from the trouncing.

In Trump’s first postelection move, he fired White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and put in her place Stephen Miller, the odious architect of some of Trump’s most infamous — and unpopular — policies, from his Muslim travel ban to his family separation at the Southern border.

Then, Republicans made Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, the House minority leader, empowering one of the body’s most pugilistic and hard-line members, and, incidentally, someone who’s passed zero bills in his 20 years in Congress.

And finally, in what could have been a signal to his own voters that Trump was turning the page on his very unpopular war in Iran, Republicans refused to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who promptly went on to embarrass them at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Trump has further threatened to imprison Democrats for investigating Trump officials for corruption, and suggested UFC head Dana White become the next White House spokesperson.

So, things are not going great. But if Republicans insist on following Trump down this path of self-destruction, they may be facing more losses in 2028 that will be even harder to recover from.

A new Reuters/Ipsos poll reveals just how unpopular Trump and his acolytes are, if Republicans bothered to care.

Only 44% of Republicans view Trump very favorably, while 36% view him somewhat favorably.

A majority of Republican voters want the GOP’s next presidential candidate to “take a different approach to governing than Trump.”

If he was hoping to pass on the torch to his son, 43% of Republican voters said that Don Trump Jr. would be a “poor candidate,” while just 12% said he’d be “excellent.”

Just 34% said Vice President JD Vance would be “excellent.” As for others, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who would have to give up the only Republican Senate seat Texas has left to run, only had 10% say he’d be “excellent,” while 43% said former MAGA shill-turned-skeptic Tucker Carlson would be a “poor” candidate.

These are hardly rousing endorsements for the current Republican bench, or for the vibes MAGA is currently putting out.

We’ve learned over a decade that Trump is never chastened in defeat, and in his sunset years as an embattled lame duck, he’ll probably only get crazier and more sabotaging.

But for Republicans who hope their political futures outlive his, they may want to reconsider doing more of the same after voters — Republican voters, in many cases — said “enough.”

Maybe they shouldn’t follow Trump off the cliff. Maybe now’s the time to say no to the taxpayer-funded vanity projects, no to the war, no to more tariffs, no to the self-dealing and family corruption, no to the pointless political retribution, no to the reckless and humiliating Cabinet appointments, and instead focus on solving problems for Americans, something Republicans haven’t done in a very long time.

Maybe they should finally say no to Trump’s suicide pact, and yes to moving on — if only so that they can get elected again.

S.E. Cupp is the host of “S.E. Cupp Unfiltered” on CNN.