No one expects President Donald Trump to take the GOP’s impending midterm wipeout well, but according to his one-time biographer, there is a very specific reaction he is certain to have as he feels his spotlight dwindling.
Michael Wolff is a longtime author and reporter best known for his extensive coverage of Trump’s political career, including several books about his first term and another about his return to office. In the latest episode of his Daily Beast podcast, “Inside Trump’s Head,” he made a prediction about the particular sort of tantrum Trump is sure to have when and if Democrats retake power in the midterms.
As he explained to co-host Joanna Coles — in response to her question about his acting out after losing to Joe Biden in 2020 — Trump will be obsessed with securing his most favored resource: attention.
“He will understand that what he has to do on the day after,” Wolff said. “The imperative for him is to seize as much attention as he can. The Democrats, if they win, will be obviously celebrating. Obviously trying to impress upon the world that it is a new day. Donald Trump, for his part, will be trying to impress upon the world that he still controls the stage, that it doesn’t make any difference.”
He added: “They may say they won, and they may act like they’ve won, and maybe they technically have won, but the reality is it is still Donald Trump’s world, and he will do everything possible to make that case. And he will do everything possible to make that case the day after and then the day after that.”
Wolff suggested that it was unlikely Trump would stoke the same sort of violence he did the last time he lost a major election, which led to the January 6 Capitol riots. However, the loss this time around might push him to pursue even more “Trumpian” things than ever before.
“There will be a series of Trumpian things greater than, you know, greater than anything we’ve ever seen, greater than anything, actually, I think we’ve imagined,” he explained. “Donald Trump will not go willingly. He will not be humbled.”
He added: “And I think that’s that goes back to this idea that he never loses. The idea of humility does not exist in Donald Trump’s soul. Therefore, he will do the opposite: not retreat, but attack.”