Michael Wolff, the writer who has spent years documenting the chaos surrounding Donald Trump, is once again raising eyebrows. This time, he’s floating the idea that the president’s political hold may finally be slipping. During a new episode of Inside Trump’s Head, The Daily Beast’s podcast hosted by Joana Coles, Wolff reacted to Tuesday’s surprising Democratic victories with a prediction that felt half-warning, half-observation.
Democrats flipped two governor’s mansions, won a series of statewide offices, and rattled Republicans from New York to Virginia. The losses came despite Trump personally boosting several candidates in the final stretch. His preferred contenders, many of them closely aligned with his messaging and style, struggled across the board.
Wolff didn’t declare Trump finished, but he did suggest the night’s results cracked something that had looked unbreakable. “We’ve just spent a year since last Election Day with Trump as this omnipotent figure in politics,” he said. “And while I would not say that today spells in any way the end of Trump, I would say that the end of Trump could well happen.”
He sounded almost relieved as he described the unpredictability of American politics, noting that the country has a way of surprising even seasoned observers. “Reversals, landslides, things that you would not dream of happening, happen,” he said, adding that after a year dominated by Trump’s presence, this sudden shift felt almost jarring. “You think these people are permanent, and it turns out that they are fleeting.”
Wolff’s comments landed during a week when Republicans were already scrambling to explain what went wrong. Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson both tried to downplay the Democratic surge, calling it a temporary setback rather than evidence of deeper problems inside the movement. But the numbers tell a different story. Voters sent a clear message in key states: they wanted something else.
The conversation on the podcast also touched on rumblings from political analysts who say Trump could quickly become a lame duck if Democrats take either the House or the Senate in 2026. Without a friendly Congress, Trump’s agenda would stall, and the investigations, subpoenas, and oversight battles of his first term could come roaring back.
Around Trump’s circle, this idea isn’t taken lightly. The campaign has been leaning heavily on loyalists, pushing hard on messaging, and flooding social media with warnings about the stakes. None of that changed the outcome on Tuesday. And it’s that disconnect, Wolff suggested, that should worry the White House most. Trump threw his weight behind candidates who didn’t deliver.
Wolff’s tone wasn’t triumphant; it was more like someone pointing out a hairline crack in a monument that once felt indestructible. A crack that, if pressure keeps building, might widen fast.
For Democrats, the results offered a rare moment of momentum after years of grinding losses. For Republicans, they raised unwelcome questions about whether Trump’s pull with voters is weakening at a crucial moment. And for Wolff, who has chronicled every twist of the Trump era, it seemed like the first time in a while that he could imagine a political landscape not shaped around a single figure.
Whether this really is the beginning of the end remains to be seen. But after this week, it’s at least a conversation people are having.
