Biographer Michael Wolff Predicts Trump’s Post-Midterm Tantrum: ‘Not Retreat, but Attack’
Key Takeaways
- •Michael Wolff, Trump's former biographer, shared his prediction of Trump's post-election behavior on his Daily Beast podcast 'Inside Trump's Head' with co-host Joanna Coles.
- •The Nov. 3 midterm elections will determine control of Congress, with all 435 House seats and more than 30 Senate seats on the ballot.
- •The party holding the White House has lost House seats in nearly every midterm election since World War II, with 1998 and 2002 being the exceptions.
- •Wolff said Trump would prioritize seizing attention after a potential defeat, seeking to show that he still controls the political stage regardless of the outcome.
- •Wolff suggested Trump was unlikely to stoke violence like the January 6 Capitol riots, but predicted he would pursue 'Trumpian' actions greater than ever before, as he will not retreat or be humbled.
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 when and if Democrats retake power and his spotlight begins to dwindle.
The midterms, set for Nov. 3, will determine control of Congress, with all 435 House seats and more than 30 Senate seats on the ballot. Historically, the party holding the White House has lost House seats in nearly every midterm election since World War II, the exceptions being 1998 and 2002.
Michael Wolff, a longtime author and reporter best known for his extensive coverage of Trump’s political career — including several books about his first term, among them the 2018 bestseller Fire and Fury, and another about his return to office — laid out the prediction in the latest episode of his Daily Beast podcast, “Inside Trump’s Head”.
As he explained to co-host Joanna Coles — in response to her question about his acting out after losing to Joe Biden in 2020, a result Trump spent months disputing and never conceded — 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 it was unlikely Trump would stoke the same kind of violence he did the last time he lost a major election, which led to the January 6 Capitol riots. A loss this time around, however, 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.”
“And I think that goes back to this idea that he never loses,” he added. “The idea of humility does not exist in Donald Trump’s soul. Therefore, he will do the opposite: not retreat, but attack.”
If Democrats do go on to win one or both chambers on Nov. 3, the hours and days after polls close will offer the first indication of how closely events follow the playbook Wolff describes.
