The phrase "cult of personality" has been attached to a long line of U.S. presidents, from Ronald Reagan to Barack Obama, and it is frequently applied to President Donald Trump. But according to Democratic insider Sidney Blumenthal, a former adviser to Bill and Hillary Clinton, Trump's "cult of personality" is confronting an existential "crisis" at precisely the moment he needs it most.

Writing in an op-ed for The Guardian, Blumenthal argues that with the 2026 midterms a little more than two months away, Trump's forceful personality is no longer easing Republican election anxieties. The stakes are considerable: control of both congressional chambers hangs in the balance, and midterm elections have historically been rough terrain for the party occupying the White House, with the president's party losing House seats in nearly every midterm since World War II. Trump, barred by the Constitution's 22nd Amendment from seeking a third term, is not on the ballot himself — which is precisely why he has leaned so hard on his personal brand to carry Republican candidates.

"Trump intuitively comprehends that the midterm elections are about him in a way that makes this midterm unlike any other," Blumenthal writes. "In the marrow of his bones, he senses it is a crisis of his cult of personality…. Trump's MAGA was never a new party structure, but constructed on his wreckage of the old Republican Party. In its place, every particle of the replacement is connected to the leader to advance his supremacy and self-enrichment. Everything flows upward, all heads tilted, all knees bent. MAGA has always been MAGA Inc of, by and for one man. The movement is the man."

Yet, Blumenthal contends, "when charisma fails," the movement itself "implodes."

"If the leader is not worshipped," the former Clinton adviser explains, "his uber-principle — the leader principle — collapses: no fuhrerprinzip, no Führer."

In an effort to protect the GOP's congressional majorities, Trump has been urging Republican voters to "pretend" that he is on the ballot. That appeal, according to Blumenthal, is falling flat.

"Trump's plea for their unconditional love — 'pretend, please' — defies gravity," Blumenthal writes. "He is running against Isaac Newton, and Newton always prevails. Intensity is gauged by 'strongly approve' and 'strongly disapprove' poll numbers. More than the general statistics of approval or disapproval, these provide insight into the motivation of voters that determine the contour of elections. Trump now stands at 13 percent 'strongly approve' in the most recent Reuters-Ipsos poll."

He continues: "His 'strongly disapprove' rating is at 49 percent. His total approval is at 33 percent, while disapproval is at 65 percent. Those in the 'somewhat approve' category include low propensity soft voters especially inclined to skip midterm elections. And this poll was taken before his declaration of trade war against Canada…. His anxiety to rescue his invincible image from the reality he's created makes him more inescapable than ever. Any effort to restrict him will provoke his rage."