Bolton Calls GOP Midterm Rout a Turning Point for Trump's Party Control

John Bolton has watched Donald Trump's hold on the Republican Party up close. Now he thinks it's cracking. In an interview with France 24, the former national security adviser called this week's midterm results a turning point for Trump's dominance of the GOP.

Democrats took back both the House of Representatives and the Senate, handing Republicans their weakest showing since 1974, when Watergate was still fresh. Bolton, speaking from Washington, framed the loss in blunt terms: the midterms are the beginning of the end of Trump's stranglehold on the party.

Bolton pointed to Trump's final pitch before Tuesday's vote, when the president talked about his building projects and repairing the Reflecting Pool instead of cost of living and affordability. His read on the party's mood: Republicans now understand more than ever that Trump is in this for himself, not for ideas and not for the party.

Trump has blamed the defeat on his name not appearing on the ballot. Bolton pushed back hard, arguing that Trump spent the campaign doing everything he could to put himself on it anyway, repeatedly telling voters to pretend he was.

Then came Vice President JD Vance's tweet pinning the loss on the war in Iran. Bolton called it a remarkable statement that will echo for the next two years, right up to the presidential election, assuming Vance runs for the nomination as everyone expects.

In Bolton's analysis, Vance saying he opposed the war from the start is a deliberate break with Trump aimed at the party's isolationist wing. The message Vance is sending ahead of 2028, Bolton said, is simple: I'm more MAGA than the president.