How much more embarrassment can the Republican Party take? | Opinion

If you're a sane Republican – and yes, I do believe such people exist – the past week had to be monumentally embarrassing.

President Donald Trump, who's terrible at pretending to be a conservative, tried to bribe U.S. voters by saying every adult would receive a $5,000 "Trump Dividend" if Republicans win the midterm elections. If it weren't a complete con, that would cost about $1.3 trillion at a time when the national debt has surpassed $40 trillion.

So much for fiscal conservatism.

A ludicrous and embarrassing GOP midterm convention

The president made the embarrassing kickback offer Sept. 9 during an equally embarrassing Republican midterm convention that centered around idolatry of Trump. At the event in Dallas, he implored GOP voters: "Pretend that I am on the ballot."

Does that make you feel good if you're a Republican? The head of your party threw a two-day celebration of himself in Texas and effectively used the time to say, "Look, I know these other schmoes running for office aren't that great, but you think I'm great, right?!?"

It's a curious strategy given that headlines on Trump's approval rating keep using words like "new record low," "lowest level yet" and "plummeting."

Trump recites pledge directing Republicans to vote, and cheat

On the second night of the convention, Trump led the crowd at the not-at-all-packed arena in a pledge that should make any democracy supporter's skin crawl: "Please raise your right hand. I pledge, to the greatest president in the history of the United States, that loves us so much he can't even breathe, that I will go out with my family, my friends, I'll do it any way, I don't care if I'm registered or not, I'm gonna try and cheat like hell like they do."

And that came on the heels of a video that weirdly mimicked radio commentator Paul Harvey's famous 1978 "So God Made A Farmer" speech, using Trump's birthday to suggest the president is heaven-sent: "On June 14th, 1946, God looked down on his planned paradise and said, 'I need a caretaker,' so God gave us Trump."

Lord, my sane Republican friends, are you not mortified by now? Is blasphemy not a final straw? Are the election lies, the unquenchable egotism and the unabashed cult of personality not overwhelming?

Things are bad in America, and Trump is getting worse

I realize folks like me have been asking these questions of Republicans since Trump's first term. Given that GOP voters elected the man a second time after he fomented an attack on the nation's capital, it's reasonable to assume it's "anything goes" with this crowd.

But this moment is different. Trump has become more erratic, his corruption is more glaring, his self-absorption more all-consuming. He's surrounded only by loons and lackeys and, perhaps most importantly, America feels like it's falling apart.

As the GOP midterm convention was going on, diesel prices hit record highs of more than $6 per gallon, inflation remained stubbornly high and the utterly unnecessary war with Iran that Trump launched without congressional approval raged on.

New data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics showed a 27.4% jump in the cost of gasoline since the same time last year, and fuel oil for heating soared 52%. Americans are struggling to afford groceries and the 80-year-old avatar for Republicanism is laser-focused on building a ballroom and a triumphal arch.

Republicans refuse to acknowledge how bad things are under Trump

C'mon. Your guy is mucking everything up, Republicans. Whatever happened to the party of personal responsibility?

Rather than acknowledge that problems exist, candidates up and down the ballot have adopted the president's "pretend everything is amazing" approach. Texas attorney general and Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton glazed Trump at the convention: "He's delivered more for this country than anyone before, secured victories for America that no other president could, and always stood up for Texas. Thank you, Mr. President!"

Yes, thank you Mr. President. Thank you for starting a damaging trade war with Canada – one that's hurting the farmers your Iran war was already hurting – while you entertain yourself by trying to rename Lake Ontario as "Lake America."

Thank you for being so unserious about oil prices and the Iran war that you, on your way to the first day of the goofy GOP convention, pulled a claim that the war will end "immediately after the election" out of thin air.

Almost everything Trump does is a scandal that should derail him

The day after the convention ended, Trump was at a 9/11 memorial service at the Pentagon and appeared bored and unable to stay awake.

For any other president in American history, Republican or Democrat, any one of these moments from just the past five days – a bribe-for-votes scheme, a pledge to cheat, a "God sent me to save you" video, a snooze at a 9/11 ceremony – would have been a gobsmackingly embarrassing moment for the president's party, and a possible presidency ender.

So why, why, why do non-MAGA Republicans let themselves drown in such shame? Why have they allowed this loutish character to turn their party into a baffling global embarrassment?

Midterms are a final chance for silent Republicans to retake their party

I don't expect an answer. But I continue to hope there's a silent minority in the Republican Party that's at least teetering on being mad as hell and not willing to take this anymore.

The midterm elections – the nation's last, best chance to curtail Trump's insanity – will show us whether that silent minority exists. And whether that quiet swath of sane Republicans still believes in putting country over party.

I won't hold my breath.

Follow USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke on Bluesky at @rexhuppke.bsky.social and on Facebook at facebook.com/RexIsAJerk.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: How much more embarrassment can the Republican Party take? | Opinion

Reporting by Rex Huppke, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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Copyright Reuters or USA Today Network via Reuters Connect

This story was originally published September 13, 2026 at 2:05 AM.