National political reporter Neil W. McCabe said President-elect Donald Trump’s presidency will have the “energy of the first term” with the “wisdom of a second term,” which may end up helping Republicans pick up seats in the 2026 midterm elections.
Noting how voter turnout typically sees a 20-40 percent dropoff during non-presidential election years, McCabe said the “energy” and “wisdom” of Trump’s second term may have an effect on the 2026 midterm elections in favor of Republicans.
“Because of the shifting loyalties and demographics and also geography that’s happening in the country, I think you can very well see that,” McCabe said on Friday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show.
“It is possible, and I think that Trump can do it because this is a second term with all of the fire and energy of a first term. It’s a very strange hybrid, and I don’t think anybody’s ready for it. I don’t think Grover Cleveland’s return to the White House was nearly as dramatic,” McCabe added.
McCabe pointed to the current scene in Washington D.C. among congressional leaders over the government funding fight as to a change America can expect to see during Trump’s second term.
“What’s new this time around is that Trump is smart and Trump is allowing other people to take center stage. He’s not hogging the spotlight for himself. We all study and are aware of delegation and business and our professional lives, and he is allowing, I don’t want to say surrogates, but he’s allowing other people to take the stage and make his fight for him and catch arrows and sling some arrows,” McCabe explained.
McCabe pointed to billionaire and co-leader of the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Elon Musk as being one of Trump’s allies in driving change on Capitol Hill, noting the effect Musk’s strong voice had against the 1,500 page omnibus spending package proposed by lawmakers earlier this week.
“[Trump] never had a personality like Elon Musk in the first term, and even his cabinet people refused to step up. Now, he’s got a guy who’s the richest man in the world. He’s walking around Capitol Hill and he met with all these people…And then Elon wakes up one morning and sees that they dropped a 1,500 page continuing resolution,” McCabe explained.
“Continued resolution says everything we were doing at 11:59 p.m. will continue at 12:01 a.m. We just continue. It’s a resolution that we continue. You don’t need 1,500 pages to say everything we were doing before is going to be exactly the same,” McCabe added.
Watch the full interview:
– – –
Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
