Rep. Don Bacon, the retiring Nebraska Republican who has represented an Omaha-area swing district since 2017, says his party needs to have an honest conversation about the future of the MAGA movement if Tuesday's midterms go badly. The five-term congressman and retired Air Force general has become one of the loudest Republican voices breaking with President Donald Trump over tariffs, and he is not shying away from saying so on national television just days before voters head to the polls.
Asked by CNN’s Jake Tapper whether a poor midterm showing could mark the beginning of the end for MAGA, Bacon did not dodge the question. “I do think there will be a debate in the party, and I think we need it,” Bacon said, according to The Hill. He added that he wants to be part of that reckoning, telling Tapper, “I surely would like to see a debate, and I know I want to be a part of it.”
Bacon has framed that debate around a return to older Republican orthodoxy. He told Tapper, “President Trump has backed away from Ronald Reagan principles,” according to CNN, and said Republicans in swing districts like his need to make the case that they would serve as a check and balance rather than a rubber stamp. Per the same CNN interview, Bacon said he supports “the long-held Ronald Reagan principles” of free trade, free markets and economic freedom — a philosophy the New York Post, which first reported on Bacon’s remarks, linked to the free-trade legacy of Milton Friedman and the Eisenhower-Reagan era.
Tariffs as the Central Fault Line
At the center of Bacon’s break with the president is trade policy. He has called Trump’s tariffs a tax on consumers, manufacturers and farmers, and according to the BBC, Bacon said the tariffs have been a “net negative” for the economy. That assessment is not just rhetorical: Bacon was one of six House Republicans who crossed the aisle in February to vote with Democrats to rescind Trump’s tariffs on Canadian goods, a measure that passed the House 219-211 but, as the BBC noted, remains largely symbolic since it still needs Senate approval and Trump’s signature, which is considered unlikely.
The New York Post’s original report framed Bacon as identifying tariff unpopularity as a major problem dragging down MAGA’s standing, particularly in Midwest purple areas where the outlet described Trump as underwater. Bacon has pointed to tariffs as a driver of that discontent and has said the policy has left Republicans in a difficult position heading into the midterms.
The tariff fight has also drawn in the courts. Separate from Bacon’s political commentary, a Supreme Court opinion addressed presidential tariff authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, stating that the law authorizes a president to regulate imports and exports but does not grant inherent peacetime authority to impose tariffs on its own.
A Party Bracing for a Rough Night
Bacon’s warning lands amid broader Republican anxiety. According to Politico, Republicans are bracing for a brutal election night and fear previously unthinkable losses in deep-red Trump territory, with House Republicans privately debating not just whether they will lose their majority but by how many seats. The same report noted that Senate Republicans have grown newly worried about contests in Ohio, Kansas and other traditionally red states.
National polling backs up that unease. An NBC News poll conducted Oct. 28-30 found registered voters preferred a Democratic-controlled Congress over a Republican one by 52% to 45%, and found Trump’s disapproval rating had climbed to 60%, a new high for his two terms, while his approval sat at 40%. The poll also found nearly two-thirds of voters wanted change from the direction Trump has led the country, with 50% wanting “a great deal” of change, and that 70% said the country was on the wrong track — a 9-point jump from the year before. Notably, Trump still holds near-unanimous support within his base, with 93% approval among voters who identify with the MAGA movement, even as his approval among voters in states he won in 2024 has gone underwater, 53% to 47%. Separately, Decision Desk HQ has forecast Democrats with an 83 percent chance of winning the House and a 62 percent chance of winning the Senate, per The Hill.
Bacon's Own Seat and a Possible 2028 Bid
Bacon announced in June that he would not seek reelection to the seat he has held since January 2017, and the race to replace him features Republican Brinker Harding, Democrat Denise Powell and Libertarian Eric Foreman, according to Nebraska Public Media. Powell is considered well positioned to flip the district, according to Cook Political Report, which noted the district voted for Kamala Harris by 4.5 percentage points in 2024 — part of a pattern in which the Omaha-area seat has often backed Democratic presidential candidates while still electing Bacon, a Republican, as Nebraska Public Media’s report also noted.
With his House career ending, Bacon has not ruled out a bigger political future. Nebraska Public Media reports he is mulling over a run for the presidency in 2028, and the New York Post’s report noted that on the Our Republican Legacy podcast, Bacon has said he would love to run for president. The Post also noted Bacon pointed out that James Garfield was the last House member to move directly to the White House. Asked directly about his 2028 plans, Bacon told Tapper he did not want any run to be about himself, though the New York Post reported that Tapper said Bacon had still not given a yes-or-no answer.
History offers a reminder of how volatile midterm outcomes can be. According to the National Constitution Center, both the House and Senate changed party control in the 1994 and 2016 midterms, and in 2010 Republicans picked up 64 seats to retake the House while Democrats held the Senate. Whether Tuesday produces a similarly dramatic swing remains to be seen, but Bacon’s comments suggest at least some in his party are already preparing for a difficult reckoning regardless of the final tally.
