Political Nightmare – Season 2, Episode 4: Midterms and Momentum – The 2022 Elections

In the previous podcast, Donald Trump was fighting multiple criminal indictments while trying to stay relevant from his Mar-a-Lago headquarters. Now we enter 2022 — a crucial year that would test whether Trump still controlled the Republican Party and whether his movement still had the power to win elections.

This is the story of the 2022 midterms, Trump’s heavy involvement, and the mixed results that ultimately cleared the path for his 2024 comeback.

By early 2022, Trump had made it clear he was not going away. He continued holding large rallies across the country, drawing thousands of enthusiastic supporters. He endorsed dozens of candidates in Republican primaries, often choosing loyalists who fully embraced his “Big Lie” claims about the 2020 election. Candidates who had criticized him or voted to impeach him were targeted for defeat in primaries. Trump’s influence proved enormous. One by one, his endorsed candidates won Republican primaries — many of them election deniers running for key positions like governor, secretary of state, and Senate seats. By the summer of 2022, it was obvious that the Republican Party was still very much the Party of Trump.

Then came the general election in November 2022. Republicans were heavily favored to win big. Inflation was high, gas prices were elevated, and President Biden’s approval ratings were low. Most political experts predicted a strong “red wave” that would give Republicans control of both the House and Senate.

But on Election Night, the red wave never fully arrived.

Republicans did flip the House of Representatives, but by a much narrower margin than expected. In the Senate, they fell short, with Democrats even gaining a seat. Several high-profile Trump-endorsed candidates lost in crucial swing states. In Pennsylvania, Trump-backed election denier Doug Mastriano lost the governor’s race badly. In Arizona, Blake Masters lost the Senate race. And in Georgia, Herschel Walker, despite Trump’s strong support, failed to win a Senate seat.

The results were disappointing for Trump. Many Republicans began whispering that his candidates were too extreme and that his obsession with the 2020 election was hurting the party in general elections. Some prominent GOP figures, including Mitch McConnell, quietly suggested it might be time for the party to move on from Trump.

Trump, however, saw the situation differently. He claimed the midterms would have been a total disaster without his endorsements. He continued to dominate headlines and kept his grip on the Republican base. Just weeks after the midterms, on November 15, 2022, Trump made a dramatic announcement from Mar-a-Lago: he was running for president again in 2024. The timing was bold. He launched his third presidential campaign while still facing multiple criminal indictments. Many political observers believed this would finally be the end — that launching a campaign under legal pressure was too much even for Trump.

But the opposite happened. His announcement energized his core supporters. The more criticism he faced from inside and outside the party, the more his base rallied behind him. Early primary polls showed him crushing potential Republican challengers like Ron DeSantis, who had risen as a strong conservative alternative during the midterms. The 2022 midterms became a turning point. While Republicans didn’t achieve the landslide many expected, Trump proved he could still bend the party to his will. The losses gave ammunition to his critics inside the GOP, but they failed to weaken his hold on the voters who mattered most in primaries.

By the end of 2022, Trump had survived the social media ban, multiple indictments, and disappointing midterm results. Instead of fading, he had officially launched his comeback bid. The wilderness years were now fully in campaign mode.

Political Nightmare is a narrative podcast series that chronicles the chaotic, dramatic, and history-making first term of Donald Trump’s presidency from 2017 to 2021.

From the shock 2016 election victory to the final days of his administration, each episode dives deep into the major events, battles, scandals, and policy fights that defined Trump’s time in the White House. With vivid storytelling, key audio moments, and clear timelines, the show explores how an outsider president upended Washington, fulfilled some promises, broke countless norms, and left the country more divided than ever.

Whether you supported Trump, opposed him, or simply want to understand what really happened, Political Nightmare delivers a compelling, no-spin journey through one of the most turbulent periods in modern American politics.

New episodes drop weekly.

Produced by Save Democracy

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