Peter Baker's New York Times analysis casts the 2026 midterm Democratic wave — a roughly 13-point national House margin, the largest since at least 1976 — as the beginning of the end of the Trump era, after President Trump made the election a referendum on himself and voters balked at high gas prices, the Iran war, and alleged profiteering. Others push back: Lynn Vavreck argues sky-high gas prices may have mattered more than any political realignment, while Joe Grogan says the party is still Trump's and David McIntosh urges Republicans to return to their principles to win in 2028.