U.S. President Donald Trump walks before signing the "Genius Act", which will develop regulatory framework for stablecoin cryptocurrencies and expand oversight of the industry, at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 18, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard

Republicans' staggering losses in the November 2025 elections across multiple states are indicative of the MAGA movement's key weakness, according to one columnist.

New York Magazine columnist Ross Barkan argued in a Monday essay that President Donald Trump not being on the ballot exposed the "fundamental — and likely unfixable — flaw of the entire MAGA movement." According to Barkan, Trump's movement can only thrive if he sits at the top of the ticket, and in elections where he's not there to galvanize the base, Democrats tend to run the table.

Last week showed that without Trump on the ballot, Republicans lost by substantial margins in virtually every election including New Jersey and Virginia's gubernatorial contests, the New York City mayoral election, a Maine ballot question that would have implemented GOP policies curbing voting rights and a California ballot initiative allowing for a temporary gerrymander to counter Republican redistricting efforts in Texas and elsewhere.

"[S]ince it is so deeply tied to one man, his failures undercut whatever populist realignment they believed was possible at the close of 2024," Barkan wrote.

The New York essayist wrote that Trump's second-term failures — like tariffs that are unpopular with economists, consumers and businesses alike, along with "stubbornly high" prices for basic needs like housing, health insurance and groceries — show that he has failed to tackle the "affordability" problem, leaving a bad taste in voters' mouths. He also suggested Trump's other key policies were faltering and leading to deeper unpopularity for the party in power.

"Americans wanted a tighter border, not marauding, maniacal ICE agents in their streets, and almost no one asked for DOGE, National Guard invasions, or furious crackdowns on free speech," he wrote. "Again and again, Trump and his most vicious cronies, including Stephen Miller, have tried to manufacture crises to justify all of this gross federal overreach."

While Barkan conceded that it was technically possible for Trump to try and seek an illegal and unconstitutional third term, more Republicans are coming to grips with Trump's impermanence. And he cautioned Republicans in Trump's shadow that, try as they might, none of them are capable of replicating Trump.

"[N]o matter who his successor is — JD Vance is most likely, followed by Marco Rubio — none of them are him," he wrote. "Trump’s charisma fused the disparate factions of MAGA and kept a great deal of peace within the Republican tent. When he exits the scene, there will be a bloody contest for the future of the movement and the Republican Party itself."

Click here to read Barkan's column in full.