Longtime Washington columnist Sally Quinn argues that the sense of triumph that once defined Donald Trump’s return to power has largely evaporated, replaced by anxiety even among his own allies, according to a New York Times piece published Sunday.
Quinn wrote that early in Trump’s second term, “the worst part about living in Donald Trump’s Washington has been seeing just how much fun he and all the MAGA vandals he brought to power have been having sacking and pillaging the place.” She said longtime Washingtonians who valued “norms, shared values and even bipartisanship” moved from shock to helplessness and, at times, passivity.
Revisiting an essay she wrote last year, Quinn recalled describing a capital where “nobody feels safe” and “nobody feels protected,” and where even those who once held power “are often the most scared.” She wrote that at the time, “sometimes it felt as if the Trumpists could smell our fear, and seemed to be enjoying it.”
But by July 2026, Quinn says that dynamic has flipped. “Now they’re the ones in despair, fearful and losing hope,” she wrote, adding that “even the true believers are questioning the MAGA theology. Why are we at war with Iran still? Our military is humbled, our reputation in tatters, and now gas prices are going up again.”
Quinn pointed to a string of efforts to boost Trump’s standing: a UFC fight staged on the White House lawn, the Great American State Fair, and a speech repeating false claims that the 2020 election was stolen — that she said failed to gain traction.
She argued this has pushed even reliable allies to pull back, citing a Wall Street Journal description of a Republican “zombie Congress” that is “not in open revolt, exactly, but not ready to take a bullet for the president and his self-serving crusades as the midterms approach.”
She also noted friction with prominent figures once aligned with Trump, including Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, Candace Owens, Alex Jones, Ann Coulter, and former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, as well as Senators Bill Cassidy and John Cornyn, who have grown more critical after facing Trump-backed primary challengers. Quinn wrote that even Joe Rogan “has had his altercations with the president.”
Describing the UFC fights as a “tipping point,” Quinn recounted a gathering of Trump-world figures at a popular Washington restaurant beforehand, writing, “But the mood felt off. Less jubilant. As if they knew that the U.F.C. fights were really going to be the moment when MAGA jumped the shark.”
Liberties magazine editor Leon Wieseltier told Quinn that “people are genuinely disgusted and they’re now combative,” comparing the mood to Popeye declaring, “That’s all I can stands, and I can’t stands no more.”