// BBC WORLD NEWS — MONDO
The Trump coalition is shattered - what will Republicans do now?
Republicans are in soul-searching mode after the coalition that powered Donald Trump to three straight presidential nominations imploded in spectacular fashion in the 2026 midterms.
The stunning election defeat immediately raised questions about the party's future post-Trump.
But there are no easy answers as Republicans face the choice of doubling down on Trumpism or trying to chart a new path forward in his final years in office.
The depth of the problem was captured by outgoing Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who called the midterms "close to an extinction-level event for Republicans".
Others struck a more optimistic tone. Vice-President JD Vance, who blamed the midterm results on public anger over the war with Iran, argued the party could turn things around. Nevertheless Vance acknowledged the fallout will be messy.
"There will be a lot of infighting and arguing over what happened and why," Vance said.
The wide range of reactions on the right highlights deep fault lines in the party that formed around Trump's improbable rise to the presidency in 2016 and never really went away.
It's too early to tell which faction will win out. But while Republicans are still licking their wounds, the intraparty battle Vance predicted is already under way.
The party must decide whether it will be "centred on one figure, one guy, or on a wider set of ideas like conservatism that can win outside the deepest red places," Rina Shah, a Republican strategist, told the BBC.
Critics on the right - the "Never Trumpers" who opposed his first White House campaign - are pushing for a return to the Republican Party's pre-Trump roots, citing the historic losses around the country on election night.