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With a blue wave on the horizon, Republicans are turning on each other — and it’s getting ugly

Published October 23, 2026 9:04AM (EDT)

President Donald Trump on the South Lawn of the White House, Sept. 26, 2026. (Aaron Schwartz/Getty Images)

On Wednesday night, for the second time in a week, Donald Trump voiced his admiration for a supporter who punched out a heckler at one of his rallies. Last week it was a woman. This time around it was a man. “The guy stood up and he got whacked,” Trump exclaimed with delight.

Last week he mocked a woman for her appearance and called her scum after she showed up at a rally wearing a T-shirt that read “Release the Epstein Files.” Two men in the audience shoved her, and one punched her. Both pulled her hair as the crowd shouted, “USA! USA!” The man who had punched her exchanged high-fives with friends.…