President Donald Trump’s own network just walked through every reason his party may be heading for trouble, item by item, and the man doing the walking is a three-decade Fox News veteran.
Brit Hume, Fox News chief political analyst, told “Special Report with Bret Baier” on Monday, Oct. 19, 2026, that he cannot tell whether Trump’s midterm campaign blitz is helping Republicans at all, two weeks out from the Nov. 3 election. “The president has been out campaigning vigorously, but I’m not sure it’s making any difference, and what difference it makes, I’m not sure is helping,” Hume, 83, said.
Host Bret Baier, 56, kept the segment moving through polling, the Texas Senate race, Russia and the week’s press secretary mess. Hume gave ground on none of it.
His Lowest Approval of Either Term
A Reuters/Ipsos poll released Monday, Oct. 19, put Trump’s approval at 31 percent, the lowest of either of his terms. The same survey showed Democrats ahead on the generic congressional ballot by 12 points, 47 percent to 35 percent.
A Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll conducted Oct. 9-13 and published Sunday, Oct. 18, put the number at 33 percent. Both land in a run of record-low ratings for the president, with early voting already under way in several battleground states.
Hume summed up the stretch bluntly. “I don’t see this White House and this campaigning by the president as having made much headway so far,” he said.
The Nickname That Did Not Stick
Trump has taken to calling Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico “Tala-freak-o,” explaining the coinage by saying Talarico is “a little freaky.” Hume was not persuaded by the branding: “what he does not seem to be is a freak,” he said.
Talarico, a former teacher and an Austin-area state lawmaker, has built a following among Democrats as a progressive populist. Hume allowed that the Democrat has backed what he called exotic positions over his years in public life and is not, on paper, a good fit for the state. On camera, Hume added, the Democrat comes across as mild-mannered and pleasant, and is not an unappealing candidate whatever voters make of his politics.
His opponent is Ken Paxton, the Trump-endorsed Republican nominee who beat Sen. John Cornyn for the Republican nomination in the May 26 runoff. A Fox News poll published Oct. 2 showed Talarico narrowly ahead, 51 percent to 49 percent.
Warm on Putin, Cold on Zelenskyy
Hume doubted that Trump is helped by his warm turn toward Russian President Vladimir Putin paired with an apparent cold shoulder for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Polling on Putin, he added, is “just terrible.”
Trump suspended a sweeping package of Russia sanctions late Friday, Oct. 16, drawing fire from both parties after Congress passed the measure the month before. An Oct. 9 deal to import Russian diesel came first, which Trump pitched as a way to ease fuel prices that have surged since the war with Iran began.
Over the weekend of Oct. 17-18, Trump questioned whether Zelenskyy wants the war to end at all. He told reporters Monday, Oct. 19, that he is open to a meeting with Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping on ending the war, even without Zelenskyy at the table. The American public is not really sold on Zelenskyy, Hume said, but favors him “by some margin.”
The Press Secretary Who Lasted One Briefing
Hume called the week’s press secretary episode a “fiasco,” saying the administration sent someone out with only a day or two to prepare, that it went badly and that it was a crazy thing to do. He never used her name on air.
Trump terminated Katie Zacharia’s employment on Friday, Oct. 16, five days after appointing her. Her only briefing ran under 15 minutes, and she took three questions.
Reports indicate chief of staff Susie Wiles engineered the dismissal after being sidelined during Zacharia’s selection. A senior administration official said: “Susie gave Fox News the kill order, but Zacharia was an obviously bad choice. This was totally predictable.”
Zacharia told Fox News host Sean Hannity that she had little time to prepare for her debut briefing and that the briefing materials arrived that morning. Ari Fleischer, a former White House press secretary, said the episode was botched from the start and that it was not all Zacharia’s fault. As of Tuesday, Oct. 20, Trump had named no replacement.
Zacharia posted a photo of herself with boxer Floyd Mayweather aboard Air Force One to Instagram and X, captioned: “You can either be a fighter or a marshmallow.”
He Already Warned of a Washout
Hume had told Baier on Oct. 14 that Republicans risked a “big washout,” losing races not even thought to be close.
Baier steered the segment to France, where protests that began as a student push for better school conditions have grown into some of the worst unrest the country has seen in years, damaging historic landmarks and businesses and drawing criticism of French President Emmanuel Macron’s response. If the chaos reached American soil, Hume said in the closing portion of the segment, it might change the political atmosphere here. Short of that, he was unsure how much it would matter to the election.