Former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio has predicted a doomsday scenario for Donald Trump, declaring there is “zero chance” that Republicans will win the midterm elections.
One day after Democrats flipped a state seat in the president’s backyard, the MAGA loyalist told the Daily Beast that while the movement still backed the president, “multiple factors”—from grocery prices to the “inaction” of Congress—could play a part in another inevitable brutal GOP loss in November.
“Republicans are going to lose the midterms. Historically, it’s just true,” Tarrio said, citing the tendency for voters to turn against the president’s party during midterm cycles.
The comments came as Tarrio—who was convicted over the January 6 attack at the U.S. Capitol but later pardoned by Trump—joined thousands of MAGA acolytes for the Conservative Political Action Conference in Texas this week.
The event bills itself as one of the largest annual gatherings of conservatives in the world. But this year’s conference comes at a delicate time for the movement, which has fractured in recent months amid ugly power struggles and tensions over everything from the Iran war to the Epstein files.
Trump is even planning to skip the gathering this year, instead focusing on the escalating conflict in the Middle East, an administration official told the Daily Beast.
In a sign of the simmering tensions, longtime Trump ally Roger Stone urged supporters to boycott the conference altogether over the presence of Steve Bannon, accusing him of being a “pedophile enabler” in relation to the Epstein scandal.
Conservative activist Joel Griffith also blasted the lineup, tying his opposition to broader concerns about antisemitic extremism creeping into the movement.
“As a member of YJConservatives, I’ll most definitely be boycotting this conference,” he wrote earlier this month.
And on Wednesday, Christian broadcaster Erik Erickson hit out at the invitation of former reality TV figure Todd Chrisley, who was convicted of charges of wire fraud, bank fraud, and conspiracy to commit tax evasion before being pardoned by Trump.
“The ‘C’ in CPAC is now best represented by the world “clown” than as any semblance of a conservative institution,” Erickson said.
The mood at this week’s four-day event is likely to be a stark contrast to the same gathering a year ago, when a triumphant Trump was a central feature, alongside allies such as Elon Musk theatrically wielding a chainsaw on stage to symbolize his aggressive push to slash the federal workforce.
On Wednesday, ousted Kennedy Center director Ric Grenell took the stage to hit out at NATO for not supporting Trump’s conflict in the Middle East.
Former U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss, who resigned after just 45 days in the position, raged against her country becoming “woke.”
And Tarrio, the former Florida state director of the “Latinos for Trump” grassroots group and the ex chairman of the far-right Proud Boys, wandered around the Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center dressed in dark sunglasses and a baseball cap, greeting fellow Trump loyalists.
Tarrio had become a symbol of Trump’s enduring influence over the movement’s more hardline flank.
But if his midterm prediction comes true, it could spell disaster for the president, stalling his agenda and exposing him to congressional investigations.
“You’ve got to win the midterms because, if we don’t win the midterms... they’ll find a reason to impeach me,” the president told Republican lawmakers at a retreat in Washington earlier this year.
Tarrio’s gloomy election outlook for the GOP comes as Democrats notch a string of wins that have buoyed their midterm hopes.
Tuesday’s upset victory by Emily Gregory in Florida’s 87th district—a state seat long considered safely Republican territory and home to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate—is just the latest in a broader trend that has seen Democrats flip roughly 30 seats nationwide in recent months.
Tarrio, who has helped run “Latinos for Trump,” acknowledged the loss, arguing Republican candidate Jon Maples was strong state candidate overshadowed by national politics.
“Voters were focused on the president. They’re focused on the national issues and international issues with Iran and there’s not enough screen time for those candidates,” he said, adding that the dynamic contributed to lower voter turnout.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment. And despite the infighting and warning signs, Trump continues to command strong loyalty from the Republican base.
An AP-NORC poll conducted in February found that 86 percent of conservatives approve of his job performance, underscoring the president’s grip on the party’s right flank even as broader electoral concerns mount.
“Some of MAGA has doubted the president,” said CPAC attendee Michael Manuel-Reaud on Wednesday, dressed in a sparkling gold jacket and a yellow t-shirt marked with a giant “T” for Trump.
“But I haven’t doubted him one bit.”
