Trump’s iron grip on the Republican party has never been stronger. What about the country? (opens in new tab)

The US president’s backing of Maga extremists turns off the very voters Republicans need to win over in the midterms gave it a minute.At 9.01pm it was confirmed that – a hardliner backed by the US president – had triumphed over incumbent John Cornyn in the state’s . By 9.02pm, Trump had started celebrating on social media.