Retiring Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) said Sunday that potential Republican losses in Tuesday’s midterms would set off an inside get together debate over the MAGA motion — one he said the GOP wants.

“I do think there will be a debate in the party, and I think we need it,” Bacon said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Host Jake Tapper had requested whether main Republican losses in the House or Senate could mark “the beginning of the end” for MAGA.

Rep. Don Bacon arrives for a House Republican Conference assembly at the US Capitol in Washington, on July 21, 2026. Getty Images

Bacon — a retired Air Force normal who has represented a swing district in the Omaha space since 2017 — pointed to the unpopularity of President Trump’s tariff coverage as a main strike against MAGA.

He said Trump is “underwater quite a bit” in the Midwest’s purple areas, and he blamed tariffs, which he called “a tax on consumers.”

Tariffs, Bacon said, have left Republicans “in a weird spot.” His treatment is to return to the “Milton Friedman” and “Eisenhower-Reagan” period of free-trade Republican politics.

The Nebraska Republican has lengthy been one of his get together’s loudest dissenters on Trump’s import tax.

He was one of six House Republicans who voted in February to repeal the president’s tariffs on Canada. Shortly afterward, the Supreme Court dominated Trump had overstepped his govt authority in imposing his sweeping “Liberation Day” levies.

Bacon said midterm losses would set off a wanted debate on Trump’s MAGA motion and tariffs, urging a return to free commerce. AP Photo/Alex Brandon

Bacon, a five-term congressman, announced in June that he would not search reelection for his seat that Democrat Denise Powell is now favored to flip.

He’s been among Republicans instructed to be eyeing a attainable 2028 presidential run.

When requested about 2028 during his Sunday interview, Bacon said he didn’t need it to be “about me,” and famous that the last House member to bounce straight to the White House was James Garfield.

Tapper called his reply a dodge: “I don’t think you said yes or no on that.”

In September, Bacon said on the Our Republican Legacy podcast that he “would love to” run for president.