After Tuesday night’s “thumping” — the term President George W. Bush used to describe the Republican Party’s election night after Republicans were hammered by Democrats in the 2006 election — President Donald Trump has some big decisions to make.
Does he bring in some reinforcements like outgoing Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, whose 2021 victory in Virginia looks even more impressive against Virginia’s deep blue aura Tuesday night, and focus like a laser on the seven Senate seats and two dozen House seats up for grabs within a year?
Or will he push hard for what the Republican Caucus in the Senate will certainly not grant: the end of the filibuster. The successful developer in the president should rise to the top and drop the impossible project and instead move towards the feasible projects that have great potential.
TRUMP VLOTT HOLDS REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION BEFORE Midterm ELECTIONS
No sugar-coating Tuesday: Even the Cleveland Browns and New York Jets had better weeks than the GOP — the Browns had byes and the Jets made bold moves to collect draft picks.
There was no rescheduling on Tuesday. The simple reality is that three blue states have become even bluer with Trump in the White House, and while hopes have faded over Jack Ciatarelli’s race in New Jersey, and there is no small shock over extremist Jay Jones’ victory as attorney general in Virginia, the 2026 midterm elections will be a very different question, one that could go either way. The Fed will cut rates a few times, which will help the economy and homebuyers, and new and different substantive issues will lead to different results. Both sides can “win” or “lose” next year, and that outcome in turn will not predict 2028.
What matters most and immediately in politics right now is the redistricting of congressional maps in red states that can do it, and the quality of the candidates and campaigns in the Senate. Republicans need to get out their sharpest pencils and consult the best redistricting minds and fully adopt the Democratic approach in Massachusetts and Illinois. Virginia Democrats will follow the example of California Democrats and try to erase all red districts in the Commonwealth. Republicans should not be shy or afraid of the double standard employed by coastal media elites, who denounce Republican Party redistricting while turning a blind eye to Democratic plays for congressional power.
The second-tier observation mentioned above bears repeating: Outgoing Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin was an extraordinary candidate who fought to victory in very blue Virginia four years ago. Expect Youngkin to be one of the most in-demand figures where Senate seats are up for grabs – in Georgia, Maine, Minnesota, North Carolina, New Hampshire (and less so in Iowa and Ohio, but no Senate seat should be taken for granted.) The soon-to-be former governor of Virginia is a big draw and Youngkin should be recruited to raise campaign dollars and get Scott Pressler and his voter registration machine to places like Georgia, Michigan and North Carolina, especially to expand the Republican base and ratified.
State lawmakers who can redistrict should do so. Reflecting the blunt reality of America’s new “red-blue” dynamic, Texas and California draw the maps on behalf of their parties and are unapologetically ruthless about it. That should also require every other state to recognize that the old rules are gone. Jay Jones’ victory in Virginia despite his deranged text messages, and Zohran Mamdani’s victory in New York City despite his extremism, underscore the two new realities: that all red-blue fights are “national” and that Democrats have once again lurched to the left.
The left dominates the Democrats, and their “moderates” are not moderate at all. The willingness to withhold workers’ paychecks, hold SNAP benefits hostage and damage the air traffic control system reflects the Democrats’ approach.
“If you can win, win,” is attributed to former President Barack Obama’s key policy directive. So it’s ‘Chicago Rules’ all over the place, GOP. Look at the legislatures of Indiana, Florida, and Missouri and their decisions on redistricting to see if this truth has sunk in.
Trump has the unique ability to get voters off their couches and to the polls. He has had tremendous success both at home and abroad, and the Republican Party can hope that he will focus his remarkable reservoir of energy on raising money and liquor for 2026 — and a new reconciliation bill in early 2027 that puts a premium on helping voters deal with the permanent impact of Biden inflation.
Yesterday and today’s “Relentless” podcast will be interesting to hear. They are real political campaign professionals. There should be no panic among professionals who know that the tide charts of American politics are pretty set. But as the 2022 midterm elections showed, the “in” party need not suffer catastrophic losses in the 2026 midterm elections, although it could. Since the president doesn’t want to face another impeachment, he has a huge incentive to throw everything he has into 2026.
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It’s going to be a fun year in politics, and the Democrats’ hangover this week, next and next year is Comrade Mamdani, the new face of their party as he takes charge in New York. His nonsensical economics doesn’t work, and never has worked. That reality, plus the prospect of Trump on the trail, should embolden Republican voters this week. Like baseball, the four-year cycle in American politics is a long season. An outburst on one evening says very little about the upcoming election nights in 2026 and 2028.
The self-sorting of Americans into red and blue camps continues and even accelerates. That’s the biggest takeaway. Stare that reality straight in the eye. It is the basic political fact of this era in American politics. Get on with it, GOP.
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