Republicans are depressed, panicked, and angry. It is hard to imagine much else after the Watergate-level beating they took Tuesday night. None were spared. Moderates, grassroots, MAHA, and neocons were caught alike in the blue squall, and unsurprisingly, predictions of doom abound.
Put aside the tired “pendulum swings” cope, however, and take a look at the landscape and what’s to come. There are plenty of reasons to take it all in stride. The future of the Grand Old Party, for starters, is alive and well (and may even have grown stronger in the winnowing). And just as importantly, that talented bench will have its day — because the Democrats have made clear they are determined to misinterpret their mandate.
It’s a dangerous time, but in crisis lies opportunity.
When Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson lost his left arm, his friend Gen. Robert E. Lee lost his boldest and most brilliant officer, reflecting at the time that Jackson was “better off than I am, for while you have only lost your left, I have lost my right arm.”
Who was the GOP’s right arm Tuesday night? Who was the key to the Republican future, lost too soon? There’s a strong case to be made for Iowa’s Zach Lahn, the mold-breaking MAHA populist who overcame the White House’s wishes to win his primary, but his story isn’t finished yet. So who else? Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall? Maine’s Susan Collins? Certainly not South Carolina’s Darline Graham. The Republican slate was anemic and uninspiring, and because of this reality, few rising stars can be found among the wreckage.
While the Lone Star State suffered the most impactful losses of the night and must be a critical priority for Republicans hoping to rebuild nationally, it is difficult to weep over the dead. Despite long claiming the crown of conservative state politics, the reality is that Texas is home to a corporatist establishment that seamlessly switched from importing illegal labor from Mexico to importing semi-legal labor from India when the national mood shifted — and got caught doing so.
While rightfully angry and unsatisfied, Texas’ grassroots expressed that anger by promoting creepy clowns like Allen West and creepy undertakers like Ken Paxton. Neither side possesses a talent or vision for the future. They’ll have two to four years to think on that and build something better.
Observers can rightfully notice that the GOP lost both of the national legislative chambers, but there is room for honest assessment there as well. Congress has spent decades bafflingly abnegating authority and is now the least powerful it has ever been. Furthermore, President Donald Trump made clear that he was largely done legislating anyway (to his detriment). Democrats’ reach is limited at best, despite their campaign promises.
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To their credit, Democrats ran largely disciplined campaigns. While Senators-elect Abdul El-Sayed and James Talarico carried heavy Resistance baggage, voters barely ever heard them talk about that Resistance on the trail. For the first time in a decade, Democrats didn’t run on identity politics, Russia, Ukraine, or the Resistance. They utterly ditched the problems of the Ivy League faculty lounge for the problems of everyday Americans, including even those of straight, white, Christian men.
Their focus was entirely domestic and hit on the economy, the war, and the prices of gas and diesel.
They won on that message, but before the sun rose Wednesday, there were dozens of threats to investigate and imprison Republicans from California to Washington. The campaign was a ruse, but it worked. Right now, it is hard to imagine a world where national Democrats will stay on the targets voters sent them to Washington for. Rather, they’ll go for revenge.
The temptation to investigate and prosecute is strong. The insider trading among top White House lieutenants and Cabinet officials is the envy of Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), and Hunter Biden’s art sales look cute next to the Trump family’s international business dealings. There was a time when these sorts of investigations might have a major political impact, but those days are gone.
The hard reality is that those unscrupulous sitting White House officers enriching themselves likely didn’t break any laws, reducing Democrats’ message to “shady-shady-profit-profit.” For years, Republicans have tried to make the same narrative stick to the likes of Pelosi and George Soros, while smarter Democrats than incoming Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) targeted the Kochs. All these attacks ever accomplished were a sea of partisan media segments and bumper sticker sales to party activists. It’s complicated stuff, and Americans are more focused on affording groceries and utilities.
Of course, Democrats can try to nail it all on the presidents’ kids instead, but after years of trying that game with Russia and then Ukraine, it’s hard to imagine it working with the Saudis or whoever else. Sure, Rachel Maddow’s fan club will be incensed, but if history is any guide, the public will neither follow nor much care.
They will care if inflation isn’t handled. They will care a great deal if energy and food prices don’t come down They will be angry when they get the cable news outrage segments Congress long ago substituted for substantive legislative action.
And they will be angry at Democrats.
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On the campaign trail in 2016, the two most incredible spectacles were the Donald J. Trump and the Bernie Sanders shows. The energy and the outrage were electric.
No American leader has yet to approach satisfying that discontent; the frustrations were real and have only grown. Washington is still a swamp, America is still too entangled in foreign wars, and while the border is closed, the pace of legal and illegal demographic change has still deeply unsettled the people and the economy. It’s a dangerous time, but in crisis lies opportunity.
At the Korean War’s Battle of Chosin Reservoir, storied Marine Gen. Lewis “Chesty” Puller reportedly exclaimed, “They’ve got us surrounded! Good! Now we can fire in any direction.” Republicans actually do have that chance in just two years. Waves recede, and there are dozens and dozens of R+ districts that will be up for grabs for a new crop of populist candidates eager to learn the lessons of the elders’ failures and champion the kind of politics Americans are demanding.
The bench is strong, the board is cleared for the next generation, Democrat overreach in all the wrong directions is inevitable, and the next elections will come. This isn’t about “pendulum swings”; it’s about hard work. Best get to it.
Donald trump, Gas prices, Grassroots, Illegal labor, Insider trading, James talarico, Ken paxton, Maha, Republicans, American politics, 2026 midterms, Gop, Opinion & analysis
