Y’know all those legislative fantasies floating in your head about the next four years? All your post-election daydreams of four glorious years of MAGA successes on Capitol Hill?
It might be wise to cut your expectations in half — and for the GOP to plan legislation accordingly.
Whenever a new president comes in, they’re almost always thumped in the midterms. Since World War II, the president’s party loses an average of 28 seats in Congress. (Forty-three seats when the president’s approval rating is sub-.500.)
Donald Trump won by a landslide in the Electoral College (just as we predicted), but Kamala Harris still captured 48.1% of the vote. This game is still won or lost on the margins. 2026 will probably be tough.
Perhaps Trump will buck the tide. If anyone can defy expectations, it’s our French fry-slinging, garbage truck-driving president-elect. His political instincts seem extraordinarily acute of late.
But in his 2018 midterms, we lost 41 seats and control of the House. And in two years, the media will be out for blood like never before! Trump beat them, humiliated them, and rubbed their faces in it, and they’ll be looking for payback. Trump and the Republicans will be crucified for every evil that’s ever befallen humanity (plus a few Hitler comparisons, for old time’s sake).
So let’s concentrate on the present: We’re standing at the precipice of a unique moment in American history. The conservative moment, in its various forms, now has control of the White House, the House of Representatives, the Senate, and the Supreme Court!
These kinds of opportunities are more than just generational: You could go multiple lifetimes without witnessing such a star-crossed conservative alignment! It’s a rarer sighting than Haley’s comet.
Two critical questions must be answered: First, what do we do with this opportunity? (How do we avoid squandering it? What are our top political priorities?)
I don’t have an answer. I’m more of a tactics guy than an ideologue. But I can be enormously helpful with the second question:
How will the Democrats try to stop us?
Yeah, sure — they’ll still compare Trump to Hitler and all that garbage. That’s now a permanent part of their lexicon. The loony left’s Nazi conspiracy theories are so engrained in their DNA by now, Trump could convert to Judaism and hum Hatikvah on Yom Kippur, and they’d still swear he’s a Nazi. But their Hitler fetish won’t be their primary focus anymore.
Instead, we’re going to see something we haven’t seen in a while: Democrats and the media will work together to court “moderate” Republicans.
It’s a nice problem to have, because it means you’re in a position of power. But make no mistake: It’s still a problem.
A big one.
Historically, the Democrats and/or media have been very successful at seducing spineless, insecure Republicans. We’ve seen it happen before: Rush Limbaugh renamed him “Jumpin’ Jim,” but when Sen. James Jeffords left the GOP in 2001, it gave the Democrats control of the Senate.
If and/or when the Democrats find themselves within striking distance of a majority, a similar play is coming. Be prepared.
But even if they can’t find another Jumpin’ Jim, expect “Demedia” to work overtime to twist arms, exert pressure, and weaken the GOP majority. Because there will absolutely be some Republicans who fall for it.
There always are.
Part of the problem is that politics and media both tend to attract similar personalities, people, and aspirations: They covet each other’s job, and whenever a congressman isn’t daydreaming about becoming president, he’s daydreaming about being a TV news star. It’s like a moth to a flame — or a pyro to a Zippo.
They can’t stay away.
Fortunately, we’ll be able to spot ‘em immediately. Wanna know which GOP congressmen are thinking of jumping ship?
It’ll be the ones making an unusually large number of media appearances and interviews on CNN, MSNBC, NBC News, and the rest.
For the next two years, Trump’s biggest danger won’t come from Democrats. It’ll come from Republican turncoats.
