It was, to borrow from hapless Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, “historious.” (Can we just agree now to preface the names of all the members of President Donald J. Trump’s cabinet of curiosities with the word “hapless”?)
The midterm election was indeed “historious,” stunning even those who strategized and hoped for such results. The Democrats as of now will have at least 253 seats in the House of Representatives come Jan. 3 — a number that may go as high as 261 — having flipped more than 40 Republican seats. They won control of the Senate with 54 seats and possibly two more if Mary Peltola and Scott Colom win in Alaska and Mississippi respectively. (Votes are still being counted in those tight races.) If Colom wins, he will be the first black senator to represent the Magnolia State since the Reconstruction period in the post-Civil War era.
What may be even more important as we look to the 2028 presidential race is that Democrats will hold governorships over three-quarters of the American population. That means the Dems are poised for a great ground game in what were once red or battleground states.
We haven’t seen this kind of Republican rout since Watergate. The “blunami” is epic. It’s generational. It’s the end of MAGA, according to the experts. And how have the repudiated Repubs responded?
Well, fearless leader Trump has doubled down by ousting Susie Wiles as chief of staff and replacing her with Deputy Chief Stephen Miller, the architect of the overreaching immigration policy that was part of what voters rejected Tuesday, Nov. 3. A number of things here: Note that when the going gets tough in the Trump Administration, women are the ones who get the shaft. I don’t wish to make a feminist point here. They were enablers and often incompetent. But the same could be said about many of the men in the administration, who remain at their posts.
Secondly, always remember that what is important to a narcissist is the adulation of the moment that aids the exhaustive and exhausting search for a fragile self. Trump was willing to work with Democrats Tuesday night in a call in to Fox, but on Wednesday he was on to the ballroom and a new audience and on Friday he was talking to yet another audience of the press about Wiles and the need for change. This way he also had fresh material as he sought to wrest control of the narrative from the Democrats’ victory.
Thirdly, while there are Republicans who are reassessing, like personable, credible Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt, who predicted on “PBS NewsHour” that Oklahoma would be following Texas’ move to blue in a couple of years; and Republicans who are sounding the death knell of MAGA, namely America Firsters like Marjorie Taylor Greene, there are Republicans who are joining the president in doubling down. Jim Jordan, who will run for House Minority Leader, has said they need to be on the attack. And Republicans are digging in in Mississippi, trying to hold on to the Senate seat in a battle that could make the state the Florida of 2026. (Gee, will there be hanging chads?)
Speaking of Florida, we must note that in delivering a sobering assessment of the GOP loss Tuesday night, Gov. Ron DeSantis was positioning himself for a presidential run in 2028. So is Vice President JD Vance, who has distanced himself from the Iran War, although he will no doubt be haunted every step of the way by his callous support for Vivek Ramaswamy’s ad attacking rival Amy Acton in Ramaswamy’s losing bid to become governor of Ohio.
Yes, the people have spoken, but it’s depressingly clear that the Republicans haven’t really heard them.