Blue tide rising

2026 is going to be ugly for Republicans

“If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed.......and we will deserve it.”

That was the text of a particularly prescient tweet by South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham. It goes way back to May 2016. The Republicans didn’t get destroyed that year, but I think about this tweet occasionally when a Trump-caused disaster strikes the GOP.

Image created by ChatGPT

That happened again on Tuesday night. A month ago, Democrats swept off-year elections, and this week they racked up two more impressive wins. Democrats won a state house seat in Clarke County, Georgia, home of the University of Georgia (I am legally obligated to add “Go Dawgs!”), and the mayorship of Miami, Florida. A second state house race in Georgia will advance to a runoff in January.

House District 121 in Georgia has been Republican since 2019, while a Democrat has not been mayor of Miami for almost three decades. Both races reflected double-digit swings towards the Democrats.

Democrats have had an exceptionally good year when it comes to special elections. They aren’t batting a thousand, but it’s pretty close. One of the few races that they’ve lost, a special election for a Tennessee congressional district last week, still reflected a 10-point shift away from the GOP.

As I’ve said many times, it’s almost axiomatic that the more voters see of Donald Trump, the less they like him. He was unpopular at the end of his first term, but Republicans couldn’t accept that he lost a fair race. They brought him back into a second administration that is not hamstrung by traditional conservatives in positions of power. This is pure Trump on display for all to see.

Pure, unidiluted Trump may be what MAGA voted for, but it isn’t what swing voters wanted. Swing voters wanted lower prices and affordability, not tariffs and the advice to make do with less. They wanted to deport violent illegal immigrant criminals, but not have ICE knocking down doors to arrest people who were assimilated into society and harassing US citizens. Swing voters wanted a change from the “Sleepy” Joe Biden, but they didn’t want to end up with America’s crazy uncle, who, by the way, is fighting wokeness by dozing off more than Biden ever did. Voters have seen the Trump vision for America, and they are rejecting it in droves.

The White House’s reaction to the looming electoral catastrophe is the same as it always is: They just need more Trump! Fox News reports that Donald Trump will take his message directly to the voters by hitting the campaign trail again in 2026. It’s not a cult at all.

Assuming that America survives the Trump presidency and civil war doesn’t break out, Trump is going to be the gift that keeps on giving for Democrats. Most Republicans, especially those in tight races (and “tight” could mean if they had less than a 15-point margin last time), are not going to want Trump anywhere near their campaign, but they can’t distance themselves from him without the president throwing a temper tantrum and attacking them. It is a rock-or-hard-place conundrum. Do they want to be beaten up in the primary or the general election? Even Laura Loomer sees it coming.

The whole mess was easily predictable. Republicans have been telling me for decades that taxes increase costs and are paid by the end user. Tariffs are no different, yet the formerly conservative Republicans pretend that they are. Who could have imagined that Hispanic communities like Miami’s Cubans would object to being racially profiled and subjected to federal brutality? Pretty much anyone except MAGA stalwarts. Americans are not okay with provoking a war with Venezuela or murdering alleged drug traffickers.

Republicans and Libertarians have been warning the country about an intrusive and abusive federal government for as long as I can remember, yet under Trump, they have embraced the federal whip hand because it is striking people they don’t like. It has been one of the most astonishing displays of hypocrisy that America has ever seen. It’s now clear that Republicans aren’t opposed to Big Government; they are just opposed to letting Democrats control it.

American voters don’t like it when Republicans aim the federal government at them. There is a blue tsunami building for 2026. It is foreordained that Republicans are going to suffer apocalyptic losses.

What happens after that is more questionable. By rights, Americans should never trust Republicans to run the government again. Of course, we know that won’t happen. In our two-party system, voters will eventually tire of and/or be alienated by Democrats again the way they were in 2024. The question is how long that will take.

If Democrats go off the deep end the way MAGA has, the Republican time in the wilderness may be relatively short. If Republicans shake off the Trumpian fever dream and return to sanity, they may also limit their time in exile. If they persist in allowing the MAGA faction to control the party, they may be a minority for a long time, especially since Trump won’t be on the ballot to motivate his base.

I may eventually vote Republican again, but after watching so many Republicans that I used to trust and admire abandon their principles to kowtow to an authoritarian, I’ll never trust any of them again. I’ll never again call myself a Republican.

I’ll offer my advice to Democrats again: Let the Republicans embrace the crazy. Be sane. Aim for moderately conservative swing voters who are unhappy with Trump and the GOP. When you regain power, keep the same strategy and don’t go nuts. Don’t confuse dislike of the other party with love for your fringe. Concentrate on basic competence rather than reaching for the progressive moon.

The first party that takes this simple advice could be dominant for a generation.

THE US SEIZED an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela.

FIVE YEARS OF SOCIAL MEDIA HISTORY will be required from travelers seeking to visit the US from countries that are part of the Visa Waiver Program.

THE CALIBRI FONT is woke according to Marco Rubio, who banned its use at the State Department.

SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS: You can follow us on social media at several different locations. Official Racket News pages include:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NewsRacket
Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/NewsRacket

Threads: https://www.threads.com/@theracketnews

Mastodon: https://bird.makeup/users/newsracket

Our personal accounts on the platform formerly known as Twitter:

David: https://x.com/captainkudzu
Steve: https://x.com/stevengberman
Jay: https://x.com/curmudgeon_NH

Tell your friends about us!