From: punditster@gmail.com
On 2/13/2026 2:06 PM, Noah Sombrero wrote:
> On Fri, 13 Feb 2026 13:58:36 -0800, Dude wrote:
>
>> On 2/13/2026 1:21 PM, Tara wrote:
>>> On Feb 13, 2026 at 2:55:03?PM EST, "Noah Sombrero" wrote:
>>>
>>>> On Fri, 13 Feb 2026 19:37:27 +0000, Julian
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> We gotta win the midterms,? President Donald Trump told the crowd in
>>>>> Iowa at the end of last month. ?I?m here because we?re starting the
>>>>> campaign to win the midterms. That means Senate and it means House.?
>>>>>
>>>>> Trump is, by all accounts, obsessed with the upcoming elections in
>>>>> November. Having been distracted by various foreign dramas, and seeing
>>>>> his approval ratings dip, the President aims to pivot back to a domestic
>>>>> mission in 2026.
>>>>>
>>>>> Trump understands the stakes, hence choosing Iowa, the traditional
>>>>> starting place for presidential primaries, to launch this campaign. The
>>>>> final two years of his presidency hinge on the outcome of these
>>>>> elections. He sees that, without a congressional majority in both
>>>>> houses, his political revolution will stall or even be reversed. If the
>>>>> Democrats capture the House, Trump would almost certainly face another
>>>>> round of noisy congressional battles and, quite likely, impeachment.
>>>>> That would drown out the revolutionary tempo of his second
>>>>> administration ? a repeat of the relentless Democrat-led scuppering of
>>>>> his first term, only with added venom.
>>>>>
>>>>> Trump?s plan is to focus on what voters care about most: the economy. At
>>>>> the Iowa rally, a large banner above the President read: ?LOWER PRICES,
>>>>> BIGGER PAYCHECKS.? He brags relentlessly about having lowered the cost
>>>>> of gas and is busy hyping a series of policies designed to make
>>>>> Americans feel good about their finances. There?s the $1,000 ?Trump
>>>>> Account? for every child born in the US between January 1, 2025 and
>>>>> December 2028 and, perhaps soon, a $2,000 ?tariff dividend? for every
>>>>> American taxpayer. Moreover, if Trump?s new nominee Kevin Warsh is
>>>>> installed as chairman of the Federal Reserve in May, he may well get
>>>>> those feel-good interest rate cuts he so badly wants.
>>>>>
>>>>> At the same time, the Democrats are increasingly confident that, for all
>>>>> Trump?s salesmanship skills, lingering cost-of-living pain and anxieties
>>>>> about the impacts of his erratic tariff system will ensure victory for
>>>>> their party. They believe a giant blue wave could soon drown out Trump?s
>>>>> legacy once and for all. The latest Fox poll supports such a view: only
>>>>> 20 percent of respondents felt Trump?s economic policies had ?helped?;
>>>>> 43 percent said they had ?hurt.?
>>>>>
>>>>> Unfazed by her failure in 2024, Kamala Harris has launched a shiny new
>>>>> youth mobilization organization, ?Headquarters,? to build enthusiasm
>>>>> ahead of the midterms.
>>>>>
>>>>> Democrats are also thrilled at growing concerns about the uglier side of
>>>>> Trump?s immigration policies. Immigration is supposed to be a winning
>>>>> issue for Trump. His success in stopping illegal migration across the
>>>>> southern border is popular. Mass deportations, however, are becoming
>>>>> trickier to sell to the electorate. This is why, in the wake of last
>>>>> month?s shooting of the anti-ICE protester Alex Pretti, Trump moved
>>>>> quickly to put Tom Homan in charge of operations in Minnesota, while
>>>>> defenestrating Border Patrol commander-at-large Gregory Bovino.
>>>>>
>>>>> As November draws closer, Team Trump will emphasize how his strong
>>>>> crackdown on migrants, and his broader assertion of law and order in
>>>>> many American cities, has led to dramatic decreases in homicides and
>>>>> violent crimes. Yet history and logic suggest that the odds must
>>>>> strongly favor the Democrats. No one is certain about the Senate, where
>>>>> the Republican majority is stronger but still vulnerable. In the House
>>>>> of Representatives, however, where Republicans hold a vanishingly thin
>>>>> majority, Trump?s mission looks almost impossible: since the 1930s, only
>>>>> three presidents have seen their party gain House seats at midterm:
>>>>> Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1934, Bill Clinton in 1998 and George W.
>>>>> Bush in 2002.
>>>>>
>>>>> Yet Trump is blessed ? if not yet with a golden economy, then with a
>>>>> weakened and unpopular opposition. Today?s Democratic party is in hock
>>>>> to an increasingly strident leftist ideology. For the first time since
>>>>> its founding, Democrats now resemble a European socialist party, one
>>>>> that stresses centralized control, heavy regulation, identity politics,
>>>>> high taxes and income redistribution.
>>>>>
>>>>> That orientation is a novel development for any major American party and
>>>>> does not command majority support among the public. The Democrats lack a
>>>>> positive agenda and the closest figure they have to a national leader is
>>>>> not Harris but the arguably more detested Governor of California, Gavin
>>>>> Newsom. His state was once a symbol of American growth and optimism; now
>>>>> it is suffering outward migration for the first time since the Gold Rush
>>>>> of 1849.
>>>>>
>>>>> But the Democrats? weakness is also their strength. Although the party
>>>>> is muddled on core issues, the real glue that binds them these days is
>>>>> their white-hot hatred of Donald Trump. Hatred is not too strong a word.
>>>>> It motivates party activists, donors and especially core voters, who are
>>>>> disproportionately important in midterm elections, when turnout is
>>>>> typically low. It is this hatred of Trump that keeps true believers
>>>>> marching through the bone-chilling cold of a Minneapolis winter. It
>>>>> inspires them to vote for a socialist (some say communist) mayor of New
>>>>> York who cannot pay for his airy promises and has never managed so much
>>>>> as a two-car funeral.
>>>>>
>>>>> While Democrats fear a reign of right-wing populism, Republicans fear an
>>>>> irreversible slide into socialism, managed by a sclerotic Washington
>>>>> bureaucracy. Notions of a ?loyal opposition? are long forgotten. For the
>>>>> party of Trump, the Democrats are accursed enemies. Truly evil. In such
>>>>> a climate, even midterm elections can take on a kind of end-times
>>>>> importance. Both sides are convinced that, if results don?t go their
>>>>> way, the country could be finished.
>>>>>
>>>>> If Democrats manage to retake the House, you can say goodbye to any new
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