Self-Inflicted Damage
Before Democrats slap themselves on the back too many times in the elation of the US midterms, it’s worth remembering that they didn’t do this on their own. Nothing should be taken for granted over the next two years, and certainly 2028 is still a crapshoot. The truth is that none of this would have been possible, especially at this level, without Trump’s help and the continual, self-inflicted damage he did to himself and his brand with the help of his unbridled sycophants.
Nate Cohen in the Times’ “Tilt”, did a good job at hitting the highlights of Trump’s self-harm:
Over the last decade, President Trump destroyed the Republican Party as we once knew it. He replaced it with a younger, more diverse, less affluent, less politically engaged, working-class party — one that was less conservative, less likely to vote and more sensitive to economic concerns. In his second term, Mr. Trump dismantled his coalition, piece by piece. His tariffs and the high gas prices under his watch alienated the working-class voters who were drawn to him by his record of economic stewardship in his first term and his promise to lower costs. His decision to go to war with Iran alienated a generation of voters who grew up bemoaning the forever wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The corruption that became a campaign issue and even his handling of the Epstein files repelled the anti-establishment voters who were suspicious of the Washington elite. The excesses of Mr. Trump’s immigration policies helped alienate the Hispanic voters who had surged to him in 2024 — and who had been singularly responsible for keeping Texas a red state, despite Democratic gains among the state’s metropolitan white voters.
Furthermore, there’s no sense that’s he’s through with this self-immolation, as he continues in denial.
Top of his list should be firing Defense Secretary Hegseth and probably cashiering Hegseth’s personal choice as joint chiefs so that he can get his arms around what it would take to deal with Iran in this mess of his. He would have to back away from Israel’s Netanyahu. He would have scuttle his bromance with Putin and ditch his diesel deal, which seems not to be happening anyway, since their tankers are reportedly turning around. He would have to find some real diplomats with clean hands and empty pockets rather than his son-in-law and real estate buddies to do America’s diplomacy.
On the domestic side, he would have fire Stephen Miller as his architect of immigration and detention and probably do something with his Homeland Security guy. Kennedy would have to be reined in or put in a bin at Health and Human Services. He would have to stop acting like he’s not just a construction foreman and remember he’s president of all of the people. It’s a long list.
Terrible for the US, but lucky for the Democrats, the odds are slim that he would be willing and able to do all of that or much of any of it. In fact, reportedly he’s entertaining memos from his usual coterie about how he can continue his imperial reign of terror even though unpopular and corraled by a Democratic Congress with stout majorities in both houses. Nonetheless, even if this will be a gift that keeps giving, the wannabes are going to be putting more and more distance between themselves and Trump, so the Dems will need to get on the streets and byways and actually organize from the grassroots up, rather than believing the wave is going to keep hitting their beach. Can they, or will they do that? I wouldn’t take anything for granted.