If you ask enough, you shall receive.
I have been hammering this administration and the RNC about the lack of effort being put into rallying voters for the 2026 midterms, but Donald Trump has finally answered the call.
Trump is now expected to start a tour of the country, beginning on Tuesday, to promote the GOP's plan to make America more affordable.
When Zohran Mamdani won the New York City mayoral election, and two Democrats won their respective gubernatorial elections in New Jersey and Virginia, far too many people blew the situation off as no big deal.
It was not the losses themselves that bothered me, but rather how those races were lost.
We saw the GOP lose all the gains Trump made in the 2024 election cycle, and that is a problem.
However, there was no urgency demonstrated ahead of these elections, and far too many people just brushed off the losses, attributing them to liberal candidates simply winning elections in Democrat-heavy states and cities without actually looking at the numbers.
Earlier this week, the GOP won the special election for the seat vacated by former Rep. Mark Green (R-TN), but the final vote tally, too, was a warning sign if anyone was really paying attention.
Matthew Van Epps won the election by about nine points, but that was well below the previous bars that had been set. For example, Trump won his election in the same district by more than 30 points, and Green had more than a 21-point margin when he defended his seat in 2024.
Van Epps winning by only nine points revealed another major shift, but again, far too many people were satisfied with the victory rather than looking at the data that should be prompting concerns.
The GOP is bleeding support right now, with a very important midterm election coming up that is historically difficult for the party occupying the White House to win. Something needs to be done, and it would appear that Trump is finally going to address it.
“Affordability” is the new buzzword, and Trump needs to get out there to let the American people know how he is going to fix the fact that our bank accounts have been going the wrong way for the last five years.
My fear, however, is that Trump is going to downplay everyday costs based on what he said during his Cabinet meeting this week. He stated, “I think they are getting fake news from guys like you. Affordability is a hoax. It was started by Democrats, who caused the problems of pricing. And they did not end it.” The Democrat line of attack is definitely bogus, but our bank accounts don’t lie. Continuing to deny the struggles of middle-class America is not going to win over many voters.
When Trump first took office, if you were a regular reader at the time, you know that I preached patience on his agenda, and I even said things would likely get worse before they get better. Fixing this situation is not something that could be done overnight, but today’s society is one driven by instant gratification, and Trump saying he would address these issues on “Day One” did not help his case.
If I were advising Trump, I would lay out a clear plan of attack so that people have a realistic idea of when they are going to see some relief. Stop doing what Joe Biden did by telling Americans they are doing fine because they are not. Just be honest, we can take it, and let us know, realistically, when that relief will be coming on prices. It’s a crazy concept for D.C., I know, but honesty actually does work.
