Tuesday was an effing bloodbath. Texas, of all places, basically flipped from blood red to sky blue. They elected to the Senate a dude who has a favorite drag queen! But it wasn't just Texas.
Donalds barely won his governor's race in the reddest state in the union. Georgia picked a woman for governor who had to quit her race for mayor because she couldn't win. And Michigan elected an Islamist to the Senate. Not to mention losing over 40 seats in the House and probably 9 in the Senate.
This is, any way you look at it, a disaster of epic proportions. Not necessarily historic, though. Obama lost 63 seats in the House in 2010 and 9 in the Senate in 2014. And overall, Grover Cleveland lost 125 seats in the House in 1894, and Ike lost 13 in the Senate in 1958. So, not necessarily historic, but ungodly bad for certain.
Everyone has their two cents about why this happened. Mine is pretty simple. The Republicans betrayed their voters. They were given control of the White House, Senate, and House, with an actual mandate: 1) Secure our borders and deport tens of millions of illegals. 2) Secure our elections. 3) Cut spending. 4) Don't 'eff up the economy.
Sadly, the GOP clowns managed to blow all four, or at least, in the case of the border and the economy, they lost the messaging.
On the first point, while Trump most certainly has been a vast improvement over Biden, the reality is that he allowed treasonous judges to hamstring him almost every step of the way. And Congress, which has complete control over the lower courts, did nothing to help him. Nothing.
On the second point, Thune was nothing short of a disaster. At first, he claimed he couldn't get the SAVE America Act past the filibuster, but then said that even if he could, he wouldn't have had the votes to pass it. That's the excuse of a manager, not a leader.
Can you imagine Pelosi not getting a bill that 85% of Americans wanted passed because of a few recalcitrant members? No chance. Leadership has power, and she would have used it…and she did, often. Thune was never a leader. He never inspired anyone…except animosity from people like me who think he's a traitor. Had he accomplished that one task, we wouldn't be having this conversation. But he didn't, and we are.
On the third point, Trump, Thune, and Johnson basically played go along to get along. They cut virtually nothing. DOGE handed them hundreds of billions in fraud they could have cut, but they did practically nothing. And Nick Shirley, among others, showed them billions in grift, and they've done nothing.
All in all, they not only didn't cut spending, but they increased it and added $3 trillion to the national debt in less than two years. Trump and virtually every Republican on Capitol Hill just went along as if spending growth were some otherworldly force that has a life of its own and over which they have no control.
On the last point, the reality is that the economy isn't nearly as bad as the media tell people. The one place it is bad is gasoline prices. Gas prices are almost as much of a third rail in American politics as Social Security. Americans pay closer attention to gasoline prices than to those of any other item. Why? Because no other consumer item in the American economy has 140,000 signs advertising its price right in front of us, every single day. And we drive more and use more gas, more frequently, than anyone else in the world.
Because of all that, gas prices have a psychological effect on Americans that no other product does. And today, gas prices are 30% higher than they were two years ago. Inflation sitting at 3.7% is not great, but it's not historically bad either. Combine that with tepid GDP figures and slightly higher unemployment rates, and the economy's not great, but it's not bloodbath terrible. But the media told us it was.
The reality is that Americans handed the GOP a mandate two years ago, and they squandered it. Americans didn't want a lot, but what they did want was pretty clear, and the GOP decided that they would rather muddle through than actually lead. That includes Speaker Johnson, Leader Thune, and, sadly, President Trump.
Even Iran would not have been an issue, despite Trump's No new wars pledge, had the war been swift and eliminated the leadership and the Revolutionary Guard. But it wasn't, and it didn't, and Americans are paying the price for it, literally. And so, too, did the Republicans.
The question is, what's next? We know the Democrats are going to go on an impeachment and contempt joyride. We can't worry about that.
The only question that matters right now is, what will Trump do? Will he spend the next two years saying the bloodbath wasn't his fault and play footsies with the Democrats, or will he swallow his pride and do what's right for America?
Sadly, my guess is the former, but if he decides that his legacy should be that of the man who saves the Republic rather than the guy who built a new ballroom, he needs to watch Tombstone and take a cue from Kurt Russell: "Tell 'em I'm coming, and I'm bringing Hell with me."
1. Finish the Iran war. Eliminate the IRGC and eliminate Iran's ability to strike America or her allies, either directly or through proxies. (An incidental regime change would be a bonus.)
2. Dramatically ramp up the deportations of illegals. He needs to ignore the treasonous federal judges who have been handcuffing his every move. Today, federal judges act as if they have jurisdiction over every single element of American life. They don't, and there's nothing in the Constitution that gives it to them. Trump should not allow them to exercise the executive powers they assert they have. Let Congress try and do something about it.
3. Resurrect DOGE and use presidential prerogative to defund every fraudulent program out there.
4. Go to the mattresses with Congress over government spending, particularly redistribution programs that are so rife with fraud. Refuse to sign anything that adds a single penny to the deficit. Shut the government down and use his Article II, Section 3 powers to call Congress to Washington until they come up with something he will sign. No vacation. No holidays. No trips home. Every single day, if necessary.
5. Finally, and most importantly, build a Republican Party that will actually govern as America First after 2028. Endorse candidates because they're conservative, not because they kiss his ass. Endorse candidates because they can be counted on to do what he promised to do and what got him elected in the first place.
The reality is, no one is coming to save America. It's up to patriots to fix what the GOP establishment effed up. Primary every RINO in Congress. Nominate patriots who love small government, individual freedom, Christianity, capitalism, and, most of all, America. If someone doesn't check off every one of those boxes, keep moving until you find someone who does.
The establishment did this to itself. But sadly, it did it to us as well. It's up to us to fix it. That is the only way.
Image created using AI. Follow Vince on X at @ImperfectUSA.
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