Over the weekend, Nevada secured the Democrats’ hold on the Senate.
Incumbent senator Catherine Cortez Masto narrowly won her re-election against Republican Adam Laxalt, who was one of the many candidates who hitched their wagon to Donald Trump…and lost. Despite assumptions of a Republican takeover, the GOP failed to deliver as planned in the midterms, going against historical precedent that typically favors the party not in the White House.
By all indications, the extremist politics embraced by Donald Trump are mostly bad news to Republicans moving forward. Here’s what we learned from the red trickle, and why it would be better for Republicans–and the country– to send Trump to voicemail and keep his text messages on read.
01
Having a far-right boogeyman just encourages more monsters
The strategy to elevate Trump in 2016, thinking he would be easy to beat, backfired for the Clinton campaign. Although it seems like a winning strategy for Democrats to elevate Trump again knowing he may turn off moderate Republicans, or to elevate others aligned with him, that carries too great a risk.
Despite talk about rightwing candidates being really unpopular, many still only lost by razor thin margins in nail-biting contests. There’s no telling what strategies (ahem, racial gerrymandering) the far right will deploy in their quest for power.
02
With Trump or his acolytes in power, activists will likely have to focus on issues we shouldn’t even be dealing with
The siren calls of Medicare for All and free college tuition feel like so long ago, since we’ve been thrust back into the 1970s relitigating basic human rights we thought were already guaranteed.
Instead of pushing back against the MAGA right, many Republicans could just be inspired to carry on the same violence and draconian, regressive policies—from voter suppression to overturning women’s reproductive freedom—that have gone in overdrive since Trump got in office. How did we get here? Nobody’s supposed to be here.
03
Despite the importance of the economy, it didn’t mean voters weren’t highly activated by other issues
While there were signs that the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade had lost its effectiveness in turning out pro-choice voters, it was still an important issue based on exit polls. In fact, it was the most important issue for voters after inflation. While inflation can theoretically be addressed by any party (though it’s mostly out of the hands of political leaders), only Democrats have consistently shown a commitment to protecting reproductive rights.
04
Trump endorsed about 30 candidates this year. Many of his favorites lost
Republicans would be wise to denounce Trump, which is something many of them failed to do throughout his presidency. Yeah, it’s the right thing to do. But really, the brand isn’t as strong anymore. Trump’s endorsement of Dr. Oz might have cost the celebrity doctor a Senate seat in his loss to John Fetterman. The boisterous Kari Lake is still lagging behind her Democratic opponent for governor in Arizona. All of Trump’s secretary of state endorsements in important battleground states lost. MAGA is played. We’re tired. Pick somebody else!
