These people are crazy. I’m telling you, they’re crazy…Democrats are destroying our country.
President Trump (State of the Union speech)
Give this president credit for saying out loud what 57% of Americans are thinking: Democrats are crazy. Right now, their fruity idea of the month is to defund citizens’ homeland security to protect criminal illegal immigrants. Their “crazy” list goes on, simplifying Trump’s State of the Union speech into a binary tag sale: loony teachers or loving moms…out-of-control semis or our kids in car seats…vicious aliens or vulnerable girls. Let the midterms begin!
Kickoff was actually a week earlier, when the President’s team met at the Capitol Hill Club to discuss the midterms. What follows is veteran politico Mark Halperin’s report of that meeting, described as a two-hour-long “working session” for 100 of Trump’s political veterans (including cabinet secretaries and their aides). One attendee said spirits were serious, because midterm history is not on the side of the president’s party, but “not panicked” either.
Susie Wiles, the President’s chief of staff, hosted and opened the meeting, eventually turning it over to Tony Fabrizio, GOP pollster and strategist. Using a data-filled PowerPoint, he focused on the demographics, issues, and message needed to hold onto the House and Senate in November. Note that “message” is singular, because Fabrizio made it crystal clear the Economy is – and will be – the only issue on voters’ minds in 2026; i.e. the electorate now considers “closing the border” baseline governance (“been there, done that’).
Polling has identified four issues that interest a majority of voters; (1) protecting tax cuts from Democrat legislators, (2) lowering prescription drug costs and forcing “transparency” in health insurance pricing and reimbursements, (3) banning members of Congress from (insider) stock trading, and (4) making housing affordable – a big opportunity with younger voters.
The SAVE Act is a big deal, but attendees were told to focus on the battlefield that will decide the fate of their party’s agenda; 36 House and 7 Senate races, and the “persuadable universe” of Hispanics, men, moderates, and true independents. That’s because Fabrizio is convinced the GOP can only lose its Senate majority in a Blue Wave that washes 50 Republican incumbents out of the House. Thus, the GOP will tight-target its advertising.
The GOP will not “waste money” on legacy networks (CBS) and cable channels (CNN). It will invest heavily in digital social media and specialized podcasts that are driven by data and demographics (Facebook and Instagram are tops in reaching voters). In contrast to Fabrizio’s hopeful and optimistic voice, attendees say White House political czar James Blair warned that NOT losing lots of Republican seats in the House is a long shot.
He cited the special election in Tennessee’s 7th District, which was saved in the waning days by a late push, consisting of aggressive messaging and grassroots organizing. Lesson Learned: Republicans cannot talk voters into believing wages are up and costs are down. Blair said voters must feel family budgets and checking accounts improving to believe Trump’s economy is working for them. He also said opposition research would inform messaging that shows how out of step with voters Democrat candidates are.
Wiles, Fabrizio and Blair shared two universal truths: (1) Democrats will run on a “Stop Trump” message, and (2) Trump will continue to say what he wants to say. Their antidote is running in parallel two separate but related GOP campaigns; Trump’s instinctual and improvisational barnstorming, and data-driven/on-message candidate campaigns. In Halperin’s words, the “White House understands the rules of the game and believes it can bend them – in Washington, that counts as confidence.”
Thanks to Democrat petulance, that “opposition research” popped up during the State of the Union telecast, when Trump lured Democrat incumbents into a “crazy” trap: “If you agree with this statement, then stand up and show your support. The first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal immigrants.” Republicans stood, Democrats sat, the applause got louder, Trump said the quiet part out loud (“You should be ashamed”), and that video moment began airing on Thursday.
The campaign ad closes with “Democrats are for illegal immigrant criminals. Republicans are for you”. The “crazy’ Democrat evidence appeared again and again; sitting in smug silence after the President paid tribute to a de-transitioned daughter and her grateful mother, booing when Trump condemned Somali entitlement fraud, and wearing “F*CK ICE” badges. These are 80-20 issues that Democrats fumbled.
CRAZY…when 78% of Americans support deporting criminal illegal aliens (source: Harvard/Harris). OUT OF TOUCH…when 75% of Americans oppose schools hiding a student’s social gender transition from parents (source: YouGov). Mind you, this doesn’t mean Fabrizio’s economic focus is wrong – it means he knows his boss has got the cultural issues covered. Seriously, who disses “crazy” Democrats better than Donald Trump? Nobody…
…and smart Democrats like analyst Ruy Teixiera warn the party that “attempts to pose as economic populists without a strong dose of cultural populism” dooms their “affordability message with working-class voters.” Few Democrats understand our country’s working class like Teixiera, who’s convinced his party’s “economic populism is hopelessly inadequate.” That puts them at risk of “ever being a working-class party again.”
In Teixiera’s analysis, there four areas of cultural populism that Democrats should be “willing to robustly defend” to align with working-class voters, including illegal immigration (it’s wrong and should be penalized), public safety (criminals should be punished, and police should be defended), race-based discrimination (stop it, no matter who was benefitting) and transgenderism (preserve women’s sports and spaces for biological women, and protect children from medical “gender identity” interventions).
Right now, Teixiera says Democrats aligned with these working-class views are “essentially non-existent.” That bodes poorly for his party, but is music to the President’s ears. And, when incumbent Democrats refused to show support for these working-class values Tuesday night, it must have looked like victory to the President’s eyes. No question, defending commercial drivers licenses for illegal aliens is campaign insanity.
Sadly, campaign insanity is not enough, which is why 100 Republicans got a reality check at the Capitol Hill Club. These mid-term elections will turn on Trump’s economy, which needs to incubate through Memorial Day to decide which party benefits politically (with war breaking out in Iran, possibly driving petrol prices higher, nothing is certain).
One thing’s for sure, Trump will keep Democrat craziness front and center.
Late Addition
After finishing this post Saturday, I learned Ayatollah Khamenei and many Iranian baddies had been killed. Later, videos of Iranians celebrating in cities worldwide flooded my social media. Later still, Insider Advantage released the first poll: 54.3% of all Americans support the President’s decision, including 56.3% of those aged 18-39.
All through the day, Democrats whined about no congressional declaration of war. Britt Hume’s reaction was spot-on: “These Democrats, with rare exception, feel their job in life is to resist and oppose Trump in every way, almost no matter what he does. If the Iranian regime goes down, and things turn out well in Iran, that will be a burden around their necks.” Stay tuned…