The date is Nov. 3, 2026. Democrats are able to erase the GOP’s razor-thin majority in the House to take back the majority, while Republicans hold the Senate, albeit barely.
Immediately after the new Congress is sworn in and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) is made the new speaker of the House, announcements come fast and furious. Impeachment proceedings will begin in the chamber, although exactly what Trump is being impeached for is unclear. Investigations are also announced, although these appear to be the investigations-in-search-of-crime variety.
With the House and Senate split and neither side holding anything considered a meaningful majority, Washington, D.C., once again, becomes paralyzed in gridlock.
Two of the three cable news networks, CNN and MSNBC, go all-in on the coverage. It’s the Trump-Russia collusion theater all over again, with the sitting president once again being presumed guilty. Pundits on TV and columnists in the New York Times and Washington Post all warn about the threat to democracy and the need to save it from Trump and his team, all with zero self-awareness of how out of touch they are with the public.
After President Donald Trump’s first impeachment in 2019, his approval numbers actually reached near the highest level of his first term, hitting 45% (Gallup) after beginning the year at just 37%. And remember what this impeachment was about: Trump suggesting to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the time that he should investigate the Biden family for possible corruption via influence peddling through Hunter Biden, who pocketed nearly $1 million from Ukrainian energy company Burisma despite having zero experience in the energy sector. Shell accounts were created that funneled millions to various Biden family members, including “the big guy,” who Hunter’s business partner, Tony Bobulinski, said was former President Joe Biden.
The Bidens were never charged, of course. But Trump’s suggestion in 2019 doesn’t look so unreasonable now, does it?
In 2024, the country witnessed Trump once again being the target of the weaponization of the justice system to the tune of 94 felony charges via four federal cases. The Republican nominee was constantly in court and would hold court with the press afterward to hammer home how Democrats were attempting to put him in jail instead of trusting the voters. And given how flimsy these cases were, Trump’s argument of being politically targeted resonated with independent and low-propensity voters who saw that Team Blue was clearly overplaying its hand.
A Harvard Caps-Harris poll in February 2024 underscores the sentiment.
Question: “Do you think the Democrats today are engaged in lawfare — a campaign using the government and the legal system in biased ways to take out a political opponent, or do you think the prosecutions of Donald Trump are fair and unrelated to politics?”
A decisive 58% agreed the prosecutions were lawfare, while 42% said the indictments were fair.
Throughout 2024, especially when cases were bungled by the likes of District Attorney Fani Willis in Fulton County, Georgia, who hired her boyfriend to the tune of $600,000 of taxpayer money to quarterback a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act case against Trump, the public began to see the lawfare effort for what it was. And after the votes were counted on Nov. 5, Trump won the greatest verdict in history by capturing the popular vote over former Vice President Kamala Harris while winning every swing state.
Republicans are well aware their agenda will be put on hold indefinitely in a divided government, with Trump’s exit from the national stage marred by being impeached but not removed for a third time and the GOP playing defense with an inability to pass anything in the House.
This plan to hold the House and Senate begins with passing the “big, beautiful bill” in the Senate. For now, it is receiving several “no” votes from the GOP side because spending cuts aren’t exceeding where Sens. Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Rand Paul (R-KY) would like to see them. Tallying up DOGE cuts in a separate discretionary bill down the road this year is phase two of this plan.
But similar to the House, where Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) was able to pass the bill with the slimmest of margins (215-214), the thought here is that eventually Ron Johnson and Paul will get enough of what they’re asking for in cuts to move the bill back to the House before it arrives on the president’s desk for signature.
Trump and the GOP are already seeing great signs on the economy as well, thereby stripping Democrats of any arguments that they’d be better stewards of the economy than Republicans.
The core inflation numbers released this week show it at just 2.1%, compared to 9.1% under Biden not too long ago. Consumer confidence is at a four-year high. Unemployment is historically low at 4.2%, with private sector jobs soaring. And the GDP is expected to grow at 3.8% in the second quarter, according to the respected Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, far higher than Biden’s average throughout his term.
As the economy goes, so do elections. And if Trump can continue this impressive economic run on multiple fronts, that trend could be reversed.
Democrats also appear to have a serious messaging problem. It’s now to the point that consultants are actually advising members on how to communicate more relatably with young men.
Per the New York Times, “Speaking with American Men: A Strategic Plan” is the Democrats’ $20 million project to “study the syntax, language and content that gains attention and virality in these spaces” of male voters.
“Known as ‘SAM,’ the study will specifically examine young male voters and how the party can connect with the demographic. Additionally, the study advised rolling out pro-Democrat ads in video games,” Fox News wrote.
Well, that should do the trick, because nothing screams authenticity quite like programming human beings how to speak based on market-tested results.
And think about the words other consultants have advised that Democrats should use.
“Cisgender.”
“Latinx.”
“Intersectionality.”
“Equity.”
“White fragility.”
Again, it appears Democrats are living so far within their elitist bubbles while taking cues from the New York Times and MSNBC that they have forgotten basic communication skills with voters. Instead of listening to them, they’ve been talking at them.
Pundits say Democrats could still take back the House and Senate in 2026.
The question is: Will they convince voters, candidly and authentically, why they should vote for their candidate in 2028?
TRUMP IS ‘GAINING TRACTION’ WITH DEMOCRATS: STEPHEN A. SMITH
Or will the party follow the old playbook of lawfare and impeachment?
That may be a rhetorical question.
