Trump has already started to blame Republicans for midterms | Opinion
By: Rex Huppke (USA TODAY)
MAGA Republicans had their chance. And a penthouse billionaire from New York blew that chance. As Ross Perot would ask, "What's that sucking sound?"
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Tragically, I've watched and listened to and written about Trump for more than a decade. He's not a complicated person. His id-driven responses are as predictable as the tides.
We've now seen the first sign of the inevitable: President Donald Trump, as the Republican Party limps toward a possible midterm election wipeout, will turn on the GOP.
On his Truth Social account on Aug. 26, Trump shared a profane post from a right-wing influencer that read in part: "I don't think the GOP fully grasp how badly they are f---ing up right now."
The post went on to suggest Republicans in Congress are responsible for undercutting Trump, claiming that "the GOP continues to slow-walk every reform people want."
That's an odd thing for the titular head of the Republican Party to share just a few months out from a pivotal election. Or at least it would be odd if we were dealing with anyone other than Donald Trump.
Donald Trump will always blame others for his own failures
Tragically, I've watched and listened to and written about Trump for more than a decade. He's not a complicated person. His id-driven responses are as predictable as the tides.
So now that we've drawn closer to the midterms, and now that his ego feels the weight of bad poll numbers and the likelihood of electoral embarrassment, Trump, sure as day follows night, will blame someone else. And the only "someone else" to be blamed in this scenario is the political party that sold its soul and sense of decency by embracing him.
How can I feel so certain of this? Well, look back on all the things Trump has done - be it in business or in politics or in marriage or in friendships - and tell me this isn't true: Donald Trump cannot fail; he can only be failed.
Have you ever heard Trump take responsibility for anything?
Find me one instance of this man, in his 80 years, accepting responsibility for anything or admitting to failure of any sort. He has no regrets. His losses are the result of someone else's scandalous behavior. He has never admitted he lost the 2020 presidential election, choosing instead to undermine the foundation of our democracy by cooking up absurd claims of election fraud or interference.
This is why he has ramped up "rigged election" talk in advance of the midterms and placed fellow conspiratorial travelers in positions that will allow them to question the validity of the results.
Simply put, if the Republican Party loses control of one or both houses of Congress this fall, it will, in Trump's mind and in his words, be either the fault of some imagined and impossible voting scandal or the fault of the useless Republicans who weren't strong enough to win. Likely some combination of both.
Trump's narcissism will force him to point the finger at the GOP
The psychological pain of confronting his own unpopularity or his own political weakness is too much for a narcissist like Trump to handle. He will say anything to avoid that pain, and what he will say, in some form or another, is that Republicans failed him. They didn't embrace his policies strongly enough. They didn't lean into what he sees as his boundless popularity and charisma enough. They were cowards. Turncoats.
My bet is we'll see more of Trump distancing himself from his own party in the months ahead. The GOP made a deal with the devil. Getting tossed under the bus by Trump was always going to be the price they'd pay.
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Here in Minnesota the Republican candidates are pounding a message of Democratic corruption. Yes, boys & girls, hypocrisy is alive and well in the heartland.
So far the polling in MN shows the state will stay in Democratic hands.
I'm in District 1 where Brad Finstad holds office. The southern part of Minnesota is Trump Country, in spite of Rochester. Tim Walz's razor thin win in 2016 is why he ran for governor in 2018 instead of trying to defend his incumbency in District 1.
The Trump/Pence signs have pretty much disappeared from the landscape now. I haven't seen any signs with JD Vance on them but I don't travel the backroads that much. I doubt southern Minnesota will flip back to Democrats but, at this point, anything is possible.
You are probably correct about D1. I know that Klobuchar is up 16 points in the polls for Governor and Flannigan is at +5 for Senate. I don't know other statewide races as I'm in the hinderlands of WI. ...okay I'm just across the bridge from Duluth, but sometimes that seems like a news black hole.
Democrats will win a narrow majority in the House. The Senate may go to either party by a seat or two. This has been obvious since election eve 2024. Midterms are midterms. They have no long term meaning relative to the next election. The only interesting thing appears to be what will happen to a few marginal seats. Republicans don't seem to be facing a blowout like in 06 or 18, or Democrats like Democrats were in 10 and 14. Seems to be a much more narrow margin like in 22.
I find this line funny. I cannot remember how many past elections included this line from Republicans where they commented that what the GOP does best is grasp defeat from the jaws of victory.
And before any idiots pile on, this is not a defense of Trump. I just find it funny that I've heard this line in many past elections yet this time around Trump has said it so it needs to be evidence that Trump has turned against the GOP. Funny in a sad way as it's all partisan politics, not that some people can hear themselves.