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Dragged down by an unpopular president, Republicans are bracing for a midterm trouncing (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 1 week ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/politics@lemmy.world

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As Americans tire of Donald Trump, a Democratic midterm ‘tsunami’ could sweep the GOP out of power

It was a wake-up call for America. In January, Donald Trump took the oath of office, declared himself “saved by God to make America great again” and issued a barrage of executive orders. In the ensuing months the US president and his allies moved at breakneck speed and seemed indomitable.

But as 2025 draws to a close with Trump struggling to stay awake at meetings, the prevailing image is of a driver asleep at the wheel. Opinion polls suggest that Americans are turning against him. Republicans are heading for the exit ahead of congressional contests next November that look bleak for the president’s party.

“He came into office and, like a blitzkrieg, was violating laws and the constitution,” said Larry Jacobs, director of the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at the University of Minnesota. “The American political process is slow-moving and so he was able to do things that were extraordinary.

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[-] DagwoodIII@piefed.social 63 points 1 week ago

GOP President violates laws, attacks our allies, openly takes bribes, and is barely functional.

Voters say 'We must be rid of him.'

Dem President steers a steady, if unspectacular, center Left policy that slightly improves voters' lives.

Voters say 'He's weak! We must be rid of him!'

[-] TheAlbatross 60 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

The DNC never seems to undo the damage the GOP does, while continuing some choice parts of their horrors.

It feels like they work as the arresting mechanism on a ratchet and the only way the country is allowed to move is towards fascism.

I'd be eager to see some candidate come into office and use these same techniques the GOP does to actually fix shit and improve people's lives in a meaningful way. The GOP are going to say that they're a radical leftist authoritarian regardless of their actions, might as well be one

[-] GuyFawkesV@lemmy.world 16 points 1 week ago

The DNC never seems to undo the damage the GOP does, while continuing some choice parts of their horrors.

100% this! I’ve been on my worthless DINO rep about what the plans are to FIX what has been done, not just STOP anything else from happening - crickets. So I also let her know I’m done with this “vote blue no matter who” shit and the only vote I’d be casting for her seat is if she loses to a primary opponent.

[-] atomicbocks@sh.itjust.works 14 points 1 week ago

This is largely because people like Biden are still in this old school camp of gentlemen’s agreements where you don’t undo what the previous person did because that would be going against voter will or something. It really only works if both parties are trying to move the country forward.

[-] DagwoodIII@piefed.social 9 points 1 week ago

Try looking at some recent history.

Obama came in with both Houses, and barely got the Affordable Care Act passed.

If you want a strong Dem majority you have to fight harder.

The GOP will block anything it can.

[-] josephc@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 week ago

Adding on to that:

Obama had only the house for the first two years. The Senate has the filibuster rule which means control takes 60 seats.

On January 20th, 2009, 57 Senate seats were held by Democrats with two Independents (Bernie Sanders and Joe Lieberman) caucusing with the Democrats for 59 kinda' Democrat-ish votes in the Senate. Two more needed for "both houses".

Also, that included Ted Kennedy and Al Franken. Kennedy had a seizure basically at the start and never returned to vote. Al Franken wasn't seated until July 7th, 2009 because of repeated recounts.

So really 57 Senate seats. Three or four more for him to have both houses.

Kennedy was replaced by Paul Kirk in September and three other people swapped parties. So Obama had full control of the House and Senate from September 24, 2009 through February 4, 2010.

Four months.

If you're looking at that and thinking, "isn't that when they wrote and passed the ACA?" then you've got a good eye and a better memory.

[-] crusa187@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 week ago

Good thing Biden gave away the public option before negotiations even began, otherwise us Americans wouldn’t be paying 3-4x plus in medical expenses thanks to this broken and corrupt insurance industry.

Surely part of Biden’s incredible popularity was his promise to add public option, instead of the far more sensible M4A, on day one of his term. After he was elected though, he must have forgor…

[-] kent_eh@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 week ago

The DNC never seems to undo the damage the GOP does,

It takes a lot more time, effort and money to repair something than it does to break it.

I remember Biden trying multiple times to reduce student debt, only to be thwarted by the Republicans.

The wheels of justice were grinding along at their normal slow pace to convict Trump of some of his provable crimes, all the while being interfered with by Republicans and their nominees.

It takes time to do things the right way. Especially when troublemakers are constantly shoving sticks into the spokes.

It was moving forward, just much more slowly than people wanted

[-] TheAlbatross 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I've heard this tired excuse since I can remember understanding any element of politics.

Simply, a system is what it does.

If "the right way" can only seem to continue to concentrate wealth upwards, conduct horrors in the name of peace across the globe and continue to squash the rights and lives of the hard working people that make the gears of society turn, well, then it doesn't seem like it's "the right way" for a vast majority of people.

[-] crusa187@lemmy.ml 6 points 1 week ago

Dems are not left of center, get a grip.

[-] cmbabul@lemmy.world 29 points 1 week ago

The cowards could probably still save themselves if they did the right thing and removed him, but they won’t so they are complicit

[-] Doomsider@lemmy.world 28 points 1 week ago

People who vote for the Democratic party can get disfranchised easily, but the Republicans don't.

They will reliably vote Republican even if their party slits their throats, takes a piss on them, and kills their women.

This is the current conundrum.

[-] lepinkainen@lemmy.world 12 points 1 week ago

MAGA specifically is a cult, they don’t follow any logic

[-] Cosmonauticus@lemmy.world 10 points 1 week ago

Republicans have always been a cult. Look at how they've always deified Reagan

[-] Doomsider@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago

Which is ridiculous considering Reagan had no fucking clue what he was doing. He was a puppet President who had such severe Alzheimer's by the end all he could do is sit around and eat jelly beans while his wife and administration ran the show.

[-] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 23 points 1 week ago

“The president is a fuckup. He still has my complete support!” -Republicans.

[-] yermaw@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 week ago

If even half of the leopardsatemyface screenshots are real and not made up that'll be the case.

They're all along the lines of "Mr President I love everything youre doing and I'm glad I voted for you and everything is incredible but I cant afford to eat now and my gran died of totally preventable causes. Still love everything about you though"

[-] ikidd@lemmy.world 21 points 1 week ago

And the Democrats will snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, for totally unknown reasons.

[-] baronvonj@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago

The reason is they won't listen to voters who are willing to left perfect be the enemy of better.

[-] DandomRude@lemmy.world 19 points 1 week ago

Unpopular seems to me to be quite an understatement. I can only report back from Germany: here, he is deeply despised by most people.

[-] MagicShel@lemmy.zip 26 points 1 week ago

Since he will never actually be punished, I just hope he lives long enough with his wits about him to see himself reviled and stripped of any respect and power. I don't have a lot of room for hatred in my heart, but there is no awful thing that could possibly happen to him that I wouldn't celebrate. I hope he experiences pure agony before the end.

And there are people who've done far worse to me personally I don't feel that way about.

[-] floofloof@lemmy.ca 14 points 1 week ago

Don't forget the Millers and Vances and all the eager fascists working to create Trump's agenda. Plus the Heritage Foundation and the Project 2025 people and all the evangelicals. Only a fraction of what's happening comes from the pedophile rapist crook with dementia who stands at the front. Any justice has to include all the other agents of fascism too.

[-] MagicShel@lemmy.zip 9 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I have some hope that they will face justice. Trump never will. He just won't. Miller should be facing the rest of his life in prison. But he'll probably make sure Trump pardons him on the way out. Miller is probably a much worse human being than Trump. I would support giving him over to The Hague. Trump can't pardon that.

[-] regedit@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 week ago

In my head I have a special guillotine, with a blade like child safety scissors, that takes no less than 2 to 3 descents to do the job for those fascist cowards. There is no punishment harsh enough for those that have ushered in this shit-show of events.

[-] GuyFawkesV@lemmy.world 14 points 1 week ago

Any chance you can return the “depose the fascist” favor? You do kinda owe us one.

[-] DandomRude@lemmy.world 13 points 1 week ago

Unfortunately, in Germany we are also facing major problems with the resurgence of fascism. Here, it takes the form of the AfD these days, a right-wing extremist party that basically stands for the same inhumane ideology as MAGA: hatred, greed and blatant stupidity.

I attribute the popularity of these damn fascists primarily to the fact that Europe uses the same US social media platforms, which are controlled by the same billionaires. Another reason may be that Europe is also experiencing an economic downturn, and the AfD, like MAGA, promises a return to "the golden days," which is of course a blatant lie, especially since the AfD is a neoliberal party that, like MAGA, exclusively pursues policies that benefit the super-rich - yet somehow people here don't seem to see through this either.

So I'm afraid we can't help out, especially since the world today is a completely different place, if only because of nuclear weapons. Sorry :(

I'm afraid I phrased that incorrectly: In Germany, the US president is despised by the vast majority of rational-minded people, but unfortunately there are also many completely brainless, hateful people here who vote for a party that stands for exactly the same Nazi bullshit.

[-] RedC@sh.itjust.works 17 points 1 week ago

Really? Because I predict that millions of Americans wont be voting Democrat or at all because of the utter incompetence of the Dems. Not to mention the immediate bending over for the GOP after winning 3(?) Elections, reopening the govt in exchange for a promise, when the right was in the worst position it has been in decades and just when they were really feeling the heat.

Plus, we all want the democrats to be the ones to make reasonable laws we can all get behind but they dont do that. Like the "high capacity" magazine bans. In a time where more leftists are arming themselves than ever before, nobody wants that. They keep warning of a fascist takeover while simultaneously disarming citizens. Or the fact they voted to fund the military to the tune of $1 trillion. Or the democrats that voted with Republicans against youth trans care. Or their response to most republican shenanigans, a strongly worded letter.

Democrats have been doing nothing but fumbling the easiest victories they could ever have over and over again. Idk how anyone can expect democrats to win anything with this old guard establishment demo still in power.

Say what you will about the GOP, and I hate what their doing as well. But at the end of the day they get their shit done. For better or worse, at least they dont just sit on their power. I wish I could say the same about the dems

[-] antifa_ceo@lemmy.ml 16 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Can't wait for the Dems to get power and just do a lighter version of what Trump is doing and everyone to fucking love it.

It's usually how it goes lol

Rarely do they actually learn and change for the better. They just get better at messaging around the same shit and people delude themselves into thinking there is any functional difference.

[-] zbyte64@awful.systems 5 points 1 week ago

It's funny, we hear about "be nice or you will push them further right" but really it's the shitty policies that push people to look for more extreme solutions. Wait, that isn't funny...

[-] Gammelfisch@lemmy.world 11 points 1 week ago

I certainly hope so, but I'm afraid the Democrats will fuck it up or Leon Hitler will manipulate the voting machines with a "minor" update.

[-] NachBarcelona@piefed.social 10 points 1 week ago

LMAO, a mid-term tsunami. Sure, probably brought by Santa

[-] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago

Even if they won every single election the Dems will do nothing and wonder where their support went.

Because this happens every fucking time.

[-] Randomgal@lemmy.ca 7 points 1 week ago

Can't wait for nothing to happen again.

[-] BanMe@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago

"Dragged down by an unpopular president" makes it sound like he's not the leader of the Republican party, he's not fully in control, he's not giving orders all the way down. "Intentionally torpedoed by its leader and self-anointed king" might be more accurate. But I digress.

[-] InputZero@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

And yet Democrats will still manage to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. I am expect them to lose seats in the election.

[-] rustyfish@piefed.world 5 points 1 week ago

The American people won’t be fooled by polls again, right?

Right?!

[-] Triumph@fedia.io 5 points 1 week ago

There will not be midterms.

[-] Clent@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 1 week ago

The more I read about it, the less likely I believe it will occur.

[-] troglodytis@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

thank you. that will be nice. Yes is being my answer

[-] kent_eh@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 week ago

If only there was something they could do do about the reasons for that plummeting public acceptance of their own party and its leadership...

[-] CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 1 week ago

"If conservatives become convinced that they cannot win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism; they will abandon democracy."

[-] kent_eh@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 week ago

That quote is attributed to one of Bush's speechwriters.

He has seen the monster from the inside.

[-] Mulligrubs@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

It's almost as if the incumbents are "trounced" every couple years or so.

Why? Because we have two options attached to their corporate sponsors (i.e. they do what they are paid to do, please check out Super PACs).

One corporate shill is religious flavored (the only reason they are still a viable party), the other corporate shill is secular, both do exactly as they are paid to do. These are not popular measures, so of course the incumbent is blamed, the scapegoat for their good cop/bad cop routine.

There are so many "old reliables", like the southern border, that chestnut has paid off so many times for decades.

[-] FreshParsnip@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 week ago

Don't worry, the regime won't let there be a legitimate election

[-] Lushed_Lungfish@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 week ago

insert Hawkeye meme

this post was submitted on 27 Dec 2025

320 points (100.0% liked)

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