Donald Trump’s Republican allies rarely are forced to respond to their cult leader’s meandering, incoherent screeds and nonstop blunders (e.g., repeatedly escalating the conflict with Iran and then retreating behind imaginary new negotiations; abandoning abusive, failed prosecution while continuing to threaten innocent Americans). Republican politicians’ infamous professions of ignorance — ‘I didn’t hear him say X’ — and jaw-dropping excuses, coupled with generally weak legacy media interviewers, allow them to escape commenting on, let alone taking responsibility, for the nonstop outrages emanating from the Oval Office.
As candidates gear up for the sprint to the midterm elections, Democrats must pierce the protective cocoon that spares Republicans embarrassment and scrutiny. They would be wise to employ four avenues of attack to bring the fight to Republicans.
First and foremost, holding every Republican responsible for the specific horrors that have unfolded under a president to whom they have completely deferred is essential when running against politicians who refuse to accept blame for the foreseeable result of their votes. The same arguments apply to non-incumbent MAGA candidates who have endlessly cheered Trump from the sidelines and would rubber-stamp his policies if elected.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), for example, eagerly voted to dump tens of billions into a rogue, unhinged and lawless DHS. More than 50 people have died while being detained by ICE, in addition to the ICE killings on our streets, including in her home state. These did not happen by accident. She also could have stopped the big, ugly bill from reaching the floor, but instead she allowed massive cuts to healthcare and to SNAP to go through, helping to pay for billionaires’ tax cuts.
Likewise, Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) rubber-stamped the egregiously unfit Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (and refused to support his removal after Signalgate). He has done nothing as Trump wasted tens of billions, sacrificed the lives of 18 brave American military personnel, depleted our munitions, and lost free navigation of the Strait of Hormuz. In failing to exercise his constitutional obligations, Sullivan is as responsible as Hegseth for widespread Pentagon mismanagement, exclusion of qualified women and non-white officers from promotions, and potential war crimes.
Indeed, every House and Senate incumbent (e.g. Ohio’s Sen. John Husted, Nebraska’s Pete Ricketts, Kansas’s Roger Marshall, South Dakota’s Mike Rounds ) on the ballot bears blame for a host of other horrors — mass closings of rural hospitals, measles outbreaks, decimation of the rural economy, fires overwhelming DOGE-reduced emergency responders, devastation of veterans’ services, wholesale cuts to SNAP that leave millions without food assistance, deprivation of emergency relief services, ever-escalating prices aggravated by tariffs (which Congress could have short-circuited), the plethora of health and disease disasters spawned by DOGE cuts and RFK, Jr. nuttery, a generational loss of scientific research, etc. — because they slashed popular, critical programs, confirmed (in the case of senators) unqualified nominees, allowed DOGE to run wild, and refused to conduct rudimentary oversight. Americans died and suffered because Congressman X or Senator Y didn’t have the nerve to stand up to the president.
Second, Democrats must learn to ignore and redirect Republican-spewed nonsense, just as Texas Senate nominee James Talarico has ably demonstrated. “James Talarico is determined not to let his GOP challenger Ken Paxton’s and Republicans’ attacks on his masculinity define him in what has emerged as one of the party’s loudest tactics in the crucial Senate race,” Politico reported. “The Texas Democrat is working to position himself as a candidate focused on issues he says men actually care about instead of speculation about his diet, sexuality and religious beliefs.”
Talarico has turned the narrative against juvenile, morally deficient MAGA Republicans — specifically their scandal-plagued nominee, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who, among other sins, gave a slap-on-the-wrist plea deal to a child sex abuser. In the absence of any data showing the childish attack on his masculinity is moving any voters, Talarico “has focused on issues he says affect many men — like lowering housing costs, stopping corporate landlord rent manipulation and curbing the influence of billionaire mega-donors in politics.”
He could go a step further and simply denounce the insanely stupid, irrelevant attacks as evidence of a candidate and party lacking the maturity to serve. (He comes close when he declares “I don’t think guys my age are really concerned about that kind of thing… You’ve got these old guys lathered up in their fake tans throwing cheesy nicknames at each other.”) Frankly, a party that stands by a president found liable for sexually assaulting E. Jean Carroll and cannot dump Rep. Max Miller (R-Ohio), credibly accused of spousal and child abuse, has some nerve trying to impugn its opponents’ masculine virtues.
Third, Democrats should respond in a similar vein to another ludicrous Trump smear, namely that they’ve become “communists,” a term decades removed from the Cold War. (Sometimes ridicule is the only appropriate response to a gang who apparently thinks Dr. Strangelove is a contemporary documentary.)
Democrats would be smart to remind voters that “communism” insults are the last-ditch defense of desperate MAGA candidates shilling for a corrupt regime in which oligarchs rig the system to get out of jail, exempt themselves from taxes, avoid accountability for misconduct, and shift business costs onto the backs of ordinary Americans (e.g., higher electricity prices to subsidize data centers, higher gas prices to pay for Big Oil, lost access to healthcare coverage to pay for tax cuts for billionaires). Labeling what MAGA zombie politicians are up to (i.e., taking marching orders from a failing, decrepit president who acts like the Berlin Wall still stands) has its virtues.
Finally, but perhaps most importantly, Democrats must call for an end to Republicans’ protection racket for a mind-boggling array of highly suspect conduct: tolerance for accused sexual predators; Trump family conflicts of interest; felony pardon scams; crypto grift; Cabinet self-enrichment; FCC shady dealings; strong-arm money grubbing from corporations; Trump foreign real estate schemes; a Qatari Air Force One scandal; harassment of journalists to shield further Trump embarrassment; Justice Departmentmisconduct; Trump’s spasm of self-reverential DC monument construction; and Venezuela oil money profit taking. Forcing every Republican on the ballot to own up to their part in the stomach-turning reign of authoritarian greed will be an essential component of Democrats’ midterm campaign. (And, of course, millions of documents required by law to be disclosed remain locked up, with no finding of contempt or criminal referral against acting AG Todd Blanche and his Epstein cover-up operation, thanks to Republican lackeys.) This monstrous corruption can only end when Democrats get the gavels, subpoena power, and, yes, the majority required to threaten impeachment.
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Poll numbers showing public disgust with Trump’s MAGA rule and giving Democrats a strong advantage should encourage Democrats but not lull them into complacency. If they tie individual Republicans to disastrous results, avoid stupid distractions, deflect MAGA name-calling, and vow to end MAGA’s corruption free-for-all, they can win decisively. At stake is nothing less than halting our slide into authoritarian chaos.
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