Adrian (not on Netflix) Thoms

Republicans chose this. The question now is whether they’ve learned anything. They will spend years and millions of dollars on consultants, experts and pundits trying to figure out what went wrong. Save your money. The answer is simple: every step was a choice. Republicans had chances to draw a line: the Access Hollywood tape, Charlottesville, January 6. Each time, they chose not to. They defended what they once claimed to oppose. They excused what they once condemned. They drove out anyone who objected. Liz Cheney lost her seat for telling the truth. Mitt Romney voted twice to convict Trump and was treated as a traitor for it. Fox News turned that surrender into an alternate reality. For a decade, the network protected Trump from scrutiny and sold his grievances as patriotism. Now its banner asks, “HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?” as if the answer weren’t on its own tape. Look at what they chose to defend. Trump slapped tariffs on our allies by executive order. He sided with Vladimir Putin in his murderous war on Ukraine. His administration accepted a $400 million jet from Qatar for possible use as Air Force One. He sent masked federal agents into our communities, where they shot and killed American citizens during immigration operations. He threatened to seize territory from an ally. He pardoned people who assaulted police officers. He chased vanity projects: a ballroom, a triumphal arch. And while Americans struggled to pay for groceries and gas, he threw Gatsby-style parties with caviar bars. None of it was conservative. All of it was Trump. And for years, Republicans and Fox insisted there was no difference. Voters finally refused to keep playing along. They watched a volatile, self-absorbed reality-TV star spend the campaign’s final weeks telling rally crowds about Senator Jon Husted’s ass, and Ohio sent Husted home. Democrats flipped six more Senate seats—in North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Kansas, Iowa and Maine—bringing the total to seven. Alaska and Mississippi remain uncalled. Democrats also retook the House, flipping dozens of Republican-held seats. Trump’s answer came two days later, on a hat. As he signed a proclamation declaring his Oval Office a national monument, a cap reading “VETO” sat on the Resolute Desk. The country had just elected a Democratic Congress, and he was already signaling his intention to block its agenda. Trump may never understand why it’s over. Fox may never explain it. But the Republicans who enabled him should have to answer for it. The ones still in Congress have a choice to make. They can keep protecting Trump, or they can finally do their jobs: stand up to him, rein in his abuses of power and defend the institutions they swore to serve. The election was a warning. They should not mistake it for permission.