Gregory Flap Cole

I just spoke to @VDHanson about what the midterm results mean for Trump, the Republican Party, MAGA, and 2028. Here’s what he told me: The Republican losses were predictable. Since 1900 the White House party has lost House seats in ~90% of midterms (Senate in ~75%). The size of this wave (dozens in House, 7-9 Senate) is the real outlier. Trump has roughly 70 days to lock in judges, cabinet picks, and nominees before the new Congress arrives. With a ~45-seat Republican Senate, Trump will have to keep all Republicans in line or face a “veto-proof” Democratic Congress. Trump can and will act unilaterally on foreign policy and executive orders. Historical precedent is clear. “The imperial presidency operates as they wish,” Hanson says. The “affordability” story was heavily media-driven. Inflation is roughly one-third of 2022’s 9.1%. Family income is up ~$14k, GDP is stronger, stocks are +20k, poverty is down. The real issue is the 21% cumulative price jump he inherited—and the administration never clearly explained how slower inflation + higher incomes fixes it. Trump never explained in full why the Iran campaign was necessary. The first 38 days were a historic success; stopping short and endless talk of negotiations let Iran claim they stopped him. The messaging, not the campaign itself, was the biggest problem. Unlike this Congress, the new Democratic majority will have iron party discipline. That contrast will matter. 2028 starts now. The Vance-Rubio pairing will face immediate pressure—many will want Rubio at the top of the ticket, but Vance can’t run as VP again. Democrats will jump in fast. Their nominee will almost certainly come from the left of the party. The Republican path to recovery, Hanson argues, runs through results, not rhetoric. A strong economy in 2026-27, a finished Iran campaign, and visible progress on affordability give the next nominee a real chance. Without those, the structural advantages of the new Democratic Congress become decisive.

Decision Desk HQ projects Nithya Raman wins the CA Los Angeles Mayor Nonpartisan General Election #DecisionMade: 7:49 PM EST Follow live results here: votes.decisiondeskhq.com/rac…

Ron DeSantis just SNAPPED at Republicans for doing nothing with the majority: "I saw no indication that Republican Senators were interested in doing conservative change. Why haven't we done immigration, shut off H-1B visas? Why haven't we codified Trump's immigration executive orders? Why haven't we stripped jurisdiction from the federal courts over deportation cases? There's so many things we could have done." It was a betrayal and voters responded.

It was the only issue on the ballot.

POTUS considers purging Susie Wiles and Marco Rubio, according to The Daily Mail.

Once in a generation you get an inspirational leader like California's new governor, Xavier Becerra. His election immediately vaults him into the front row of 2028 presidential contenders.

🚨Report: President Trump is considering replacing Secretary of War Pete Hegseth following Republicans’ heavy midterm election losses. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is being mentioned as a possible replacement. Via: CBS News

🚨 BREAKING: Dan Sullivan is LEADING Mary Peltola in Alaska with 28% left! The Left ran a spoiler, but Dan is holding the line. Massive for the Senate. HOLD THE LINE, DAN! 🇺🇸

The only sane thing to come out of the midterms for California: likely rejection of the wealth tax (that would ultimately have applied to everyone) AND approval of a prohibition on future personal property (wealth) taxes! Pleasantly surprised! People saw how much $ California lost! 💸

Nevada Democrats Sweep Statewide Offices, Flip Longtime GOP House Seat Nevada Democrats are one senate seat away from imposing a personal state income tax. Read more @CaliforniaGlobe link 👇

Dear @POTUS @realDonaldTrump your VP just threw you under the bus. He's been undermining you in collaboration with Tucker since almost day one of your administration. Hopefully you will not endorse him for the nomination - he's disloyal and will lose a general election and guarantee a Dem administration that will come after you again.

Puppet @XavierBecerra will make things more expensive in California and morons will blame it on “Trump”

When you've surrendered your institutions to communists for generations, and abandoned the culture, doing the right thing is always going to be extremely unpopular.

We're in a new era of communication, and only one side seems to be living in it. The old guard consultant class is about to be relegated to the dustbin of history. If you think that high prices lost the election for the right, you don't understand marketing. Humans have no problem paying a premium for a good quality brand. Notice the word "brand", not "product". Are Nikes better than New Balance? Nope. But the brand is better. And notice what happened when they tinkered with the brand and screwed their core narrative? Nike stock fell through the basement. Did the product change? Nope. The brand did. It's not the product, it's the brand. Results don't sell the product, the storytelling does. Will these newly-elected commies lower prices? Of course not. Are they gonna get you free healthcare? No, your insurance is gonna get even worse, just like it did the last time they tried socialized medicine. They're not going to do anything they've sold you, but...like Saul Goodman said: if you're committed enough, you can make any story work. The committed storytelling of a couple insane podcasters was enough to fracture an entire political coalition from their own side in less than 2 years...they have zero power, zero credibility, they've never actually governed anything nor produced any results, but...they're good storytellers, and that's all that matters. Are they telling a good story? No, it's atrocious, but they're telling their atrocious story effectively and compellingly. It is 100% true that everything's too damn expensive, and we all know that inflated prices are always sticky. Does anyone know that it's entirely the result of shutting down the global economy over the flu and (both naive republicans and democrats) printing infinity dollars for several years? Nope...because nobody has effectively told that story, and it's an unsexy story to tell. "Free stuff!" is a VERY easy story to tell, and when everyone's gotta take out a second mortgage just to pay their insurance premiums, "free healthcare" is an unbeatable story. It doesn't matter that "free healthcare" doesn't exist and socialized medicine is a terrible product...it's not the product, it's the brand. And "FREE!" is a great brand. You can't get mad at people for having the financial literacy of a 9 year old. I mean, you can, but they outnumber you a million to one, so it's not going to be productive. You need to figure out how to make an unsexy story sexy, or else the "free stuff!" crowd is going to eat your lunch every time. If you give people a choice between earning a six pack on a treadmill or taking Ozempic, they're gonna choose Ozempic...they don't care about the side effects. If you give people a choice between fiscal discipline or free stuff...guess what they'll pick? They don't care about the side effects. With projected growth of 5%, the economy right now is stronger than it's been in generations. Is that the story you hear? Nope. Is that the vibe you feel? Absolutely not, especially when every time you fill up your gas tank, it feels like a diesel enema. It's not the product, it's the brand. A great product can fall into oblivion with bad messaging...a single bad review from one effective storyteller can tank a restaurant. The "influencer economy" is lucrative for a reason; everybody inherently understands the importance of effective storytelling...except the right. Zohran Mamdani gets it...he has an army of influencers on staff. In a perfect metaphor of this transitional phase of old guard vs new wave political messaging, Zohran nuked the Vice President into oblivion with maybe the biggest ratio in the history of the internet. By simply posting the subway assistant meme, Mamdani got 2 MILLION likes, quoting a post from the VP that had only 10K likes. If you're reading that sentence thinking "this is fucking ridiculous, you're talking about social media likes as political analysis now?"...you are the problem. Yes, this stuff matters. Rizz matters. The President did a masterful job of this kind of retail politics in his historic 2024 campaign...you can be angry that this is what politics has been reduced to, but you can either adapt or die. "No the problem is, you didn't deliver enough for the American people!" Are you a moron? Since when does anybody care about that? What have democrats delivered for Californians in the last 20 years? Unmitigated wildfires, homeless drug zombies everywhere, roads that look like Fallujah in 2004...people don't care about results. They think they care about results. That want you to believe they care about results, just as Nike wants you to believe their shoes are better than New Balance...but at the end of the day, all people really care about is the swoosh. Adapt or die.

Hello Senator Thune...

The Trump super PACs treated me like shit. For the record, I don't even ask for money, but don't like being insulted for stating my truthful views. They still got rich though. But anyone watching. Keep those fucks far away from 2028.