President Donald Trump is carving a remarkable swath of successes as these first six months of his second term come to a close.
The four years of White House exile actually did him good. He’s hungrier this time, wiser and smarter, surrounded now by a handpicked army of loyalists savvy in the ways of Washington, media, and serving the boss.
Trump appears more controlled and focused on larger goals, less distracted by daily minutiae that sometimes fogged his messages the first time around. Veteran chief of staff Susie Wiles gets credit for her steady hand behind the scenes now and throughout the campaign.
As one result, Trump is largely controlling the narrative of his administration that will set the tone for voters in next year’s crucial midterm elections. The results then will enable or stymie the Trump agenda for the closing two years of his historic political career.
He’s still the outspoken, often unpredictable Trump that his base adores. This has preserved the sometimes crude authenticity of his political persona that’s set him so far apart from generations of D.C. pols.
And it makes Trump the perpetual media magnet and center of attention which he likes, enabling him to dominate news cycle after news cycle, this time with substance and not the puny playground squabbles of yesteryear.
What gets overlooked in the bright aura of this unusual presidency is that, despite slim congressional control, Trump and a united congressional GOP have relegated the opposition party to basic irrelevance. Trump doesn’t just inhabit Democrat minds; he haunts them.
The cringeworthy episodes of the Joe Biden puppet show, the fetid deceit of its coverup fiasco by countless Democrats who knew better, and the inept Harris-Walz flameout produced a well-earned November ballot spanking that has left Democrats wallowing in puzzled impotence.
If there was a Viagra for political parties, Democrats would need to swallow several blue pills. And even then…
Losing control of the White House, the Senate, and the House of Representatives is always emasculating. Now, add to that a Supreme Court with a skillfully-constructed conservative majority.
The agony of an election defeat does not usually last this long, a tribute to the overshadowing presence of the political comet that is Trump 2.0.
The midterm election is only 15 months away, mere moments in political cycles that require candidate recruiting, candidate coaching, and building their name recognition.
Then, there’s the matter of fundraising from donors, many of whom feel betrayed by a 2024 party that claimed its incumbent was sharp as a tack until he clearly wasn’t, and his replacement was as dim as "The View" hostesses.
Harris did prove she's a Democrat, though, burning through $1.5 billion in just 15 weeks. That's nearly $14 million per day.
The GOP now holds a 53-47 Senate majority. Counting two special elections, 35 of the 100 seats are up in 2026. Republicans now hold 22 of them, which sounds bad until you realize that 20 of them are in states Trump won by at least 10 points.
The Democrat Party currently lacks any real leadership that’s coherent or sounds relevant. As Karl Rove bluntly puts it, “The once mighty Democratic Party is today run by political midgets who aren’t selling much that’s appealing.”
Let’s see, there’s condescending Chuck Schumer peering over his granny glasses. There’s Nancy Pelosi, who’s 85, and led the backroom coup that replaced Biden with Kamala Harris.
Then, there’s Bernie Sanders, 83, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 35. They joined in a tour titled “Fighting Oligarchy” (a small group of people having control of a country) that energized dozens of rally crowds of true progressives with calls for taxing rich people and universal health care.
The tour drew broad, positive media coverage. But that stridency won’t help expand party strength among mainstream voters.
In New York, one of many troubled cities run by Democrats, party voters recently chose a Muslim Democratic Socialist as their mayoral candidate, Zohran Mamdani. His platform includes city-owned grocery stores, freezing rents, no-cost child care, and free buses that go fast.
Mamdani says he “firmly” supports government control of industrial production and adds, “I don’t think we should have billionaires.” This will be useful GOP ammunition to taint Democrats next year.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has made headlines opposing all Border Patrol roundups of illegal aliens, including violent criminals. Then, there’s the transgender athlete issue, with Democrats adamantly maintaining that biological males should be able to compete in female sports.
Joe Biden himself has offered to help the party he lied to. Democrat bigs pretended not to hear him. But Hunter Biden has emerged to "help."
The tax-dodging, alcoholic, drug-using, influence-peddling, deadbeat dad, prostitute patron, who got a blanket pardon from daddy, appeared on the WTF Podcast. He blamed the Democrat Party for abandoning his incapacitated father just because he was unable to speak coherently during a nationally-televised presidential debate that he had sought.
Maybe the GOP can sponsor a "Hunter Live-in-Person" speaking tour.
The party’s national committee, historically the dominant voice when a party is out of D.C. power, has been riven by internal power struggles that forced the un-election of dissident vice-chair David Hogg. He’s planning primary opposition to fellow Democrats he deems insufficiently progressive.
To demonstrate their commitment to something, two congressional Democrats gave record-length speeches. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries delayed passage of the administration’s mega-bill by eight hours and 33 minutes. It passed anyway.
In the Senate, Cory Booker gained media attention by speaking against Trump administration policies for 25 hours and five minutes. I've never understood such marathon rhetorical strutting, which is really just reading a lot of stuff out loud in vain protest.
But some D.C. media seemed impressed by his "training" to speak a long time. Never mind the absence of serious content advocating realistic alternatives.
If you’re having trouble falling asleep tonight, you can watch Booker’s lengthy remarks here and Jeffries' speech here, all courtesy of C-SPAN, of course.
As one result, even hardcore Democrats are down on their own party, largely for not opposing Trump effectively or sufficiently. Recent polls show approval of the party at historic lows.
The theme that unites this pack is opposition to Donald Trump and anything he says or does. So far, this obsession has precluded the opposition party from offering fresh, viable policy alternatives, something normal voters would expect, unless they, too, are obsessed.
Fact is, Democrats are unable to move on because they have yet to address honestly why they lost to their billionaire nemesis. They still maintain it was because they did not sell the Biden economic policies well enough, the policies that spent $5 trillion in new money and ignited the worst inflation in four decades. I doubt that even the late Billy "Wait, There's More!" Mays could sell that.
With an abiding hatred of Trump, they remain unable to grasp how anyone could support anything said or done by their former donor. That worked during the crippling COVID campaign of 2020 when Biden handlers could get away with hiding him in the basement.
But such a narrow mania keeps them mired in the political mold that helped Trump win in 2016 and 2024.
Offering new faces with old policies can hardly be expected to work.
Trump does face challenges. With the help of congressional party leaders, he’s been able so far to achieve major legislative successes, including the “big, beautiful bill” and controversial rescissions of billions in government spending on items like PBS and NPR support.
But political success is often harder to maintain than achieve, especially for Republican factions in DC. They’ve previously demonstrated an uncanny ability to turn victory into defeat with fractious feuds.
Then, there’s the economy, which played an important role in Democrats' defeat last fall. Trump knows it could be decisive in next year’s voting.
This explains his outspoken criticism of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, who has resisted the easing of interest rates that would stimulate all-important consumer spending.
Trump’s Department of Justice fumbled handling the Epstein files, whatever they may or may not be. Sex sells. Intimation of sex inflames imaginations. Democrats and media pounced.
Releasing the grand jury transcript may defuse the issue. But this time, Trump 2.0 sues.
Overall, an amazing first 12 percent of the term. But as coaches wisely remind their teams, there’s a lot of time left for the other side to recover.
