We got our asses kicked. The 2026 shift mirrors the rightward shift we saw in 2024, when almost 90 percent of counties shifted to the GOP. The 2024 election rejected Joe Biden; the 2026 midterms slapped down Trump. There were many reasons for this, not least the Iran War driving up gas prices, the appalling messaging and lack of action on the cost of living, and, while not a primary reason, the GOP’s complete failure to pass legislation that affected Americans. Sure, there is a laundry list of what Trump did, but it got torched at the pump.
We lost Indiana in 2008. We won a Senate seat in Illinois in 2010. That’s how fast politics can flip. Stop blackpilling.
— Michael Duncan (@MichaelDuncan) November 6, 2026
Tonight isn’t the end of the world. Those of us who remember 2006, 2008, 2012, and 2020 can assure you that it’s not.
— John Ocasio-Rodham Nolte (@NolteNC) November 4, 2026
I’m not undeterred. We’ll rebuild. We’ve been here before. The GOP got wiped out in 2006, and the late Rush Limbaugh had a nuanced take of sorts on its aftermath that’s worth listening to. First, he remained committed to the Republican Party but also felt liberated that he no longer felt compelled to defend their bad policies.
20 years ago, after Republicans suffered a blowout in the 2006 midterms, Rush Limbaugh shared a perspective many of us are feeling today: Rush: “I feel liberated, and I’m going to tell you as plainly as I can why. I no longer am going to have to carry the water for people who I don’t think deserve having their water carried… Now I’m liberated from having to constantly come in here every day and try to buck up a bunch of people who don’t deserve it, to try to carry the water and make excuses for people who don’t deserve it.”
— Phil Kennedy (@PhillipAKennedy) November 4, 2026
“I’m liberated from having to constantly come in here every day and try to buck up a bunch of people who don’t deserve it, to try to carry the water and make excuses for people who don’t deserve it,” Limbaugh said after the election.
The GOP had little to defend heading into the buzzsaw of Election Day.
Folks, we had scandals involving Jack Abramoff, Duke Cunningham, Tom DeLay, Hurricane Katrina, and Bush’s attempt at immigration reform — there was a lot going on that wasn’t good. The Iraq War was spiraling; we were getting wind of the enhanced interrogation program — it was a year of serial calamities in political messaging and optics. And that brought pain.
The 2008 election saw the Democrats clinch nearly 60 seats in the Senate, 257 seats in the House, and Barack Obama in the White House. It was the ‘end of conservatism.’ Then the 2010 Tea Party wave swept the nation. All it took was Democratic overreach, embodied by Obamacare. The stimulus also convinced voters that mega-spending on healthcare and other pork was destroying the country. The GOP was elected to rein it in, though it didn't retake the Senate until 2014.
The point is that we need a clean slate to move on, and we don’t need to keep wrestling with defending the indefensible. The people did that.
As we move forward, let’s pour one out for the Save America Act, which could’ve energized the base and was a top election-integrity priority for the Trump White House, died in the Senate because of inaction, backstabbing, and poor leadership. Now, the Democrats will nuke the legislative filibuster, as they said they would, so I don’t want to hear Senate Republicans acting shocked or appalled when this happens. You had a window to do it, to pass a host of our action items, and you failed. You sat there and decided to look Armageddon in the eyes, and now the shockwave will rip you apart. Times change, tactics change, and holding onto dead procedural measures isn’t a winning strategy when everyone knows they’re going bye-bye.
There was one main line: Democrats are crazy. It’s true, but it also doesn’t pay the bills.
I’m angry but not downtrodden. We can’t afford to be — the Left is gunning for all of us. The lists have been compiled for this moment.
Washington Sun: Democrats Have a Plan to Investigate Corporate America Senior congressional Democrats have been studying a 181-page dossier that identifies hundreds of executives and companies for them to investigate after they take control of the House and Senate next year. The document argues that the party should respond to the results of the election by aggressively probing large corporations, including the biggest tech giants, artificial intelligence labs, natural gas firms, private prisons and nursing home operators, among dozens of others. https://t.co/IvsihGiKNn
— Politics & Poll Tracker 📡 (@PollTracker2024) November 5, 2026
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