All posts tagged "republicans"

Trump walking into a trap of his own making: James Carville

Veteran Democratic strategist James Carville says President Donald Trump is walking into a trap of his own making with his midterm convention 'scam.'

Speaking on a Wednesday episode of The Daily Beast Podcast, Carville argued that the two-day Dallas gathering set for September 9-10 will only supercharge an already energized Democratic electorate while setting Republican money on fire. Carville called on Democrats to welcome the spectacle and push the media to cover it relentlessly.

"The stupidest s— I hear is we shouldn't give them platforms," Carville told The Daily Beast Podcast host Sarah Ewall-Wice. "And for God's sake, cover this convention wall to wall. It's the most beneficial thing we got going."

Carville described the event as a gift that will boost Democratic turnout, saying, "you're not gonna come up with any better news that's gonna excite...and irritate and turn out more Democrats."

Trump's midterm convention is a "giant scam" built to squeeze cash out of loyalists, Carville argued. House candidates face a $25,000 entrance fee, a roundtable seat with Trump runs $250,000, and donors who want a photo with the president must pay $88,600 more, according to an invitation obtained by the Wall Street Journal.

"How'd he come up with $88,600?" Carville said. "It's a giant scam. A seat costs a quarter of a million dollars... It's all a grift. It's all a scam. It's a giant money-making operation."

Carville said that Republicans are boxed in. They're unable to embrace Trump without alienating independents and unable to snub him without angering his base, Carville explained.

"They don't want to show up in one sense," Carville said. "But they know they can't disrespect the king in another."

The convention would only help a candidate in a "really hardcore Trump place," Carville said. "Maybe somebody from, like, North Louisiana, it might help them, or somebody from, you know, central Alabama."

At least 45 House Republican candidates and members told Politico on Wednesday they would skip the event, with dozens more declining to say whether they will attend.

The White House hit back at Carville, according to The Daily Beast. Spokesman Davis Ingle told The Daily Beast that Carville is "a stone-cold loser who suffers from a severe and incurable disease known as Trump Derangement Syndrome, and it has completely rotted his peanut-sized brain."

Politicians hooked on 'lazy' policy craze that keeps backfiring: columnist

Both Republicans and Democrats are rallying behind economic fixes that poll well but collapse catastrophically once they hit the real world, a columnist warned.

In a Thursday column, Catherine Rampell argued that the country has entered "the era of FAFO economics." She described the era as a cycle in which politicians push ideas that sound good in the abstract until voters live through the consequences.

Rampell's prime exhibit is price controls. A recent CBS News/YouGov poll found nearly two-thirds of Americans want the government to cap how much companies can raise prices, with a majority of Republicans, about 54 percent, on board. She described the policies as "lazy, poorly researched" fixes that voters sour on once they arrive.

Price controls have a long record of failure, Rampell noted. She pointed to shortages and black markets from the Soviet Union to 1970s America. Support tends to crater once the policies take effect, which is a pattern strategists bank on even as voters turn against the results, Rampell added.

"Politicians have gone all-in on lazy, poorly researched policies that sound terrific in the abstract — until people experience them and live to regret how terrible they are," Rampell wrote.

She pointed to tariffs that came as the "FAFO" cycle had already completed. Broadly popular after President Donald Trump's 2024 win, they have since cratered, with even protectionist Democrats like former Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) now running ads against them.

Rampell reserved her sharpest criticism for the operatives she says have displaced actual economists in both parties.

"The experts have been ejected by both parties, often replaced with political operatives masquerading as scholars," she wrote. "Their job seems to be to reverse-engineer fake scholarship 'proving' the wisdom of whatever policy already polls well."

She quoted Heatmap's Matt Zeitlin on the limits of favorable polling. "All the polls in the world can't help you if people are also mad when they get implemented," Zeitlin wrote.

The result is "a sort of economic policymaking race to the bottom" in which both parties "compete to see who can FA harder," Rampell warned.

GOP turmoil looms as Trump chooses his greatest love over Republicans: ex-GOP strategist

Former Republican operative Rick Wilson argued that President Donald Trump doesn't plan to use his 'MAGA money pile' to save Republicans in the midterms.

In his Substack on Tuesday, Wilson revealed that Trump's deepest affection is for one thing and one thing only: cash.

"Donald Trump likes money," Wilson wrote. "He likes it more than he likes anything else in this world, including his children. That love of cash has manifested itself this year in an epic tidal wave of political corruption."

And with MAGA Inc. holding onto $400 million just as midterms draw nearer and the Republican Party has about $160 million, it's unlikely Trump will use any of the MAGA donations to help secure a Republican majority in the House or Senate, Wilson explained.

"Yes, he’s raked in billions from crypto scams, from selling pardons to criminals, from side deals to enrich himself, his family, and a host of other scummy and entirely predictable actors," Wilson wrote. "Why not collect more from the suckers funding MAGA Inc?"

"We’re missing something about the MAGA Inc. money," Wilson wrote. "Trump believes it’s his. In his mind, it wasn’t raised for the party. It wasn’t raised for candidates. It wasn’t raised to ensure an electoral victory this fall. He thinks it was raised for him, literally and personally for him. Sure, that’s an ugly and stupid category error, but why would you expect anything different at this point?"

Wilson also dropped a blunt note.

"Trump also has one thing going for him that no other Republican candidate has ever had. He isn’t really a Republican," Wilson wrote. "Donald Trump is a member of the Trump party, a party dedicated to one man, and a singularly self-obsessed man at that. So put yourself inside that rattled, sloppy brain for a moment. You see a political tidal wave coming for the GOP. You’re sitting on nearly three-quarters of a billion dollars that might not even save them. What do you do?"

"If you’re Donald Trump, I’ll tell you exactly what you do. You spend it on yourself. You transfer it into your own pockets," Wilson added. "Trump doesn’t care whether Republicans win or lose, except insofar as losing might be a slight inconvenience in terms of investigations."

Crowd erupts as Trump foe mocks his MAGA 'scandal piñata' opponent

Georgia Senate candidate and Trump foe Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) took a swipe at Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA) that got laughs from a crowd on Tuesday.

Ossoff and Collins are vying to represent Georgia in the Senate. During a campaign event in Columbus, Georgia, joined by Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) — another President Donald Trump adversary — Ossoff launched a jab at the MAGA candidate endorsed by the president.

"This scandal piñata, Mike Collins," Ossoff said. "Every time you shake Congressman Collins, new misdeeds fall out. Have you seen it?"

The audience cracked up at the comment.

"Mike Collins is pro-war, he's pro-tariffs, he's pro-cutting your health care," Ossoff added. "He's a bigot and a Trump puppet."

Ossoff has been a sharp critic of Trump and just days ago suggested that the president had different priorities in a biting speech.

"While the sailors on the Lincoln fight his war, while he fruitlessly drains our munitions and oil reserves, the president sleeps through his meetings," Ossoff said. "He golfs and trades stocks. So he doesn’t want to do the job. He wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenseless flying palace gifted by the Emir of Qatar."

Collins has faced his own share of controversies, including a House Ethics Committee investigation over allegations that he misused congressional funds and paid an intern who allegedly performed no work while dating his then-chief of staff. The Senate candidate's campaign has also been rocked by high staff turnover, an incident involving a former aide's participation in a group chat with white nationalists and renewed scrutiny over his history of racially charged social media posts.

Ossoff gets laughs for calling Mike Collins "the scandal pinata" and adds that he's "a bigot and Trump puppet" pic.twitter.com/kHbxuXYuIA
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 18, 2026

Jake Tapper rolls clip of 'pooh-poohing' Trump tailor-made for Dem attack ad

CNN anchor Jake Tapper highlighted a moment from President Donald Trump's speech on Friday that could serve as an attack ad for Democrats ahead of the midterms.

Trump said he would "never apologize" for higher gas prices even though Americans are struggling to pay for rising costs at the pump during a speech at the David S. Mack Center for Training and Intelligence in Garden City, New York. Trump touted his crackdown on crime and the ongoing Iran war at a campaign rally with Republican gubernatorial candidate and Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman.

Tapper commented on the president's remarks.

"So I have to say that is made for a Democratic attack ad, not all of it, not the part about Iran and the nukes, but for you to pay a little bit more for the gasoline cut to, 'you're at $4. It's OK. I'll never apologize. I did the right thing,'" Tapper said.

Matt Mowers, former senior White House adviser during Trump's first administration, argued Trump was defending his decision to launch a joint military operation with Israel against Iran.

"I think it's explaining the cost of conflict, right?" Mowers said. "What he's now doing is saying there is a reason that we are all paying more for [gas] right now. What he didn't do, and I think this was actually smart politically, is he didn't try to say, 'well, it's actually not that high.' He didn't try to pooh-pooh it. He didn't try to dismiss concerns."

Tapper pushed back.

"He said a little bit more. That's kind of a pooh-pooh," Tapper said.

Tapper added that Trump's statement might not be popular among the GOP.

"It's probably not the message that Republican candidates want the president to be saying, with only 80-something days until the midterms," Tapper said.

Fretting MAGA rep whines Congress 'should do a little more' for the rich

A Republican lawmaker commented that Congress could make more of an effort to help out wealthy Americans, The Independent reported on Friday.

Trump loyalist Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-WI) was speaking Thursday at a panel in Troy, Michigan, with other leaders when he made the remark, according to The Independent. The conversation turned to the president's Big, Beautiful Bill and the needs of "the average guy," when Grothman changed the direction.

"Don’t let anybody tell you that people running, uh, Congress right now are looking out for the rich," he said. "Actually, I think we should do a little more for them, but, you know, right now, uh, we are doing all we can to help the middle class, right?"

Grothman will face off against Democratic challenger Brad Smith in November and is "no stranger to controversial public statements," The Independent reported.

In May 2023, he complained that former President Joe Biden was not nominating enough straight "white guys" to be judges, according to The Independent.

In 2024, when Biden stepped out of the presidential election and Vice President Kamala Harris stepped into the Democratic campaign, he suggested that opposition voters felt "they have to stick with her because of her ethnic background."

Grothman was criticized in May for saying ordinary people on food stamps shouldn't be able to afford "top of the line foods."

"That's the next step of this," Grothman said. "In our inner cities for far too long, lying, race-baiting, Democrat [sic] politicians have traded black Americans food stamps and subsidized rent for their souls."

Fed-up Trump voters lament they 'have no more to give' in threat to flip red state

Iowa could be crucial for Democrats taking control of the House with Iowa's key third district race, according to a CNN report on Thursday.

Voters in the Hawkeye State told CNN's John King that with 82 days until the midterms, some Trump voters were considering giving Democratic candidates a chance. Trump won Iowa by 13 points in 2024, carrying 94 of the state's 99 counties.

Lindsey Murray, who was born in China and adopted by a family in Kansas City, attended college in Iowa and later returned to the state, where she opened a bookstore and started a family. Murray thinks Democrats could have a chance to flip red seats blue.

"We're just going to keep pushing and pushing and pushing, and we just have no more diplomatic way to say we have no more f's to give," Murray said.

Three-time Trump voter and rancher Shannon Ebersole told King she was disheartened by the Iran war and a "midterm wildcard."

"First and foremost, we need to take care of our Americans. And that is one frustrating point of the Iran war is because I voted to take care of us first," Ebersole said.

She told King that she was leaning toward change.

"[That] tells you everything you need to know about the season of opportunity for Democrats," King said. "Even in Iowa, that's a three-time Trump voter thinking about voting Democrat for governor, thinking about voting Democrat for Congress — not convinced just yet — worried if she votes Democrat for Congress, that person will come here and come under the influence of the Democratic Socialist or whatever, but open to change in a place like Iowa."

"And if the Democrats have opportunity in Iowa, think about states that are less red, less Trumpy. So it's a great season of opportunity for Democrats," King added.

'Rabid MAGA' candidate's 'delicious loss' reveals how far Trump has fallen: analyst

Former Republican operative Rick Wilson signaled that MAGA's reliance on President Donald Trump has backfired in primary elections this week.

In his Substack, the co-founder of the anti-Trump organization The Lincoln Project detailed how Trump ally Mike Lindell's "amusing and delicious loss" in the Minnesota Republican primary revealed just how the president's standing has fallen among voters.

Wilson shared a strategy that he expects will play out come November.

"The lesson of last night, and it’s one that I’ve repeated for several decades now, is that candidate quality matters most," Wilson wrote.

"Candidate fit-to-district is a very close second," he explained. "Don’t run a DSA candidate in a red state, no matter how good that makes you feel. If I were advising the GOP still, the lesson would be 'Don’t run a rabid MAGA screamer in a blue state or district,' not that the MAGA GOP has anything left but rabid MAGA screamers."

And with primary season wrapping up, he suggested Democrats could make serious gains in midterms.

"The final sprint is before us," Wilson added. "The landscape remains strongly favorable for big Democratic wins, as long as they stick to the message of economic affordability and ending the corruption that’s causing it. They win as long as they stick to their guns on tying MAGA candidates to Trump and his deeply, wildly unpopular positions."

'Trump is terrified': Expert decodes desperate push behind GOP's midterm meddling

Republicans in Congress should be wary of the midterms as voters will have the opportunity to check their power, a political expert argued on Monday.

Svante Myrick, president of the progressive advocacy group People For the American Way, wrote in an op-ed for The Hill about how the upcoming fall "elections will give voters a chance to hold them accountable for their failures."

After Senate Republicans voted to confirm President Donald Trump's former personal attorney, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, they "abandoned" the role of providing checks and balances to stop an autocratic ruler. And instead of prioritizing struggling American families, they decided to confirm the "Trump regime’s utter corruption of the Republican Party."

"Rather than act as an independent branch of government, they have acted as if their primary duty is to carry out President Trump’s dictatorial demands and protect him from any real oversight or accountability," Myrick wrote.

GOP lawmakers have continued a "larger pattern of congressional Republicans failing the American people," Myrick explained. Current polling indicates Democrats could secure victories as a result of this.

"It helps explain the appeal of progressive candidates who have been winning elections with truth-telling about the Trump regime and calls for a government that works for all of us, not just the Mar-a-Lago set," Myrick wrote.

"Trump and his team see the same polls," Myrick wrote. "Trump is terrified of a Congress that might actually hold him accountable for his lawbreaking and corruption. That’s why they’re so intent on interfering with the elections to make it harder for millions of people to vote."

Myrick explained why the midterms will be so important.

"That’s why we the people must hold him accountable," Myrick added. "We must hold his congressional enablers and collaborators accountable. We must do everything we can to mobilize voters this fall — and to protect our elections from every corrupt scheme Trump and his supporters can come up with to try to stop Americans from exercising their right to steer our country toward a better future."

GOP laid bare dark truth with 'bizarre' nostalgia for time when US was in 'hell': analyst

MAGA's pandemic obsession with harassing Dr. Anthony Fauci has revealed its dark core, an analyst argued on Monday.

Salon's Amanda Marcotte discussed how, as MAGA fractures, Republicans have been looking for a scapegoat. Trump's approval rating is sinking as the economy and the Iran war fuel frustration among the coalition's loyal followers.

"For normal people, yearning for a time when we were socially isolated and afraid of dying from a highly contagious virus is downright bizarre," Marcotte wrote. "MAGA, though, has a reason to feel nostalgia for a pandemic that killed millions. It was an era when the GOP got to do what they love more than anything: play the victim as loudly as possible before huge audiences that were especially vulnerable to disinformation."

The right seized the pandemic as an opportunity to claim white conservatives were the most oppressed, while refusing the vaccine as many Republicans died, Marcotte argued. But in Trump's second term, and with dissatisfaction among MAGA, that's changed.

"In this environment, it has become increasingly hard for conservatives to play the victim when Trump has unleashed a secret police in the form of Immigration and Customs Enforcement that is rounding up people and sending them to detainment camps," Marcotte wrote. "People aren’t as isolated; they are reconnecting with the real world. MAGA media is fracturing, and their audiences are a small fraction of what they had during the pandemic. Republican in-fighting has grown to the point where podcaster Tucker Carlson, once a loyal Trump ally, is fueling speculation that he’s going to start a third-party."

MAGA has aimed to use the past to try to regroup its base, Marcotte explained.

"By reviving the harassment campaign against Fauci, the GOP has inadvertently revealed the time they long to return to, an era that is remembered by most people as miserable and deadly," Marcotte wrote.

"There’s no more compelling indictment of MAGA than this: The moment they felt most ascendent was when everyone else was in hell," Marcotte added.