Trump Was on the Ballot After All, and Republicans Paid the Price

Well, we lost. We lost it all, we lost generationally, and we lost in an unmistakable, coalition-shattering way. Whom do I blame for the GOP’s epochal setback? Have a guess!

Who lost? Everyone. And when I say “everyone,” outside of Florida, I mean pretty much everyone. In what looks to have been a D+12 electorate, Republican control of the House of Representatives was swept away in one of those massive blue tsunamis that we are reliably told just can’t happen anymore in this era of gerrymandered polarization. (Democrats have already flipped 26 seats and look likely to gain as many as 40 when the counting is through.) Old stalwarts have been swept away: Missouri’s Ann Wagner is gone. NRCC chairman Richard Hudson — who gerrymandered himself to doom in North Carolina — is gone. seems to be going down.

About the Author

Jeffrey Blehar

Jeffrey Blehar is a National Review staff writer living in Chicago. He is also the co-host of National Review’s Political Beats podcast, which explores the great music of the modern era with guests from the political world happy to find something non-political to talk about.

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Well, we lost. We lost it all, we lost generationally, and we lost in an unmistakable, coalition-shattering way. Whom do I blame for the GOP’s epochal setback? Have a guess!

Who lost? Everyone. And when I say “everyone,” outside of Florida, I mean pretty much everyone. In what looks to have been a D+12 electorate, Republican control of the House of Representatives was swept away in one of those massive blue tsunamis that we are reliably told just can’t happen anymore in this era of gerrymandered polarization. (Democrats have already flipped 26 seats and look likely to gain as many as 40 when the counting is through.) Old stalwarts have been swept away: Missouri’s Ann Wagner is gone. NRCC chairman Richard Hudson — who gerrymandered himself to doom in North Carolina — is gone. seems to be going down.

About the Author

Jeffrey Blehar

Jeffrey Blehar is a National Review staff writer living in Chicago. He is also the co-host of National Review’s Political Beats podcast, which explores the great music of the modern era with guests from the political world happy to find something non-political to talk about.