Democrats’ Far-Left Orthodoxy Will Doom Their Prospects in Upcoming Midterms

When the Republicans win a historic election in 2026 — growing the House and Senate majorities — historians will look for a fundamental cause, just as they did after Harry Truman’s re-election in 1948 and George H.W. Bush’s come-from-behind win in 1988.I suspect they will discover the key moment happened during President Trump’s State of the Union Address on February 24. Mr. Trump said: “Surely, we can all agree no state can be allowed to rip children from their parents’ arms and transition them to a new gender against the parents’ will. Who would believe that we’re even talking about that? We must ban it, and we must ban it immediately.”In this moment, Mr. Trump defined a policy supported by more than 70 percent of Americans. Our polling at America’s New Majority Project found that 73 percent oppose having children get so-called gender-affirming care without their parents’ permission. Further, 71 percent favor banning transition surgery for children. Yet the orthodoxy of the new Democratic Party made it impossible for them to side with the American people.“Look, nobody stands up. These people are crazy, I’m telling you. They’re crazy,” Mr. Trump said. “Amazing. Terrible. Boy, oh boy. We’re lucky we have a country. With people like this — Democrats are destroying our country, but we’ve stopped it just in the nick of time, didn’t we, huh?”Speaker Mike Johnson took Mr. Trump’s language about “crazy Democrats” and turned it into a 2026 campaign strategy. He recently said: “In this setting instead of a Contract with America, we need a Contrast for America. The choice is between common sense and crazy.”In focus groups, people react favorably to this choice.Some of the choices are astonishing in their one-sided majority in favor of common sense and against crazy policies.For example, by 81 percent to 12 percent, Americans want hiring to be focused on merit and not diversity. The Democrats of course are deeply tied to rigging college admission, scholarships, hiring, and promotion to diversity. By seven to one, Americans consider that crazy.Americans deeply favor the work ethic. A work requirement for Medicaid gets 78 percent support, including 70 percent support from people who were on welfare in the last year. Of course, the left deeply and passionately opposes work requirements for government assistance programs. For most Americans, being anti-work is crazy. Work is considered a key, common sense part of life.Americans overwhelmingly want the border controlled and illegal immigration stopped. The Democrats are for open borders and ever more immigration. Their daily rhetoric clearly favors illegal immigrants over police, ICE, and ultimately American citizens.The idea that photo ID should be required to vote in America is supported by 85 percent of Americans. The Democrats in the Senate bitterly oppose it.Americans overwhelmingly oppose tax increases. Had the Democrats defeated the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, there would have been a huge tax increase. Every Democrat in the House and Senate voted against the bill — and in effect voted for huge tax increases.Gallup reports that four-out-of-five Americans have positive views of free markets. However, among Democrats socialism had 66 percent favorable views compared to only 42 percent favorable views of free enterprise. The gap between Democrats and the rest of America keeps growing wider.We have seen a crazy versus common sense political choice before. During Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s third campaign in 1987, the Conservative Party went all-out to define the Labour Party as dominated by “the Loony Left.” It was a term the British press developed to describe the liberal fringe in Britain. With a choice between Thatcher’s lower taxes, more patriotism, and a stronger military and the Labour Party’s “the loony Left,” the British people chose common sense. Thatcher won her third straight majority — becoming the first prime minister since the Earl of Liverpool in 1820 to do so. Her parliamentary majority of 376 to 229 enabled her to consolidate the Thatcher Revolution and fundamentally change the terms of British politics and government.If Republicans can build on Mr. Trump’s language in the State of the Union — and the American people conclude that the choice this fall is between common sense Republicanism and crazy Democratic policies — the Republicans will win handily.

Democrats’ Far-Left Orthodoxy Will Doom Their Prospects in Upcoming Midterms

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