The Democrats and Señor Trumpanzee Agree-- The Midterms Are All About Him

Democratic strategists couldn't be happier. Trump-- imagining that the national electorate is a reflecting of one of his hate rallies in red states-- is doing everything he can to turn next month's midterms into a referendum on him. Every poll shows most Americans-- a majority, not a plurality-- feels his unfit for the job. The latest from Politico for example, shows that 41% of voters approve of the job he's doing and 56% disapprove-- and that Democrats are more eager to get out and vote than Republicans are. The result: by a 10 point margin-- 48-38%-- voters want to see the Democrats take control of Congress.

As Chris Cadelago pointed out at Politico yesterday, "While Trump is not personally facing reelection until 2020, he is asking supporters to suspend their disbelief and imagine that his head is on the chopping block. The president is telling thousands of devotees at his rallies that a vote for Republicans is really 'a vote for me' and Make America Great Again... Presidents seldom lean in so far ahead of their first midterm election, fearing that an embarrassing rebuke could weaken their public esteem and presage disaster for their reelection bids. But Trump often personalizes events and tends to approach issues through the lens of his own experiences. He’s also shown little concern for shifting responsibility when the situation deteriorates."

More than a half-dozen administration officials and presidential allies said that after months of experimentation, they’ve homed in on the crux of Trump’s midterm message: Contrasting the strong economy, low unemployment and elimination of regulations under his watch with doomsday warnings about life under Democratic rule. “They want to erase the gains and plunge our country into a nightmare of gridlock, poverty, chaos and, frankly, crime,” as the president put it Thursday in Rochester, Minn.

“You don't hand matches to an arsonist, and you don't give power to an angry left-wing mob. And that’s what the Democrats have become,” Trump added Tuesday in Council Bluffs, Iowa. “They would turn our country so fast into Venezuela, and Venezuela is not doing too well, folks.”

This idiotic messaging in backfiring on Republican congressional candidates all over the country, as they disparage Democrats for wanting to turn America into Venezuela. No Democrats want to turn America into Venezuela and when draft-dodging Republicans like Bruce Poliquin in Maine accuse front-line war vets like Jared Poliquin of that bullshit, voters notice. Poliquin has been steadily sinking in the polls. Venezuela is not an issue in Maine. The fact that Poliquin voted to take away Mainers healthcare is. Same across the country, where Republicans who avoided military service (or any kind of service other than self-service) are attacking Democrats as being "unpatriotic." Like these women, who the dirty, stinking, corrupt Republicans are accusing of not being patriots! The Republican candidates, Trumpists one and all, really are vile and disgusting and need to be taught a lesson they'll never forget.

Putting himself at the center of the election comes naturally to Trump, whose outsider persona and history of taking on his party’s establishment don’t easily lend themselves to the role of standard-bearer. Aides still view him as more effective at attacking his own political enemies than he is at challenging the opponents of his allies. To that end, the president’s team is playing up his warnings that a Democratic congressional takeover would open the floodgates for higher taxes, spiraling crime, an unchecked border and the start of congressional investigations and impeachment proceedings against him.

“If it does happen, it’s your fault, because you didn't go out to vote. OK?” Trump recently told a crowd about the specter of impeachment. “That’s the only way it could happen. I’ll be the only president in history-- they’ll say, ‘What a job he’s done. By the way, we’re impeaching him.’”

He is also generically yoking Democrats to their leaders in Congress, while vilifying the likes of “Low-IQ” Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), whom he relishes attacking, to drive home his message. In Minnesota, he asked supporters to imagine the power Waters would have if Democrats take charge.

“She’s going to take over Financial Services in Congress,” he cautioned, as the audience booed. “Can you believe it? Maxine Waters. That’s one of the most powerful committees in Congress.”

Not everyone is sold on the approach. Some Republican pollsters, including those who report seeing a bump in GOP enthusiasm over the Supreme Court confirmation fight of Justice Brett Kavanaugh, are unsure it will last-- and how much Trump is going to help. Others point to numbers showing the party slipping further with newly motivated key constituencies: college-educated women and younger women who tend to vote Democratic but don’t typically turn out for midterms.

Democrats see the president as a drag on his party, with the rallies underscoring how out of touch and beholden to Trump modern-day Republicans have become.

“The goal of a Trump rally is to incite anger, to distort reality, to spread conspiracies, and-- more than anything-- to feed Trump's own ego,” Democratic National Committee spokesman Daniel Wessel said. “But no Trump rally will distract Americans from Trump's numerous broken promises and his failure to improve the lives of working Americans.”

Trump took his traveling circus to a rally in Council Bluffs, Iowa-- just across the river from Omaha-- Tuesday. Every kook and nut in the area was there-- from Steve King, Jeff Fortenberry, David Young and Don Bacon to Governors Kim Reynolds (IA) and Pete Ricketts (NE) and Trump put on his regular clown show for everyone. "The Democrats have become too extreme, and they’ve become, frankly, too dangerous to govern. They’ve gone wacko." The word "frankly" is always great coming from someone who 65% of American voters know, sadly, can't open his pie-hole without lying.

Bacon, a Republican from the Omaha area’s 2nd District, speaking before the president, touted the recent tax bill and said that if re-elected he would work on health care and immigration.

“We’ve got a big choice to make here in four weeks,” he said. “We’ve got to choose between results and resistance.”

...Democratic Party leaders in Iowa and Nebraska-- Iowa Democratic Party Chairman Troy Price and Nebraska Democratic Party Chairwoman Jane Kleeb-- issued a joint statement before the event criticizing the GOP for failing to keep its promises to rural Americans:

“Our farmers and rural communities have been left in the dust by the Trump Administration, Governors Reynolds and Ricketts, and their Republican allies. It’s time to put common sense back in charge of this country.”

Referring to King's tweet (above), J.D. Scholten told us "That's the whole problem with Steve King, who wants everyone to subscribe to his far-right ideology. Somewhere along the line, Steve King has forgotten that his job is to represent ALL of the people of our district. He thrives on politics of division and fear. When he retweets neo-Nazis, it’s because he doesn’t have an answer for farmers who have struggled to make a profit for four consecutive years. When he posts hateful memes on Facebook, it’s because he has no answer for people suffering without health care. He likes to distract people from his exclusion from the Farm Bill conference committee, the fact that he won't show up for town halls or publicly announced events, and his refusal to debate me. The people of this district deserve to have a representative that will show up and who isn't afraid of being held accountable.

Progressive Omaha area candidate, Kara Eastman was happy to know that Bacon is embracing Trump and his toxic approach to governance. Yesterday, after the Council Bluffs rally, she told us that "Trump thanked Bacon for his loyalty and said, 'Every time we needed him, he was there.' Though he pretends to be an independent voice for our district, Don Bacon is nothing of the kind-- we know he votes almost 100% of the time with his party, without regard for what his district wants or needs. It's time for Nebraskans to come together and elect a leader who actually represents our values, and doesn't just heed the President's orders."