Summary

Republicans face rising fears of a 2026 midterms backlash after defeats in key races, with some blaming Trump’s tariffs and Elon Musk’s influence.

Trump announced sweeping new trade levies Wednesday, alarming GOP strategists who warn of higher prices and economic risks.

Vulnerable Republicans urge a return to economic messaging, citing concerns the party is overreaching. Democrats are leveraging Musk’s unpopularity, linking him to GOP policies.

The GOP remains divided over how to respond.

  • Dagwood222@lemm.ee
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    2 days ago

    I’ve been hoping for a MAGoo/GOP war since 2015.

    otoh, if DOGE really manages to mess up Social Security payments, there’s no way the GOP can recover.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      otoh, if DOGE really manages to mess up Social Security payments, there’s no way the GOP can recover.

      Republicans straight up nuked the economy in 2008 and they were back in the Congressional Majority two years later. Same thing happened in 2020.

      Gerrymandering makes many of these maps mathematically unwinnable for Democrats

      • Dagwood222@lemm.ee
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        1 day ago

        Big difference between ruining the Wall Street types and taking money out of someone’s pocket.

        Social Security has never missed any payments in 80 years. It’s the difference between milk going up a dollar and you not getting your paycheck.

    • Heikki@lemm.ee
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      1 day ago

      Im not so sure it’d be that easy. The conservative media cesspool is closed loop. They will lie and blame the Dems for not making it break proof or some other BS and the sheep will eat it up.

      We will need Dems to go onto the shows and blast the message day and night that it’s broken bc GOP allowed I lt it be broken by an illegal imagrant.

    • mynamesnotrick@lemmy.zip
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      1 day ago

      I wouldn’t go that far. The maga Republicans are obviously so easily manipulated without a shred of critical thought left that they will do whatever their overlords want of them.

    • Omega_Man@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      If they’re willing to brazenly attack Social Security, maybe they don’t care about elections anymore.

      • barneypiccolo@lemm.ee
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        1 day ago

        That’s the issue. If they really start screwing with SS payments, it means that they are confident that they have control of future elections. Then the only question will be if they do it softly, and rig the elections and claim they are 100% fair and square (which the Dems will support, like 2020), or if they decide to go full on Nazi, and cancel elections altogether, then enthusiastically and ruthlessly murder anyone who dares to question it.

        Looking at the players, like Pukin, Skum, Kapo Stephen “PeeWee Himmler” Miller, Steve “Unwiped Asshole” Bannon, et al, my bet is that they’ll go for the full on Nazi dictatorship. They aren’t building a 30K capacity concentration camp in Guantanamo for giggles.

    • gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works
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      1 day ago

      I get what you’re saying, but I am also extremely aware of how fucking stupid the American electorate is, up to and including having all government support taken away and responding with “thank you sir, may I have another”. American conservatives are deeply stupid.

    • suburban_hillbilly@lemmy.ml
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      1 day ago

      People used to say Reagan and his courting of the ‘moral majority’ were going to fracture the party and cause it to destroy itself with the embrace of a massively divisive religious rhetoric. It’s wishful thinking at best.

      there’s no way the GOP can recover.

      I want this to be true, but it just isn’t. A third of the country will follow along with whatever mental gymnastics are required to blame democrats. Another third are just not paying enough attention and vote on pure vibes, if at all. If dems try to run an unlikable, centrist candidate with a mixed at best record it will end up a toss up. And the electorate at large will forget everything that is happening now within eight years.