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While discussing the "blue wave" that hit with resounding force last week, my eldest son came up with an analogy that perhaps explains what happened. It goes like this: "Back in 2016 Hilary Clinton was the cancer that threatened the body politic and Donald Trump was the chemotherapy that cured that cancer. Unfortunately as sometimes happens with chemotherapy, it can make the patient sicker or even kill them."
Trump’s endorsement of candidates based on personal loyalty to him rather than ability and electability was self-defeating. I firmly believe that Rep. Elise Stefanick would have defeated Kathy Hochul for governor, but Trump endorsed Bruce Blakeman. In all, Trump endorsed 22 gubernatorial candidates and at least 11 lost, nine of the 24 Senate candidates he endorsed lost and 46 Trump-backed candidates for the House have lost so far.
Buying the Democratic rhetoric about affordability, Americans forgot that Trump gave then "no tax on Tips," "no tax on Social Security," and the “No Tax on Overtime” deduction, where hourly workers can deduct up to $12,500 of their overtime earnings or $25,000 for married couples filing jointly. Sure, the price of gas was high but unlike the gas shortages of the 1970s supplies were abundant.
That the Democrats successfully sold the issue of affordability painting bleak word pictures of families having to choose between gasoline or food defies the reality. If affordability is a problem why did total U.S. consumer spending climb to $16,944.90 billion in the third quarter of 2026, up from $16,788.70 billion in the second quarter and why is the National Retail Federation Predicting that holiday retail sales will grow 4.2% year-over-year to reach approximately $1.013 trillion up from $972 billion in 2025. The answer, despite high gas prices and the fact that food prices impacted by Biden's inflation will never go back to previous levels, Americans are confident in the economy and have money to spend.
Our conflict with Iran was necessary. Any rational person should understand that based on Iran's words and actions over 47 years that her nuclear program had to be destroyed. Assisted by Israel he instigated an overwhelming air and missile bombardment. But then concerned with the midterms or perhaps listening to JD Vance he began on again off again negotiations that have gone nowhere. This was a critical mistake and prolonged the war. In my opinion he should have bombed Iran back to the stone age or as close to that as a modern nation can be.
What does disturb me is that Democrats infected with "Trump Derangement Syndrome" have lost sight of the fact that they started it all. They impeached him twice, they used Jan. 6, 2021, as another cudgel and when he announced he was running again, they mounted a campaign of "lawfare" obviously directed from the Biden Justice Department with the collusion of district attorneys and state attorney generals and judges. He did a few things to get even for these things, but after the way he was treated, I'm surprised by his self-control.
Finally here is what I think was a major reason for the blue wave. I used to think that interviews with Gen Z students on street corners and spring break beaches were "cherry picked" to highlight only those students who must have slept through high school history and government classes but much to my horror I later found that these people attend top universities and colleges. In 2026 exit polling data reported that 70% of voters aged 18-29 cast their ballots for Democrats.
Most of these young people finished K-12 with little knowledge of U.S. History, our Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and even who our leaders are. Our schools do a good job of propagandizing young people in left wing ideology disguised as DEI but a poor job of educating them with the knowledge and skills necessary for life. More attention is given to million dollar athletic facilities rather than academic excellence.
The ability of these young people to embrace antisemitism and cast votes for blatant antisemites shows they have never heard of the "Holocaust" and being able to vote for Marxists indicates that they know nothing of the 110 million killed under Marxist rule, the "Cold War," or the Berlin Wall.
When the dust settles, Trump will be remembered as a transformational president who revitalized our manufacturing infrastructure, rationalized our position in NATO in light of the threat posed by China, made a deal with Greenland and Denmark that is good for all parties, and let our trading partners understand that the U.S. can no longer be played for a "sucker" in international trade. Further it should be noted that in both 2017 and 2025 his assumption of power signaled strong upturns in financial markets and in the entire economy. When he left office in 2021, he left us with an inflation rate of 2.46% which the Biden administration soon drove to over 9%. Democrats do not understand what drives the economy except how to spend money.
The finger pointing within the Republican Party is just beginning as it did amongst Democrats after they were hit by a smaller red wave in 2024. I'm sure you remember that internal 2024 post-election “autopsy” review the Democrats never released. The Republicans will rise again just like the Democrats did. JD Vance prospects for 2028 may have been damaged and no one is sure what Marco will do, but that's all post wave speculation. Remember that Nixon rose from the Dead in 1968. All I can say now is that I think Ron DeSantis, the best governor in the land, has a bright future.
Finally, since 2001 there have been approximately 14 exchanges of power at the Presidential, House and Senate levels which I understand is a record. 2028 could be interesting.
Tom Kirkpatrick Sr. is a Silver Creek resident. Send comments to editorial@observertoday.com