OPINION:
President Trump has a way of making his political adversaries adopt new heroes.
We just saw another example of this phenomenon in the Republican primary election that concluded in Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District last week.
Nearly all the nation’s mainstream media, populated by mostly left-of-center journalists, gave approving coverage to incumbent Republican Rep. Thomas Massie, a self-described libertarian whom it would otherwise treat with tremendous disdain.
But in this election, Mr. Massie was being challenged by Ed Gallrein, a Kentucky farmer and retired Navy SEAL officer endorsed by Mr. Trump.
Because of the Trump support, media and congressional Democrats rallied behind Mr. Massie, casting him as a lovable eccentric, an oddball inventor who also just happens to serve in Congress. They gave him this cover because he’s been the leading thorn in the president’s side in the House of Representatives, opposing the Trump “America First” agenda and siding with radical leftists against key Republican priorities.
It was a classic “The enemy of my enemy is my friend” situation, and Democrats and their media allies dug in hard for Mr. Massie.
Despite these efforts, their guy got thrashed by Mr. Gallrein, whose successful campaign my public affairs firm was proud to advise.
Voters sent the clear message that they don’t want so-called “maverick” members of Congress who buck their party on important votes. They want team members to act like team members and help pass the agenda that Mr. Trump and Republicans were elected to deliver.
The Gallrein victory was the headline on a night of great success in Republican primaries for candidates endorsed by Mr. Trump, as his choices had a combined record of 37-0 in the contests.
This is on top of the wipeout of five state senators in Indiana, plus incumbent U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who all went down to defeat after they were targeted in primaries by the president.
After such a convincing display of raw political power, even the critical media had to admit that Mr. Trump’s control of the direction and makeup of the Republican Party has never been stronger. Even so, there are few pundits who give the slim Republican majorities in the House and Senate much chance of survival in the upcoming midterm elections.
They should not be so sure.
Historically, the president’s party does take significant losses in midterm elections, but Mr. Trump already partially defied that trend in his first term. In the 2018 midterms, the Republican Party lost the majority in the House but actually gained two seats in the Senate.
This time around in the House, he’s in far better position.
The Cook Political Report, a widely cited elections analysis outfit, had the GOP in terrible condition in its final House ratings before the 2018 midterms. In that cycle, it showed Republicans with only 195 safe seats against 210 for Democrats, with 30 toss-up races. The GOP would go on to lose the majority.
Today, the Republican situation is much more manageable.
Cook has the count at 209 safe Republican seats to 207 for Democrats, with only 19 toss-up races. The obvious conclusion must be that recent redistricting skirmishes and the settling political landscape have tilted the electoral map toward Republicans at the national level.
And while critics may refuse to acknowledge it, Republicans have an edge on policies that voters care about.
Republicans are strong on fighting crime while Democrats are weak. The president and Republicans have secured our southern border, cracked down on illegal immigration and exposed Democrats for favoring illegal aliens over law-abiding American citizens.
Republicans are for lower taxes and more money in the pockets of the people who earned it, while the Democrats are ceaselessly hungry for higher taxes.
Mr. Trump and Republicans have unleashed the American energy sector again, while Democrats are openly hostile to our own domestic supply.
Republicans can make the case that there’s a clear difference between a temporary spike in fuel prices because the U.S. is ridding the world of the worst global sponsor of terror (Iran) and deliberately attacking American energy producers to drive up prices because that’s your policy goal. That’s what President Joe Biden and Democrats did when they were in charge.
Another economic issue will be the price and quality of health insurance, which costs too much and covers too little. Democrats are the ones who threw trillions of taxpayer dollars at insurance companies in Obamacare and the stupidly named Inflation Reduction Act, which broke the entire system.
The left rooted mightily — and unsuccessfully — for Mr. Massie and others in their primaries, just as they’ll be pulling for Democrats again in the midterms.
They were wrong about voter sentiment in last week’s primaries, and Mr. Trump could well prove them wrong again in November.
• Tim Murtaugh is a Washington Times columnist and founder of Line Drive Public Affairs. He served as a senior advisor on the 2024 Trump campaign and as communications director on the 2020 Trump campaign.
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