This is an interesting development even if it’s buried on a long holiday weekend. Generally political news on a Friday afternoon or evening is a ‘take out the trash’ thing meant to be if not ignored then little noticed and quickly forgotten. This I think is different. You did NOT misread the headline. It wasn’t just some reporter or opinion writer, but the freaking Wall Street Journal Editorial Board that published an OpEd telling (albeit in polite, understated language) Trump and the GOP to get a freaking grip. To even if they want to talk up “mandate” and “landslide” to boost MAGA morale recognize they are sitting on the edge of a razor thin political balance of power.
Again, this is the Wall Street Journal EDITORIAL Board telling Team Trump to get a freaking grip. The OpEd itself is a short read but straightforward. To the point. While it doesn’t address the narrowness of Trump’s popular vote margin (now down to about 1.5%) they say it looks like Democrats will have 215 seats in the House and the GOP could wind up with as few as 220. As the WSJ points out this would be the narrowest House majority in over a hundred years. Since it is after all the WSJ they toss in some talk about Democratic gerrymandering in a few states (CA in particular) while ignoring the larger number of seats protected in red states by the GOP. Regardless it’s once again a slim majority and there are few signs the new House will be any more functional than the last one.
Over in the Senate the WSJ notes the GOP picked up seats and will have a three seat majority. Yet it also makes, again in its understated way the fact that Republicans lost several seats with decent candidates in states Trump carried. Not only do they indicate that’s a troubling sign, they also mention two things. First the Senate map in 2026 won’t be as favorable for the GOP as it was THIS year. Second and the real point behind the OpEd is history. The first midterm of a new Presidency almost always costs the Party holding the WH seats in Congress! With the shiite show we have on tap there will be no shortage of ammo the Democrats running in 2026 can use to win back the House. And maybe even the Senate.
The WSJ says the GOP has about a year to get anything done. Then any sane member will be turning their attention to re-election and Trump threats or not the Trump agenda will get stalled. That’s assuming it ever really gets going in the first place. We’d assumed this time around the transition and resulting first year of the Trump administration wouldn’t be the cluster-f**k it was last time. At the moment it seems if anything THIS time will be worse! If Democrats, from our leaders all the way down to us rank and file advocates fight the good fight, and fight like hell we can throw a lot of sand in the gears of what Trump and his Project 2025 folks try to do.
That’s the real message the WSJ (and Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch) are sending. Basically it’s a ‘Take it easy guys. DON’T overreach.’ It’s a safe bet Trump and some of his biggest ass kissers won’t get the message but others will. ‘Others’ include a group I haven’t mentioned. The public and many politicians won’t pay attention to a Thanksgiving weekend OpEd from the Wall Street Journal saying the GOP isn’t in any position to go trying to impose the kind of crap Trump promised. However those in the financial sector up there on Wall Street itself WILL take note.
Sharks, wolves and whatever predator one cares to imagine are circling trying to figure out a ‘big score’ from a sudden loosening of oversight after the inauguration. Instead of sugar plums dancing in their heads this Christmas the self-professed ‘Masters of the Universe’ will have dreams of corpses of regulators lining the streets to work. What the WSJ is telling THESE folks is to get a freaking grip. The cake walk to new untold riches isn’t going to be so easy as they are imagining and there are pitfalls aplenty that await them if they get out of hand. In its roundabout way the Journal’s Editorial Board is telling the financial sector Congress reflects the country – divided down the middle. While the GOP currently has a tenuous hold on power it’s unlikely to last past the 2026 midterms. That will matter to the movers and shakers on Wall Street.
In the end, what the Murdochs are saying (we’ll see how Fox News handles this) to Trump and the GOP is to slow the hell down and concentrate on basic stuff. Because at best they’ve got a year to do anything significant they want to do. Keep that in the back of your mind as we move forward.
It turns out that a ‘mandate’ was really just Trump inviting Musk to dinner.
That’s all it ever was.
It was never anything else.
“Throw” sand in the gears? Hell, I’d rent a freaking backhoe and have a couple tons of sand on standby!
I honestly can’t see all those egos agreeing on something long enough to actually accomplish anything but there will be some serious, serious infighting, especially in the battle to be closest to tRump. They need to remember that monkeys will throw poo, and the Orange Orangutang has been throwing poo by the shovelful in terms of what half the country wanted to hear, so he “won” the election. Don’t stand too close because that shit will splatter.