The Disappearing Thin Red Line
With the release of each new poll the support for Trump’s policies and actions continues to decline. As 2026 comes into focus, on November 3, 2026, if elections are not postponed or cancelled, 35 U.S. Senate seats will be decided (currently 22 seats are GOP-held, 13 are Democratic-held), all 435 seats in the House of Representatives will be up for grabs, and 36 States will elect or re-elect Governors.
When you are elected to Congress, you tend to want to stay there. Since 1948, approximately 91% of Congressional incumbents run for re-election.
In midterm cycles there is a tendency to favor a Congressional shift away from the party in control of the Executive Branch. Members of Congress also know that when a President is deeply unpopular, the shift away from their party is more pronounced. For example, in the 2006 midterm cycle the United States was mired in wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and early warning signals were starting to flash on the economy. Then President George W. Bush had a 37% approval rating. Both the House and Senate shifted to Democratic Party control.
Pre-2006 the Senate was 55 Republicans, 44 Democrats, and 1 Independent who caucused with Democrats. The House had 233 Republicans, 201 Democrats, and 1 Independent.
Post-2006 the Senate was 49-49 with two Independents -both of who caucused with the Democrats, giving the Dems control of the Senate. Democrats gained House control with 233 seats, Republicans controlled 202.
As we begin 2026, Republican Members of Congress (MoC’s), State, and local officials will logically approach the impending elections with growing concern about the widespread corruption, criminality, cruelty, and incompetence of the Trump Administration.
As Trump and his Cabinet ignore court orders, defy the Constitution (with the support of the Roberts Court), betray our allies, implement the deeply unpopular Project 2025, and govern without constraint, coupled with the continuing release of an undeniable trove of evidence that Trump was deeply involved with Epstein and Maxwell in the abuse of children, how long will Republican Party Members remain silent or worse, obstructive? When Trump had a solid base of Trump/MAGA support, i.e. “I could shoot someone on 5th Avenue”-style unwavering support, it was politically expedient to tap into Trump/MAGA base to be elected or reelected. As Trump and the GOP cause millions of Americans to lose access to what was barely affordable healthcare under the Affordable Care Act, will this be the red line that exposes MAGA for just the rebranded con it represents?
MAGA is just a rebrand of the long running con game run by the wealthiest Americans (and non-Americans) through the Republican Party. The so-called Silent Majority, the Reagan Revolution, the Moral Majority, the Tea Party, and now MAGA all share the same basic tenets:
Divide voters over emotional issues: Abortion, Public Safety, Guns, Religion, Race, Immigration, Climate, Taxes, etc.
Concentrate wealth to the top through tax cuts, privatization, and deregulation.
Repeat as necessary.
Every time the voters begin to understand the long con, the con is rebranded.
While the billionaires continue to fund the destruction of democracy, justice, and equality in the United States (aided by foreign adversaries like Putin), one wonders if a line has finally been crossed by Trump and his benefactors. When conspiracy theorists circulated rumors about a Democratic Party pedophilia ring being led inside Comet Pizza in Washington DC, the place was attacked multiple times. It seemed that there was once a line in the United States that shouldn’t be crossed -the horrific abuse of children.
As we head into 2026, one wonders if the GOP has a line at all anymore? While Democratic Representatives Thanedar and Green have both introduced resolutions with Articles of Trump Impeachment in the House, the measures have been blocked by Republican House leadership.
Although the GOP routinely claims the moral high ground, a more pressing question remains: does the party have a moral “red line” at all? If such a line exists, it has yet to be identified. Through silence, inaction, and the open betrayal of their oath of office, Republican members of Congress have effectively signaled that the following Trump Administration actions are acceptable:
Trafficking, raping, and abusing children.
Violating international law by attacking boats and murder.
Provoking war with Venezuela.
Eviscerating access to healthcare.
State sponsored kidnappings.
Economic incompetence in managing affordability.
Appointing an anti-science conspiracy theorist to decimate public health.
The other incompetent, alcoholic, and sociopathic Cabinet appointments.
Bribes from Qatar, UAE, and Crypto buddies.
Trump Pardons for cash.
Betraying allies for the criminal Putin.
Authorizing a national security plan that embraces adversaries while alienating Europe.
Nullifying Congress’s constitutional authority through illegal impoundment of public funds.
Inviting Elon Musk and DOGE to breach formerly secure federal systems and gain access to our financial, healthcare, and voting data.
Declaring war on drug cartels while pardoning major cocaine and heroin traffickers.
Pardoning the violent extremist insurrectionists of January 6, 2021.
The 2025 ‘FIFA Peace Prize Consolation Winner’ bombing ... Nigeria.
A open defiance of the Hatch Act and the Emoluments Clause.
Eviscerating the line between Church and State.
Subverting the Department of Justice.
Turning the Environmental Protection Agency into a punchline.
Selling off pristine public lands to mining, drilling, and extraction interests -after seeking a $ billion from Big Oil for the 2024 Trump campaign.
As the 2026 midterm elections approach, the call of history is beginning to sound alarms. Public support for Donald Trump’s policies continues to erode, just as it did for George W. Bush in the lead-up to the 2006 midterms, when deep unpopularity, foreign wars, and early economic warning signs produced a decisive shift in congressional power followed by Barack Obama’s successful candidacy for President.
All 435 House seats, 35 Senate seats, and 36 governorships will be contested on November 3, 2026—if elections proceed unimpeded by Trump and his daylight assault on democracy, justice, and equality using Project 2025 as his blueprint.
For decades, Republicans have relied on a rebranded cycle of political marketing—Silent Majority, Reagan Revolution, Moral Majority, Tea Party, MAGA—all designed to divide voters along emotional fault lines while stealthily consolidating wealth and power at the top to perpetuate control of the country.
But MAGA’s governing reality has stripped away the pretense: open contempt for courts and the Constitution, the systematic dismantling of healthcare, corruption at a global scale, the normalization of cruelty, and the moral collapse of a party unwilling to draw a line even at the abuse of children, political violence, or foreign entanglements that undermine U.S. security. What once might have ended a presidency—or a political career—is now met with silence, obstruction, or applause. The question heading into 2026 is no longer whether the con is visible, but whether enough Americans are willing to confront who has been running it—and for whose benefit.
Countering the billionaire takeover of American democracy and media requires clarity, organization, and relentless civic engagement. The long con thrives on distraction and despair; the antidote is exposure and participation.
Voters must connect corruption to consequence—how tax cuts, deregulation, and privatization translate directly into lost healthcare, economic uncertainty, weakened public institutions, and corrupted courts. We must reject personality politics and focus instead on systems and guardrails: campaign finance reform, antitrust enforcement, data privacy protections, voting rights, and accountability for abuses of power at every level.
This means mobilizing now, protecting election infrastructure, supporting primary challengers where incumbents enable lawlessness, and building durable coalitions that cut across ideology but unite around democracy itself. Above all, it means refusing normalization. Every abuse that goes unanswered becomes precedent. The 2026 midterms are not simply a referendum on Trump or MAGA—they are a test of whether democratic self-government can overcome nearly 50 years of the concentration of wealth, which in effect is the concentration of power. The window to act is narrowing, but it is not yet closed.
Aside from defending those most vulnerable to this Administration’s illegal, unconstitutional, cruel, and immoral actions, supporting front line organizations, independent journalism and media, and building a massive movement of voters fundamentally committed to the rule of law, there are already several important national events planned for 2026:
January 4, 2026 - The People’s March
January 20, 2026 - Free America Walkout
May 1, 2026 - Anti-authoritarian Labor Coalition
These actions affirm that the Constitution is not optional, democracy is not negotiable, and corruption must not be normalized. We demand leaders who will uphold their oath of office, defend the rule of law, and serve the public—not donors, not authoritarians, not self-appointed kings, and not their own self-interest.
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Liz Oyer, Former DOJ Pardon Attorney
To learn more about the deep corruption on the Supreme Court, read Lisa Graves' excellent new book Without Precedent: How Chief Justice Roberts and His Accomplices Rewrote the Constitution and Dismantled Our Rights. It is astonishing. We won't get out of this mees without unstacking the corrupt court and enacting sweeping reform.
Thanks, George, for the mention. This article may be my favorite. Great analysis!