A terrible night for Republicans leaves challenges for BOTH parties

It was the worst election night for Republicans since at least 2008 — posing serious challenges for President Donald Trump and his party but also the Democrats.

In this election, at least, Trump’s touch was toxic: Candidates he helped pick all lost or at least badly underperformed.

He wanted voters to pretend he was on the ballot — and most of those who did voted against his party.

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Even the gerrymander strategy didn’t pay off, as seats created to swing Republican stayed Democrat in state after state.

Voters blamed him for their pocketbook concerns despite laying the foundations for a thriving economy — a situation he at first kicked off with his tariffs blunderbuss last year and worsened via energy price hikes sparked by the just but lingering war on Iran.

That he failed, after the early stages, to communicate a clear vision on that war didn’t help.

In all this, he was poorly served by his people, who should have better focused him on the public’s priorities and not his personal grievances and whimsies; having gatekeeper Chief of Staff Susie Wiles sidelined by cancer for long months may have been the worst blow.

This also reflects the loss of Charlie Kirk, who was not only a great spokesman for Trump, but also communicated concerns from the grassroots back up the chain.

Now it’s time to go on, first by resetting his core team of advisers, then by testing if Democrats are willing to work with him to do right by the country these next two years — or if they demand gridlock.

Dems won purely as Trump’s opposition, without expressing any realistic vision going forward — but the public’s not likely to approve if they do nothing but continue to fight the president.

Americans want them to do what they clearly feel Trump and the GOP failed to do these last two years: truly work in the public interest.

After all, Trump won in 2024 because Democrats had made the same mistakes under President Joe Biden.

That Speaker-to-be Hakeem Jeffries will have a solid majority in the House could prove a blessing for working with Trump: He won’t need the votes of even an enlarged socialist Squad to get things done.

If the new House and Senate majorities can’t stare down their own ideologues and special interests, it’s going to be a painful two years.

Meanwhile, Republicans need to get their own act together, figure out a direction for the post-Trump years so they can offer a positive alternative in 2028.

Voters have been rejecting the Washington status quo for election after election after election now; sooner or later, at least one party has to find a way to do better.