The Party That’s Suffering PTSD The Most On Election Day Is The Likely Winner in 2028
By
Leonard Zwelling
(A day early for Election Day)
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/the-case-for-a-historic-wave-c11a0a92?mod=author_content_page_1_pos_1
Peggy Noonan (WSJ, October 31) is hoping for a blue wave on Election Day to roust the GOP out of the ten-year haze of its fealty to Trumpism, extract the good from MAGA (I’m not sure I see any good there, but, apparently, she does), remember the best of the old Republican Party, and start anew.
On my side of the traditional American ballot, the centrist Democratic side (I know, there are so few of us left, but competent governors of red or purple states like Andy Beshear and Josh Shapiro give me hope), there has got to be some realization that socialism and anti-Semitism have no place in any American political party that aims to win the presidency.
Thus, if the GOP has a really bad night and there is a large blue wave throughout the country, everyone will blame Trump (even if he tries to challenge the results—what’s he going to have his MAGA followers do, charge up the steps of 50 state capital buildings?), and perhaps his reign of terror upon the rank-and-file members of his party will finally end and the responsible Republicans left can begin building toward 2028. There are some sensational Republican ex-governors from Virginia, Georgia, and New Hampshire. They all actually know how to govern, how to manage (those are two different things), and how to formulate and balance a budget. If the MAGA crowd is defeated Tuesday, these are the men to whom Republicans should turn.
Congressmen, particularly the Republicans in this Congress, are divisive, argumentative, and above all, cowards. The Speaker of the House is Exhibit A. Ditto Vance and Rubio. Vance is just a shill for Peter Thiele and Rubio ought to have known better than to work for the guy who called him “Little Marco.” Both men have exceeded their “sell by” dates. The GOP would be wise to ignore Trump and those who served him when selecting a candidate in 2028 and find new, dynamic, and younger leadership.
If the MAGA crowd has PTSD after Tuesday, Republicans could be well-position in 2028.
On the blue side there is also a collection of worthy men wanting to be president and the best of them are also governors—Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Illinois. I discount California. No one other than Californians want a Californian in the White House. Besides, the last two Californians who were president were Republicans.
Democratic PTSD would be due to losses by all the extremist, socialist followers of Bernie Saunders and AOC, especially in Michigan, but also throughout the country.
My point, and to some extent Ms. Noonan’s, is that there must be fundamental change in both parties if our government is to return to its constitutional roots, serve the people, restore its place in the world, and lead America to prosperity and the world to freedom. That change will not necessarily reflect either party’s past policies, but would be something new.
I don’t care if the course plotted by the next president, if from the red team, is traditionally Republican (very unlikely) or some new variant because of past reliance on the Reagan-Bush GOP doctrines needs some freshening.
If the next president is a Democrat, then concern for the less fortunate, especially with regard to health care ought to be a priority, but so should concern for the rest of the world, particularly in Africa and the Middle East. If the next president is an anti-Israel, socialist zealot, freedom will suffer and so will our economy. Bill Clinton redirected his party after winning in 1992. If the next president is a Democrat, he or she will need to do it again.
BUT, we do have to get back to basics for sure regardless of which party wins the White House in two years.
First, there are three branches of government. They are supposed to be co-equal and the most important of them, described in detail in the First Article of the Constitution, is Congress. New congressional leadership is a must. Chuck Schumer needs to step down if the Dems take the Senate and they need to find someone under 70 to lead the majority if they achieve that. Hakeem Jeffries may be an effective Speaker and at least stand up to Trump for two years. Impeaching Trump again would be an even better idea—whether for corruption or stealing confidential documents. Either is fine with me, but unmasking the corruption in a trial in the Senate would be my first choice. It needs to be said in the well of the Senate that Trump made billions while most Americans struggled under his leadership and his war.
Second, the next president needs to fly around the world and repair our relationships with our traditional allies in Europe, Asia, and the southern Hemisphere, and stand up to the evil in Russia and China. On Day One the new president should move 200,000 troops to Taiwan to protect the chips manufactured there that keep us in the AI lead. Taiwan is to the Communists on the mainland what Hawaii is to the United States. If we want to keep Taiwan in our column, we need to show China we mean business.
Third, the next president ought to actually bring America back. The second thing that person should do after the military deployment to Taiwan and away from Iran is to make it clear that humility is part of his or her personality and guides his or her leadership. The new president should count on a team of the very best America has to offer, not cronies, Silicon Valley bros, MAHA health care lunatics, cryptocurrency billionaires, or the latest in dictators from Saudi Arabia to Moscow.
Finally, the next president has to be the president of all the people, not just the ones who voted for him or her. Among the greatest sins of Donald Trump, and there are many from the war in Iran to the tariffs to the terrible people he appointed, and his debasing of the presidency with his language and behavior, is that he never considered himself everyone’s president. In that one thing, he divided the nation like no one since Richard Nixon. In fact, and I never thought I would say this about anyone, Trump is worse than Nixon. At least Nixon was smart, and, as Jackie Mason said, “a crook who knew his business.”
And that sin of dividing the people is unforgiveable.
It may well turn out that the footnote of the 2026 midterm elections is, to quote Bob Dylan, “for the loser now will be later to win.”
