The wrath of Donald Trump has kept congressional Republicans in line for much of his second term thus far. But as the November midterm elections draw closer, the president’s allies in the Senate and House of Representatives appear increasingly willing to defy a president who appears to have asked lawmakers for too much in some areas and too little in others, all while the public sours on his administration.
In both chambers, small groups of Republicans have in recent weeks joined with Democrats to advance resolutions requiring that Trump receive Congress’s permission before continuing hostilities against Iran. Republican dissidents in the House helped pass another round of aid for Ukraine, as well as an effort to protect Haitians from deportation. In the Senate, a critical mass of Republican senators has given Trump’s nominee for director of national intelligence, Bill Pulte, a cold reception.
I went to a parade and town party yesterday. I didn’t see a single Trump/MAGA thing. Not a hat not a tee shirt, nothing. Saw some God bless America stuff.
There was some Republican float that my wife saw. Nothing about Trump on it.
I’d say my town was purple. And pretty religious. I’ve only been here a year, but I like the ‘vibe’. Lots of antique cars, a day doesn’t go buy that I don’t see one.
I live in Texas’ district 9 (Fort Worth). A “Ruby Red”, tidally locked, gerrymandered fortress for the Republicans.
In the latest (state) Senate runoff, an unknown Democrat named Taylor Rehmet ran against the Trump’s endorsed and blessed handmaiden. She was soaked in Trump-slobber, advertised herself as a "Maga Mom, and outspent her Dem opponent by 10 to 1.
And when it was over, Rehmet won by 17 points (57% to 42%). The latest surveys showed that over 50% of his new support came from former Trump voters.
Maybe it’s just a local fluke, but a deep-red Texas district electing its first Democrat in 35 years could be seen as a “message of hope”.
Links:
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/29/us/politics/taylor-rehmet-leigh-wambsganss-texas-election.html
I don’t have a NYT subscription so that’s paywalled. For some reason it let me read it once – hopefully some of y’all have a subscription and can see it.
That’s fantastic.
Here ya go:
A Tight Statehouse Race in Texas Offers Republicans a Warning
A State Senate runoff on Saturday in the Fort Worth suburbs will preview whether a backlash against conservative social policies will give Democrats a chance to gain.
Reposted from SRIOTD, click to see the video.
Queue “fake election!!1!” from The Faithful in 4… 3… 2…
I wonder if that guy considered auctioning off that job (for charity of course), five people, one letter each. He might have raised a tidy sum.
Speaking of which, here is a live stream from MSNow of Trump’s name coming off of the Kennedy Center. There’s a scaffold set up but as of this post at 6:50pm EDT nothing is happening. Maybe tomorrow.
I apologize that I have no recollection where this came from, but I think Josh Marshall is an editor of the Economist.
"The underlying reality is probabilistic. We’re not on a road to tyranny or anywhere else, because there is no road: we’re on an open plain. Josh Marshall speaks of optimism as a moral choice. He doesn’t mean being pollyanna: he’s not really talking about prediction. He’s discussing attitude.
Josh Marshall:
Through almost 16 years of doing this, your emails have helped me think, see things I don’t see, learn. It’s been the center of my and then our editorial process. Many of these emails simply express shock, others anger and fear, to Trump, to the universe, to me. There is a lot of fear. I know. I feel it. At such a moment I come back to a thought I’ve told family members at times of stress or grief. Optimism isn’t principally an analysis of present reality. It’s an ethic. It is not based on denial or rosy thinking. It is a lot moral posture toward the world we find ourselves in. If everything seems great, there’s no need for optimism. The river of good news just carries you along."
Oh, thank you for that. What a treat if I can actually see it happen in the moment. If not, there is always the video that I hope gets played before every Trump interview.
Occasionally people are walking by in the shot but we can’t hear what they are saying. The chat is certainly busy, apparently full of vitriol (though it’s hard to tell if anything else is in there, it goes by so fast).
A large truck has just rolled up and the distant crowd noises are chanting, “Bring it down,” so maybe…
Edit: Looks like more scaffolding on it.
They appear to have just about finished the scaffolding. It really looks like they could start on the letters any minute.
eta: nope, they seem to be building another level of scaffolding, for no reason that I can see. Oh well.
They may be getting ready to start. They seem to have finished the scaffolding.
Three guys now just standing there, looking down at the crowd and chatting.
Makes me wonder if they have orders to wait until the midnight deadline (or after) for some reason.
That’s what I was thinking, too. As are a lot of people in the comments.
More scaffold assembly.
Why in the hell are they using scaffolding? They used bucket lifts to put it up. I think this is just a way to delay the removal.
And they put up tarps over the scaffolding so we couldn’t see the letters being removed.
