Vulnerable House Republicans panicking after election defeat

I have seen two different camps about what happened on Tuesday night.

The first group is dismissing the shoutout, saying these were blue states, and it is nothing to worry about. The second group, of which I belong, is hoping this serves as a wake-up call to the party.

After hearing Trump, he sounds like he is with me.

Trump’s two reasons

Trump broke his silence after the GOP got shut out by saying there were two main reasons that the GOP got pummeled.

He told reporters that Tuesday “was not expected to be a victory.” That, I believe, is nonsense. We could have won the NYC mayor’s election had we put a serious candidate in the primary race. And if anyone had paid attention to New Jersey, that race was there for the taking, but the RNC did nothing, and I mean NOTHING, until the last second when Trump greenlighted money, but by then it was too late.

Trump continued, "I think, if you read the pollsters, the shutdown was a big factor. Negative for the Republicans, and that was a big factor." He then added, “And they say that I wasn't on the ballot and was the biggest factor. But I don't know about that. But I was honored that they said that."

That is partially right because while Trump’s name was not on the ballot, his administration was front and center. Like it or not, this was people pushing back against some policies of this administration, or sheer disappointment in promises made that were not kept.

Mike Lawler

Now, I get that I sound a bit harsh right now, but that is because I am upset that nobody seems to be taking blame for this debacle. I warned about overpromising during the election, but they all did it. I warned about saying Trump could have ended the wars on his first day, if not before, but he kept pushing those narratives.

Sadly, the one big win that Trump clearly has, immigration, has been turned against him by the media and Democrats.

Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) touched on this, stating, “I think, when you look at the numbers, people, overwhelmingly, across the country, including in Latino communities, support securing the border. They support the deportation of criminal aliens. What they don’t support is an overarching roundup of those who are here undocumented.”

He, of course, is talking about all the videos blowing up on social media, and the cases where some legal residents and citizens were caught in these roundups.

Nicole Malliotakis

Any Republicans in a deep-blue state are at risk right now, especially with the maps all being redone to fight back against the Texas maps. To that point, Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) is also pressing the panic button.

She added, “The president did secure the border, and he is deporting the criminals. But the issue, I believe, with the Latino vote -- and somebody who’s half Hispanic and also a member of the Republican Hispanic Caucus, we’ve been sounding the alarm that we need to make sure that we’re focused on the criminals, not people who have been here a long time, have American citizens as children.”

I fully support the deport everyone philosophy, but they have to figure out a way to do it that will not wind up on the 6:00 news every night. Remember, we are not talking about convincing hardline conservatives and hard-core MAGA supporters. We are already all-in.

This is about moderate voters, and if you don’t think Tuesday was a warning of things to come, well, let’s head to Florida so I can sell you some swampland that I think is ideal for building a hotel on. This is a wake-up call, and people had better be listening.