President-elect Donald Trump with Elon Musk, left, Donald Trump Jr,, Speaker Mike Johnson, and Robert Kennedy Jr.
Democrats felt they hit rock bottom after the election — but are now looking on with satisfaction as Republicans tear themselves apart before even achieving unified control of government, Politicoreported.
Barely emerging from licking their wounds, the party "watched with barely contained glee as President-elect Donald Trump and his billionaire adviser Musk nearly caused a government shutdown last week," reported Holly Otterbein, Brakkton Booker and Ally Mutnick. "Ditto when Trump and his allies vowed to field primary challenges against Republicans who didn’t take their side on the funding battle. And then they couldn’t believe their luck when Trump fumed about House Speaker Mike Johnson, opening up the possibility of a messy leadership fight next year that could stall his agenda."
All of this led to Democrats adopting a new line of messagingdesigned to needle Trump about playing second fiddle to Musk — and it was all compounded by the release of the ethics report against former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), confirming the man Trump previously sought to be his attorney general was credibly accused of sexual contact with minors and illicit drug use (which he still denies).
“President Musk and House Republicans are the living embodiment of a dumpster fire,” said the Democratic-aligned House Majority PAC's spokesman C.J. Warnke. “From threatening to withhold military pay over Christmas to voting to defund childhood cancer research, the agenda put forward by House Republicans will assure Democratic victory in 2026.”
While all of this gives Democrats hope for 2026, the report noted, it's only the beginning, as Democrats will need a compelling message of their own for voters beyond the disarray of the GOP.
"When Democrats won control of the House in 2018, they campaigned on the GOP’s attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act and cast its tax overhaul as a giveaway to the wealthy," said the report. "It was a simple yet specific message that painted Republicans as a party that did not care about the working or middle classes. That and backlash to Trump’s 2016 election won them a resounding House majority in the midterms."
