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Notes -
But no. They were getting completely slaughtered for the unrelated reason of being the party in power during a midterm election. As typically happens.
There's some deeper point about American voters being terminal contrarian worth exploring. The party currently in power must be punished. But iterated in a comical manner.
Every midterm election has been bad for the President's party since 2006. (Both 1998 and 2002 saw the President's party gain seats, 1994 was the Gingrich wave election, and before that there were enough Dixiecrats that the system worked differently).
But there are bigger and smaller midterm defeats. The 2026 Senate map was supposed to be unwinnable for Democrats, and now it isn't.
Historically, the biggest midterm shellackings have happened when the incumbent Congressional leadership beclowns themselves, like the House Banking scandal (1994) or the numerous scandals of the Hastert-Delay paedoCongress (2006). This may be the first time a President destroys his Congressional colleagues without their help.
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