Top O’ the Briefing
Happy Friday, dear Kruiser Morning Briefing friends. Mezcal and Macramé has been moved to 4:30 PM to accommodate an extended session of Goatherd Pilates.
We’re probably looking at a bit of a hodgepodge today. Then again, every time I think that’s how we’re going to head into the weekend, I end up being more focused than usual. Who knows what delights we’ll find today?
As I was reading my buddy Kurt Schlichter’s latest column over at Townhall, I began to wonder if I’ve become a little too detached:
Welcome to the doldrums, the period of problems, the phase of foul-ups, the time of the sucking. And it does suck. Everything seems to be going wrong for Republicans right now. We were flying high a few weeks ago, when Donald Trump negotiated the end of the Gaza War, and then it was all downhill. Lost elections, economic uncertainty, Epstein file stupidity, fear that the conservative movement will tear itself apart over people who aren’t even conservative, and Marjorie Taylor Greene’s face all over our social media feeds. Yeah, it’s bad. You’re at the top one day, then the next day you’re at the bottom.
I’ve been in more of a “It’s been a weird few weeks” mode than thinking it’s been awful. I do agree with Kurt that the Epstein files stuff is stupid, and I’ll be writing more about that soon. Teaser: I think Epsteinmania is taking a lot of peoples’ heads out of the game.
President Trump has packed about five years’ worth of work into the first 10 months of his second term, and there is a lot to process. Kurt’s column covers a lot of the hits, which are worth focusing on when things seem a little bit off. I find it helpful to also remind ourselves that the Democrats are still redefining “hot mess” almost every day.
Kurt’s also right that we have work to do. I think a lot of that work involves simply letting the Dems be themselves. There’s a popular meme now that started as “Let the boy cook.” It means to let someone continue doing what they’re doing without interfering with them. The meme assumes a positive outcome, but I’ve repurposed it for the 2025 Democrats.
The other day we were discussing the civil war that is brewing over on the Democrats’ side of the aisle. That’s only going to get worse. In fact, it’s already escalating. This is from something that my friend Ed Morrissey wrote yesterday:
Until the fallout began from the House Oversight releases of Jeffrey Epstein’s files, the midterms had begun to look a little sunnier for Democrats of late. The Schumer Shutdown appears to have helped boost their lead in generic-ballot polling to its best level this year, D+4.8 in the RCP aggregate average. Voter sentiment on the economy has turned against Donald Trump and the GOP as well, prompting Republicans to focus on economic messaging after the passage of the continuing resolution. And Democrats did manage a win on redistricting in Texas, although that will likely be only temporary.
Hakeem Jeffries may want to wait before measuring the drapes in the speaker’s office, however. The collapse on the shutdown, paired with the big win for Zohran Mamdani in New York City, has catalyzed the radical Left into targeting ‘moderate’ House Democrats just as the buzz began working on their behalf, Axios reports:
See? Just let them have at each other.
Republicans still need to be proactive, of course. The most important thing now though is to make sure that the GOP keeps its nose clean and doesn’t give the Dems an undeserved lifeline. I’ve written many times that the Trump 47 version of the Republican Party is a well-oiled machine, so I don’t have a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach that the machine is going to glitch. That’s refreshing after decades of always having to worry about that.
If the Democrats are left to their own devices, the GOP has a very real chance to overperform in next year’s midterms. That’s still the short-term prize. Yes, there are a lot of things in play, but that just means that there’s more stuff for the Dems to screw up now that they are no longer a well-oiled machine.
So, yes, let ’em cook.
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