Trumps's Shaking It Up - Roll With It.

The Cars, REO Speedwagon, Steve Winwood, Eddie Money, Peter Gabriel

“Shake it up!”

That’s all I heard during my first campaign for the Virginia House of Delegates in 2001.

It’s hard to realize that was an entire generation ago, but it was.

To a person, everyone I met on the campaign trail pretty much said:

We don’t trust them! Get in there and shake it up!

First campaigns teach you so much.

It’s all so…new.

Comparing that time to now is instructive in order to understand what’s going on in American politics today. From there, one can deal with the changes.

Then? America was on the Right Track and folks STILL wanted it shaken up.

Instinctively.

Things going well? Don’t care. We know they are lying to us.

Most of that campaign was right before 9/11 - a solid majority of Americans thought things were going well.

Not good enough. Shake it up!

After 9/11?

WORK TOGETHER.

Shake it up AND work together?

YUP! GET ON IT!

Welcome to American politics.

If registered voters in the bucolic Shenandoah Valley of Virginia during times of satisfaction STILL want you to “shake it up!” - can you imagine today?

Rebel.

Bottom Line: Always be the Rebel Alliance. Never be the Empire. Ever.

C’mon…who did you root for?

Having spent yesterday on Capitol Hill in DC speaking with legislators and staff from both parties and both chambers across multiple states, my reflection is BUCKLE UP.

Republicans are solidly behind President Trump.

They will be until at least the 4th quarter of this year and something terrible for them would have to happen in order for self preservation to kick in such any of them dump Trump.

He IS the Republican Party and the base LOVES what is going on. They love it so much they look past the things they normally would have opposed.

Issues that were conservative orthodoxy like free trade are now negotiating piñata bats with lots of candy just waiting to be loosed.

For now.

The one common thread that could fracture the solid GOP coalition is a relatively deep or long recession or a locally terrible economic event - plant closing etc.

With Trump administering primary challenge presumptions for any heresy, the House Republicans are in it to win it. Clearly.

The Trump agenda either will be supported by the electorate or it will not be.

It’s that simple. Like the scene in An Officer and A Gentleman - we got nowhere else to go.

For now, the Democrats are offering very little in the way of an alternative view. Their role is to offer amendments and vote No a lot.

Change is always in the air here in the States United (ish) and if one were placing bets, one should bet Team Blue in 2026.

Bruce Mehlman’s chart demonstrates this fact:

Over the last generation only the re-elections of Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama saw zero changes in control of the House, Senate, and/or White House.

That fact led to my prediction that ALL three would change or flip in 2024. I predicted that Trump would win the White House, the Republicans would flip the Senate, and the Democrats would take the House back.

I was only off by approximately 7,500 votes in the House.

As Meatloaf sang, “Two out of three, ain’t bad…”

Until then - roll with it. Learn from it. Whether you are on Team Red or Team Blue, this is the new reality.

I’m not saying resistance is futile or that one’s voice is not important; however, one should math up the point of diminishing returns. Right now, Republicans are feeling great and Democrats are despondent.

America’s weak, corrupt two party system will eventually adapt.

Key tells?

Senator John Fetterman (saw him in his hoodie and shorts) is publicly supporting Trump on some things and Governor Gavin Newsom (D-Cowardsville) bailing on transgender kids in sports. They have seen the math and they have mathed it.

It’s a fascinating and instructive time in world history. Regardless of your “side” or “color” in American politics, things will change.

Somedays you will win, others you will lose. As athletic coaches often reflect after a loss - “but what did you learn?”

These days, I’m learning to Roll With It.

Yes, I care - deeply - about the future of our Republic, western civilization, and our (my) children.

Today, however, I am laser focused on our first grandchild due on the 20th this month, the free agency moves of the Pittsburgh Steelers, the playoff chances of the Pittsburgh Pirates, and the upcoming PSA test for my prostate cancer.

In that order.

Politics is important, but so is life, love, and living.

Let’s try to find the balance and live peaceably among each other.

I think the Founding Fathers - the real winners of 2024 - would have wanted that.