Aaron Zitner, reporting for the Rupert Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal:
Rarely in American politics has a president traded away so much political support so quickly.
The losses that Republicans suffered on Tuesday marked one of the most decisive repudiations of a president in modern history. President Trump had re-entered the White House with advantages he lacked in his first term: a victory in the popular vote, a cadre of aides eager to expand his authority and cultural currency that had NFL players doing the “Trump dance” in the end zone.
Only two years later, his political standing has collapsed, all because of a dramatic miscalculation of his power to shape events. A war of choice with Iran and tariffs imposed on U.S. trading partners betrayed his promise to avoid foreign entanglements and tame inflation. His extraordinary interventions in his party’s primaries left Republicans with a set of unusually weak candidates.
I woke up this morning with a feeling I haven’t experienced in nearly a decade: hope for America.
After so many years of disappointment, frustration, and uncertainty, it feels almost unfamiliar to look toward the future with optimism. I don’t know exactly what lies ahead, and I know there are still plenty of challenges before us. But for the first time in a very long time, I feel that things can change, that better days may be possible, and that there is reason to believe in America’s future again.
And honestly, that feeling alone is something worth celebrating.
Americans can always be trusted to do the right thing, once all other possibilities have been exhausted.
– Winston Churchill
America is back!