{"id":132160,"date":"2023-04-07T15:19:08","date_gmt":"2023-04-07T15:19:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/?p=132160"},"modified":"2023-04-07T15:19:08","modified_gmt":"2023-04-07T15:19:08","slug":"the-gops-epic-losing-streak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/politics\/the-gops-epic-losing-streak\/","title":{"rendered":"The GOP's epic losing streak"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Illustration: Brendan Lynch\/Axios<\/p>\n

If Republicans step back and look beyond the legal and social-media spectacle of Donald J. Trump, they'll see screaming political sirens everywhere they gaze.<\/p>\n

Why it matters: <\/strong>The GOP's political trouble has been unfolding slowly but unmistakably, starting even before Trump's loss to Joe Biden in 2020.<\/p>\n

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  1. First<\/strong>, the 2018 House elections were a disaster for Republicans: Democrats had a net gain of 40 seats to take over the House \u2014 their largest gain since the post-Watergate election of 1974.<\/li>\n
  2. Then<\/strong> Trump lost the presidency.<\/li>\n
  3. Next, <\/strong>Republicans blew two runoff elections in Georgia and lost control of the U.S. Senate. The runoffs took place a day before Trump backers stormed the Capitol.<\/li>\n
  4. Then, <\/strong>Republicans won the legal fight over abortion as Trump-appointed justices helped to ensure the reversal of Roe <\/em>v. Wade. But the GOP lost a series of political battles over it afterward \u2014 a reflection of polls indicating that most Americans support abortion rights. GOP-led state legislatures have shown no signs of slowing their push to enact stricter abortion bans, suggesting continuing political backlash.<\/li>\n
  5. Republicans put high-profile<\/strong> election deniers on the 2022 midterm ballot in key state and federal races \u2014 only to see several lose winnable elections.<\/li>\n
  6. Republicans blew<\/strong> a chance to control the Senate by nominating too many hard-to-elect-in-a-swing-state Trump facsimiles. Their hopes of a big House majority were erased for the same reason, creating constant headaches for new Speaker Kevin McCarthy.<\/li>\n
  7. Just this week,<\/strong> progressive Democrats triumphed in two of this year's most consequential elections. Brandon Johnson, a teachers' union organizer, was elected Chicago mayor. In swing state Wisconsin, Democrat-backed Janet Protasiewicz flipped the state Supreme Court to liberals in a landslide, after leaning into her support for abortion rights.<\/li>\n
  8. Senate Republicans <\/strong>have been gifted a historically favorable 2024 map \u2014 but hard-right candidates who appeal to the GOP base again threaten to inject uncertainty into at least five winnable races.<\/li>\n
  9. Trump is driving <\/strong>an agenda dominated by vengeance and victimhood, diverting Republicans from the inflation- and crime-centered messages that helped them in the midterms.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Reality check: <\/strong>Trump, if anything, is stronger <\/em>and more likely to win the GOP nomination than he was after the November midterms.<\/p>\n