Trump Has Been Thumped. That Doesn’t Make Him Any Less Dangerous.

There are two basic stories to tell about the 2026 midterm elections.

The first, obviously, is the political collapse of President Trump and the Republican Party in the wake of authoritarian repression, economic mismanagement and a failed war of choice. That story explains the results of Tuesday’s elections, in which Democrats swept to victory across the country in a total repudiation of the president’s vision for American life. In addition to Congress, Republicans lost state legislatures and governor’s mansions, losing power up and down the ballot in the most stark rejection of a political party since 2010.

Those results are so striking that the second story might go by the wayside — dismissed as........

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