My Thoughts on the 2026 Midterms

Three friends messaged me asking how I feel about the midterms. Once again, with all the options available to them, I feel honored that anyone cares what I have to say. If nothing else, it is a testament to my even-handed, centrist outlook, my willingness to consider opposing opinions, and my ability to put myself in the shoes of others, many of whom are considerably less fortunate than I am.

Well, perhaps today I’m going to disappoint everyone looking for a carefully calibrated, middle-of-the-road response.

Let’s start with Donald Trump. Full disclosure: I wrote opinion pieces on major news platforms supporting him from 2016 to a final piece before the 2024 election.

To my conservative friends: Trump betrayed you.

He betrayed anyone who voted for him and believed in his America First agenda. And don’t take my word for it. Go back, examine what he promised, and compare it with what he actually delivered. With the notable exception of immigration, a considerable gap exists between the campaign rhetoric and the governing record.

I know the counterargument. Some of you will insist that once he assumed office, he gained access to information unavailable during the campaign, forcing him to reassess his positions. Fair enough. That’s a legitimate argument, and I’m willing to consider it.

But there’s a rather important distinction between changing course because circumstances demand it and governing through personal grievances, vindictiveness, and an apparent obsession with attacking actors, singers, journalists, and anyone else who happens to offend you.

And when you decide that the country needs to go to war, you owe the American people an explanation. A candid, sober conversation about the reasons, objectives, potential consequences, and sacrifices involved. Something reminiscent of FDR’s famous fireside chats.

Instead, we got more of the same—no meaningful effort to bring the American people into the conversation. Apparently, attacking one’s critics takes precedence over explaining one’s decisions.

America First? Apparently, the fine print was considerably different from the advertising.

To my progressive friends: Perhaps you should reconsider the fascism narrative.

For years, we’ve heard that living under Trump was tantamount to living under fascism. Well, the midterm results offer a rather inconvenient illustration of how far that description is from reality.

A party can suffer a devastating electoral defeat, its political fortunes can collapse, and its opposition can take control through the ballot box. That’s not evidence of fascism. That’s evidence that democratic institutions and electoral accountability are still functioning.

You might also have reconsidered that characterization when some people openly expressed the hope that an American president would be assassinated, and others expressed disappointment when an assassination attempt failed, without finding themselves imprisoned for life for expressing those abhorrent sentiments. Try doing that in some of the actual authoritarian regimes around the world.

Now, by all means, enjoy the Republican defeat. Trump and his administration have earned considerable criticism, and accountability is long overdue.

But let’s not get carried away.

I can already hear the chorus of celebration. The nightmare is over! Democracy has been saved! Now we can all join hands, as people from every corner of the world join hands, while John Lennon’s Imagine blares from strategically positioned loudspeakers around the planet.

I’d suggest keeping the champagne on ice.

Look around the world. Political instability, economic discontent, nationalism, religious conflict, and social fragmentation aren’t exactly disappearing. An American election doesn’t magically resolve any of these problems. Nor does a Democratic victory guarantee that those who replace the Republicans will govern any more responsibly.

And then there’s the electorate.

Perhaps this is what troubles me most.

The astounding lack of intelligent thought, the absence of empathy, and, most troubling of all, the extraordinary degree of false certainty displayed by people on both sides have become increasingly disheartening.

Everyone seems to know precisely what’s wrong with America, precisely who is responsible, and precisely how to fix it. Yet very few seem interested in examining their own assumptions, acknowledging inconvenient facts, or considering that someone with an opposing political opinion might actually have a legitimate point.

One side celebrates as though it has just defeated evil itself. The other behaves as though the country has been permanently destroyed. And somewhere in between, ordinary Americans are still trying to pay their bills, raise their families, afford housing, put food on the table, and figure out why their elected representatives seem so disconnected from their everyday lives.

I understand the frustration expressed by my friend who suggested that Americans outside the wealthiest one percent have grown tired of getting screwed. That observation has considerable merit. When politicians insist people have never been better off while those people struggle with the cost of living, perhaps the problem isn’t voters’ inability to understand economics. Perhaps it’s the politicians’ inability to understand the voters.

And this brings me to something that might be a little uncomfortable.

At times like these, I find myself revisiting Plato’s skepticism about democracy. He worried that political decisions entrusted to an uninformed electorate could become vulnerable to demagoguery, emotional appeals, and the manipulation of public opinion. He questioned whether the ability to persuade a crowd was being mistaken for the wisdom to govern.

I don’t necessarily agree with every conclusion Plato reached, but I increasingly understand the concern.

The problem isn’t that ordinary people should be denied a voice. It’s that a functioning democracy requires an informed electorate, intellectual humility, and a willingness to distinguish between what we want to believe and what is actually true.

And frankly, I’m beginning to wonder whether the general will of the American people, as distinct from the competing passions, grievances, and manufactured outrage of various political constituencies, is even possible to discern anymore.

So, to my friends who asked for my two cents, here it is.

Trump deserved the repudiation. Republicans deserved to be held accountable. Democrats deserve no blank check simply because they won. And voters, regardless of political affiliation, might want to spend a little less time congratulating themselves and a little more time thinking critically.

An election is not a moral coronation. A political victory doesn’t confer wisdom, and a political defeat doesn’t necessarily confer virtue.

The real test begins after the celebrations end.

And if we haven’t learned anything by then, we’ll be back here, blaming the other side for the mess we’ve collectively made.

And if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to use one of Facebook’s more underappreciated features: the 30-day snooze button. I have a feeling quite a few people are about to enjoy an extended vacation from my newsfeed. Frankly, between the smugness, the sanctimony, the self-righteous indignation, and the breathtaking display of intellectual dishonesty, I’m beginning to feel physically ill. Consider it my small contribution to preserving my own sanity and whatever remains of my faith in humanity.