@aj_vela_@BreidenFehoko Nobody, he’s arguably had one of the worst offensive line in the country the past two seasons. And he leads the entire NCAA in wins against ranked teams. People are delusional.
One of the things the data analysts on our side obsessed over was "composition"—whether the electorate looked close enough to 2024 for Republicans to win. And despite polls that showed a Democrat blowout, the data kept on telling us the same story: in some states turnout was merely OK, in other states it was downright amazing, and in no state was it catastrophic. There was a genuine sense of optimism on our team: our people were showing up.
So, I asked the smartest data guy I know, does that mean we're going to shock the world? "No," he told me. "We might do better than the polls suggest. But the data is telling us that a lot of Trump/Vance 2024 voters are pissed and planning to vote for the other guys. Our voters are turning out, but they may not vote for us."
Well, that looks prophetic now. Our voters did show up. In Florida, for example, the electorate was 9 points more Republican than Democrat, just a couple points worse than 2024. Undoubtedly there were places we could have done better on turnout. But the main problem is not turnout. The main problem is that many people who voted for Trump/Vance in 2024 voted for Democrats in 2026.
There will be a lot of infighting and arguing over what happened and why that is. One of the pollsters I really respect told me that our economic messaging wasn’t sharp enough down the stretch. I’m sure that’s true.
But the real reason we lost is obvious to almost everyone.
Another pollster—one of the smartest people I know in politics, told me yesterday we’d lose the generic ballot by 13 points. I felt negative going into Tuesday, but even I was shocked by this. In his polling, he saw that a lot of Trump 2024 voters were angry and planning to vote for Democrats. He asked those voters who had abandoned us what would cause them to come back on our team. The top four answers, accounting for nearly all of the responses were:
1) End the war
2) Focus on cost of living/inflation
3) Put America First
4) Change our relationship to Israel
Our voters showed up. And the above four reasons are why many of them voted for Democrats. This is according to a pollster who nailed the results. While many spent Monday attacking Rachel Campos Duffy for calling for a diplomatic resolution to the conflict, it turns out her political advice was sound. (She’s also a great person.)
In the next few months, there's going to be a lot of gaslighting. Expect to hear any number of establishment politicians say the solution to our woes is amnesty. I'm open to the idea that we should change enforcement—by focusing more on businesses that hire illegal labor, for instance. But anyone pushing amnesty is lying to you.
The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night.
If you'd like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so. Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay. Agree or disagree, that's at least honest.
But everyone knows why we lost. And any honest conversation about where we go from here must start there.
I remain hopeful about our country. To the people who are pissed off and want to say, “I told you so”: you’re right, you did tell us so. Take that energy into electing Republicans who share your worldview. To the people who are just pissed at the results, you should be. Let’s take that anger and get back to the work of saving our country.
@chillcatguy69@PapaJewSports@CamSkatteboCrew Do you have a life outside of X? I find it wild you saw that news clip and circled back to our convo two weeks ago. It’s not that serious killer
@chillcatguy69@PapaJewSports@CamSkatteboCrew I think he will be set up much more for long term success if he stays another year. He needs more development, I say that as a fan.
But if you think some trigger happy owner doesn’t draft him in the first round, you’re wrong. I still think someone would take him R1
@EmanuelKnowz@trashmanifesto@iMemeDemocrats Getting PTSD from a crashed plane is highly unlikely. All she likely saw was an explosion out of the corner of her eye. The wreckage would have been damn near impossible to tell what it was.
And you don’t get PTSD from “loud bangs” TBI sure, but loud bangs not so much.
@smoochwoochy@jon_juko@NFLSTATISTIC@serenityposting I just gave you one 🤣
Brady has seven rings. Mahomes has three.
Brady also beat him at 47 years old.
Brady is better.
I can explain it to you, but I can’t comprehend it for you.
@wildwes34@PapaJewSports Lmao Vince was the number three pick. This is a fucking draft Weston, not a chrystal ball on who’s gonna be a bust or not. Nobody projected Vince Young to be a bust at the time. But good job on recognising that in hindsight. ⭐
@NadonMomaw@LyonsDen22@MrsBBell Probably the player that’s statistically better. It’s a team sport. If Aikman had Jerry Jones modern coaching he would have zero rings as well