Mark Halperin

He had been the most popular politician in America for eight years.

McCain never gave that speech again.

never gave the speech again uh and and obama people always wondered why not this question of a of what people should talk about in politics ideally for a party everybody in the party is talking about the same thing if it's a midterm year every house senate can't senate candidate gubernatorial candidate all on the same message whatever the best message is for the party

If it's a presidential year, you want the top of the ticket being echoed by other people.

Democrats have struggled to message in the Trump era.

Why is that?

Well, first of all, because President Trump creates these distractions, right?

He talks about things that make Democrats so angry.

A lot of it has to do with violations of norms, has to do with

stuff that election integrity.

Some voters care, but not all voters care.

And it gets them off talking about the economy.

And then the other thing, President Trump's good at talking about issues where his party's popular, where Democrats are on the wrong ends of things.

So he gets Democrats away from talking about things where Democrats are more popular.

And Trump is pretty good about talking about things that Democrats lose on.

He lures, his lord continues to lure Democrats into fights where Trump thinks he can win.

And Trump knows even when his position might not be as popular, he can fight them to a draw because he's such a great communicator.

The challenge for Democrats as they think about the 2026 midterms has been they want to talk about the economy because they know affordability is where Trump is weak and where voters care the most.

But they're daily outraged by Donald Trump.

They're outraged by what they say is the most corrupt administration of all time.