Trump lost the midterms because he did exactly what he was elected to do

Democrats won a massive victory on Tuesday, sweeping to power in both houses of Congress. Critics of President Donald Trump are blaming Republican losses on his failures — and that’s fair. 

But what really drove the “blue wave” was Trump’s success.

That’s because Trump followed through on almost every promise he made to voters in 2024.

He secured the border. 

You can argue that his Immigration and Border Enforcement (ICE) raids were overzealous. But enforcing laws is never a pleasant sight. He did it anyway.

He confronted Iran. 

That meant higher gas prices. It also cost billions of dollars. But stopping a nuclear Iran was a promise Trump made the day he came down the escalator.

He championed AI. 

He did that even though voters are afraid of what AI means for their jobs, and blame data centers for rising utility costs. Trump said we had to beat China, regardless.

In every case, Trump did what was in the national interest, even though it had massive political costs. 

And that’s why Americans elected Trump in the first place — not just to achieve 3.4% economic growth and 4.2% unemployment. 

Voters wanted someone to confront our country’s urgent problems, without holding a finger to the wind to see what polls wanted.

We elected Trump to break things. And he did.

Some of his policies were bad. 

The tariffs, for example, raised prices on imported goods at a time when voters wanted Trump to reverse Biden-era inflation.

Worse, the tariffs were clumsy, rushed through under emergency powers. One tariff even targeted islands whose sole inhabitants were penguins.

The Supreme Court intervened, and the Treasury had to pay the tariffs back.

Yet Trump has always believed in tariffs, and was elected on a promise to use them. He was prepared to take the political hit.

That’s the president Americans elected in 2024, because only a president like that could do the hardest things and tackle the biggest challenges.

Ronald Reagan was that kind of leader.

Reagan launched economic reforms, for example, that were unpopular in the short term, but paid off in the long term.

In October 1986, Reagan reached across the aisle and worked with Democrats to pass tax reforms that laid the foundation for the economic boom of the future.

Here are the latest Opinion stories on the 2026 election:

A few weeks later, his party lost both houses of Congress. He lost eight seats in the Senate alone.

Does that sound familiar? 

Great presidents are remembered by their courage, and their willingness to take political risks to do what is right for the country.

That does not mean every president who loses Congress in his sixth year of office is a great leader. 

Barack Obama’s last two years were largely wasted, as he tried to abuse his powers to impose immigration reform on the country.

Bill Clinton’s last two years were marred by his impeachment trial, anti-globalization protests, the collapse of the Middle East peace process and the dot-com bust.

But Reagan’s last two years saw rapid economic growth and the beginning of the end of the Soviet Union’s communist empire.

Even George W. Bush did important things after losing Congress, at least before the financial crisis. 

Though Democrats swept into Congress in 2006 on an anti-war platform, Bush’s “surge” in Iraq stabilized that country until Obama’s hasty withdrawal left a vacuum for ISIS.

Similarly, Trump can finish the job in Iran. It will be unpopular. It is also achievable, and necessary.

Trump was elected to do difficult things. And while Republicans are paying the political price, Trump is correct to believe that history will remember his choices as the right ones.

Joel Pollak is the Opinion editor of The California Post.

Download The California Post App, follow us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters