Hey everyone,
Welcome to State of the Day,
As Election Day inches closer, the Republican Party’s post-midterm future is coming into focus.
How Much Trump Is Too Much Trump?
Say you’re running as a Republican in 2026. Do you align yourself with the president in hopes of earning support from the base that helped him win the White House last time around, or do you distance yourself from the administration, hoping to appeal to independents and disaffected Republicans?
Well, there’s no perfect answer. In fact, from a purely electoral perspective, it’s probably best to do a bit of both — walk the line, if you will.
A Friday Politico poll found that a quarter of Trump voters want Republicans to break with President Donald Trump to win. Half want candidates to remain close to the commander-in-chief. And the last quarter can’t make up their minds.
Quite the Trumpian pickle.
The trouble is that this isn’t just a question of how much Trump a candidate can afford to embrace this cycle. It’s a question of what comes after Trump, and what American conservatism will look like when the president is no longer the standalone, defining figure on the right.
For nearly a decade, Republicans have been able to define themselves largely by their relationship with Trump. But loyalty to one man is not a governing philosophy, and sooner or later, the party will have to reckon with that distinction.
Nov. 3 is barreling toward us, and candidates can only spend so much time calculating their proximity to the president.
Eventually, they’ll have to decide what they stand for and what the future of their party will look like.
Will the next generation of elected conservatives support or oppose sprawling data centers?
Will they back federal AI regulations or leave the industry to regulate itself?
Where will they draw the line between mass surveillance and individual liberties?
Will they favor an interventionist or isolationist approach to foreign policy?
When the interests of corporations clash with the interests of the average American, whose side will they take?
These aren’t exactly small questions, and their answers will shape the future of American conservatism, determining not just what the Republican Party campaigns on, but what it actually accomplishes.
Trump has taken positions on some of these issues. Others remain unsettled. His eventual departure from the political stage won’t resolve these debates. If anything, it’ll bring them into sharper focus.
Of course, getting there means navigating the present political environment where Trump still makes politicians and breaks them.
And none of these questions about the party’s future will matter much to candidates if they can’t win their elections anyway.
That means maintaining a careful balance between a president who commands fierce loyalty among a vital part of the GOP base and disaffected voters signaling they are ready for something different.
Breaking with Trump could alienate the one group; sticking too close to him could scorn the rest.
So the question facing Republicans is twofold: How much distance can they afford to put between themselves and Trump today, and what kind of party do they want to build for tomorrow?
The next generation of Republican politics is already taking shape.
Whether candidates recognize that — or are too busy figuring out how to survive the Trump era to think about what comes next — is another question entirely.
From The Editors’ Desk
EXCLUSIVE: Viral Meme Mocking MAGA Hardliners Was Made By America First Conservative — Jack McGeever, Daily Caller News Foundation
The man behind the viral “MAGAtard” meme mocking MAGA influencers who blindly defend everything Trump does is an America First conservative. In an exclusive interview with the Daily Caller News Foundation, the creator of Forbidden HQ explained why he thinks the movement needs to be willing to criticize its own side, especially on issues like foreign wars, government surveillance and the Epstein files. The irony? Some of the very people he’s mocking have embraced the character as their mascot.
Beware the Modern Wimp-Man — Matt Taibbi, Racket News
Matt Taibbi takes aim at the rise of the modern “wimp-man,” a breed of men who trade dignity for public displays of victimhood. Using Hollywood’s John Leguizamo and the Cornell 7 case as examples, Taibbi argues that traditional masculine virtues have been systematically devalued, leaving the next generation of boys to navigate a culture that treats them like a liability.
Obama Foundation and Presidential Center workers to unionize: ‘We don’t even have a seat at the table’ — Ambar Colin, Chicago Sun-Times
Workers at former president Barack Obama’s presidential library are unionizing amid allegedly poor working conditions. Just four months after the center opened, employees say they’re facing rising healthcare costs, reduced paid time off, and heavy workloads. More than 250 employees could be recognized by the union, which quotes Obama’s own pro-union rhetoric back at him.
EXCLUSIVE: Trump DHS Redacts Deportation Data After Oversight Project Lawsuit — Ashley Brasfield, Daily Caller
The Trump administration is bragging about millions of illegal aliens leaving the country but they apparently don’t want to back up those claims with official data. Documents obtained exclusively by the Daily Caller show DHS completely blacked out deportation data requested by the conservative Oversight Project. The group’s president, Mike Howell, believes the real numbers are much lower than what the administration is claiming publicly.
Splitsville: Why London Is The Divorce Capital Of The World — Katie Glass, The Standard
London is the go-to destination for ultra-rich couples looking to get divorced, reports Katie Glass. English courts are particularly attractive to the financially weaker spouse, as judges often start from the presumption that marital assets should be split equally, regardless of whose name is on the bank account. One wealthy divorcee described running up the tab on luxury purchases amid the divorce to justify a higher settlement.
“I went and spent thousands on a bracelet that I hate just to show I could spend £7,000 a day,” she said.
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Ok so the people that voted for Trump are mad about the war and “affordability”. These people were either sort of democrats or libertarians anyway.
But can someone tell me how the democrats are going to make things more affordable when they have never accomplished this in my lifetime? Isn’t that what the “state of the day” should be spending its time before an election focusing on???
Have we ever seen the cost of living go down in fully run democratic cities? The answer is NO. Take out government funding (our tax dollars) and the answer is hell no!!! Chicago has been full democrats for 50+ years and should be the best place on earth but somehow they still blame trump and republicans for their problems that THEY created.
1. They complain about the war. So what’s their plan? Pull out completely? They think Iran will unblock the straight? lol. They keep the blockade AND charge tolls which will at the minimum keep prices where they are if not make things worse.
2. Gas prices. Even at today’s prices gas, the average, is still way cheaper than under Obama or Biden.
3. Grocery prices. Again Trump has the lowest grocery inflation (even with the war and tariffs) than Obama and Biden.
This is all easy to look up.
4. How do you regulate AI??? Dems want to regulate it so they can control the info coming out. AI is too easy to show that they are full of shit. AI is a problem, government involvement is not the answer and it’s probably too late either way. I am sure AI is another democrat problem…if Biden or Harris was president all these losers would be slobbering all over themselves more so than usual.
Democrats have no answer to affordability and they certainly don’t know how to fix anything without taking more of YOUR money to give to foreign criminal illegals.
They don’t even want fossil fuels. What happened to their stupid electric car push?
The realities about diesel fuel:
It may take years to replenish the supply chain of diesel fuel demanded by the World.
With the recent wartime loss over the past year due to Ukrainian drone strikes that have knocked out roughly 40 percent of Russia’s refining capacity, and some of the Gulf refining capabilities, and the loss of 2 California refineries, and the probable closure of more California refineries, diesel fuel shortages may persist for years until damaged refineries are repaired or new refineries built.
Over the past year, Ukrainian drone strikes have knocked out roughly 40 percent of Russia’s refining capacity. What used to be the world’s largest diesel exporter has been forced, in stretches, to become a net importer of diesel fuel. Most of the refined product Russia has been bringing in has come from India. Indian refineries buy crude - much of it from Russia - run it through their units, and ship diesel and other distillates back to Russia to cover the shortfall created by the damaged plants.
• Russian crude leaves Russia because Russian refineries cannot process it.
• It arrives in India, is processed into diesel, and is shipped back to Russia.
• Some of that diesel is then loaded onto another ship and sent from Russia across the ocean toward the United States.
Unfortunately, the high impact of California’s relentless over regulations on it’s in-State refineries will continue a reduction in the production of diesel fuel and other fuels and will perpetuate the unaffordability of all transportation fuels for years to come.
Every option for refineries to manufacture transportation fuels from raw crude oil must demonstrate reliability, affordability, feasibility, and acceptable environmental impact.