Both Republicans and Democrats are dealing with internal conflicts that cast a huge cloud of uncertainty over where this country is headed, both politically and economically, short term and long.
While President Trump’s first year of his second term has achieved success after success, that could all come undone with the flipping of just a handful of seats in the House in 2026.
That would mean the Democrats would then control every House committee, decide what and who would be investigated, what subpoenas would be served, and what fake charge they could create this time to impeach President Trump. The prospect of them taking back the House emboldened them to gut it out on the government shutdown, knowing that a large majority of the media would never say a kind word about Trump, and rarely a harsh word about the Democrats. To them, a kind word is calling Trump authoritarian instead of Nazi or fascist.
But finally, after six weeks of forcing a government shutdown, including massive problems at air traffic control centers across the country, a halt in SNAP benefits, and a freeze on paychecks to most federal employees, the Democrats in the Senate caved, with eight members of their caucus, none of whom are up for reelection next year, voting to end the shutdown.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer tried to pretend that the flip-flop by enough Democrats to get to 60 votes (three had been voting to reopen the government since the votes started) was organic, not planned, because of the hammering he took from his own party last March when the Democrats voted from the start for a nearly identical continuing resolution to keep the government open.
To avoid a repeat, Schumer voted not to reopen the government without adding a Democrat wish list of massive Obamacare subsidies paid largely to the big insurance companies, a restoring of funds to PBS and NPR, and continuing to allow people in the country illegally to receive free healthcare at the expense of the American taxpayer.
Schumer was blasted last March for not fighting for the party’s agenda, even if it meant a government shutdown. New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez called Schumer’s actions at that time, a “huge slap in the face.” The Democrats’ dilemma is how to take their badly divided party, between the left and the extreme left, and win back the House in 2026.
The shutdown that started on Oct. 1, the first day of the new fiscal year, overlapped with the November 4 election, in which Democrats had a great night. Yes, it was mostly in blue and purple states, but they won and mostly by substantial margins, in New York City, New Jersey, Virginia, California and Georgia.
Republicans were doing postmortems, pointing to weak candidates, indecision on how closely to embrace President Trump, and weak messaging.
But within days of that election, the Democrats ended the federal government shutdown, bringing howls of anger and frustration from within the party, with calls for new leadership. Schumer had to go. The narrative had shifted, as it was now the Democrats’ time to explain how and why they created this situation affecting air traffic controllers, SNAP recipients, other federal employees who missed a paycheck or two, which of course turned out to have been, in essence, paid vacation, which they knew all along would be the outcome.
But then it became time to shift the narrative. Just say the name, Jeffrey Epstein. It works every time. Clarice Feldman, writing in American Thinker, beautifully laid out the strategy, and the truth behind it. Basically, none of Epstein’s victims have accused Trump of any wrongdoing, and in particular, Virginia Giuffre, whose name was redacted in one of the three texts the Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released, had said repeatedly that she had never seen Trump do anything untoward.
If there was anything in the Epstein files that was incriminating, or even embarrassing to Trump, it’s obvious that the corrupt Biden Justice Department would have made it public, amid all the phony prosecutions that were orchestrated out of the White House, Justice Department, and intelligence agencies. It was the Trump administration that put Epstein behind bars, where, we are told, he committed suicide.
Now that Trump has called for releasing all the files, that is further proof that he has something to hide, according to the Democrats and their media allies. To protect the victims and people who have associated with Epstein, but did nothing wrong or illegal, a complete, unredacted report and files will never be released.
Bottom line: in a nation split pretty evenly between party affiliation, Republicans are feeling mostly very good. Trump has come along, closed the border, destroyed the climate change hoax/green new deal narrative, for now, and made us energy dominant again. He has proven that tariffs in the hands of a master negotiator can accomplish all sorts of things, like stopping several decades-long wars and getting NATO to step up their individual commitments to 5%.
He has effectively called out the media and the leftist dominated universities, all of which depend on federal money. He also neutered Iran for the time being, again, by working with Israel, giving them the power and backing to do what they need to do to survive and prosper in the toughest neighborhood in the world.
The issue of Israel, and its relationship with the U.S. and its neighbors, has become a problematic issue for both parties. Trump remains strongly supportive, while a significant part of his MAGA base has decided that the relationship has become toxic. They are wrong, but I’ll save that for another column.
Many issues hang over the country and administration with just under a year to go to the midterm elections. Will Chief Justice John Roberts put a halt to district judges attempting to set policy rather than settle disputes by overruling executive branch authority on their own? Will the two James, Comey and Letitia, have their indictments reinstated and face justice in the new year?
Will the White House and Congress come up with revisions to health care policy that can actually pass in Congress, and if not, what happens then? What about passing a budget once the current continuing resolution ends in January? Will there be repercussions for the six members of Congress who were previously in the military or intelligence, who urged members of the military to “refuse illegal orders” and that “we have your back.”
Will President Trump actually have, if not a bromance, then at least a constructive working arrangement with the radical, Islamist mayor-elect of New York, Zohran Mamdani, based on the platitudes of affordability and wanting what’s best for New York? Or is Trump playing 4-dimensional chess with the man he often called a communist? And when will the first hats be thrown into the ring for the 2028 presidential race?
On the international front, the biggest question marks ahead include getting to Stage 2 of the Gaza Peace Plan. Stage 2 involves the disarming and removal from power of Hamas, and if that doesn’t happen, what then? The Russia-Ukraine war, nearly four years old, could be close to a ceasefire. Reports have Russia having agreed to Trump’s 28-point peace plan, but not Ukraine or the EU. And now, a modified 19-point plan, yet to be revealed, is said to be acceptable to Ukraine, but not Russia, on the core issues, with details to follow.
Regarding Venezuela, regime change, led by the U.S.? If so, by war or negotiated agreement and a life in exile for Maduro? Then there is China. Is Trump being naïve in talking about his friendship with Xi Jinping, and keeping the issues as primarily economic? Or does China remain a global, malevolent, totalitarian threat to much of the world?
There are a lot of shoes to drop between now and next November, a lot of narratives to push. Stay tuned.
The views expressed in CCNS member articles are not necessarily the views or positions of the entire CCNS. They are the views of the authors, who are members of the CCNS.
