Trumpapaloser

I think it is a great thing for Democrats that Trumpapalooza is coming to Texas. It is really Trumpapaloser. It brings home Donald Trump’s Iran war that he is now calling “small potatoes.” High prices at the gas pump. Home insurance skyrocketing. Data centers. ICE thugs. Lake America. New America. You get the picture. See this from the Trib:

WASHINGTON — Republicans are gathering in Dallas this week for an unprecedented midterm convention, where President Donald Trump and his GOP allies will look to sell their agenda, rake in campaign cash and galvanize voters amid a difficult political climate.

The convention, a two-day affair at the American Airlines Center on the edge of downtown, will put Texas at the center of the political world as the state hits the homestretch of its most competitive election cycle in years.

Texas, a longtime GOP stronghold rich with conservative donors, is a natural landing spot for the party’s first ever midterm convention. But national Republicans will also arrive at a watershed moment for the party in Texas, as Democrat James Talarico threatens to end the GOP’s three decades of statewide electoral dominance in a Senate race that most analysts see as a tossup.

While Trump has thrice carried Texas and counts many of its top politicians as allies, his approval rating in the state has sagged since his 2024 election, where he posted his best margin in Texas of his three races. Just 43% of Texas voters approved of his job performance in last month’s Texas Politics Project poll, putting him 8 points underwater in the state hosting his midterm bash.

Among Trump’s closest allies in the nation is Attorney General Ken Paxton, whom the president elevated earlier this year by endorsing him in the Republican primary runoff over Sen. John Cornyn. Paxton is now in a tight contest against Talarico, with control of the Senate — and Trump’s ability to pursue legislative accomplishments in his final two years — at stake. On the stump, Paxton frequently reminds voters of the national importance of the race, saying that if Republicans lose Texas, “we’ve lost the country.”

Control of Congress’ lower chamber could also turn on Texas — and in particular, in a handful of congressional races in the southern, heavily-Latino part of the state where Republicans redrew districts last year, at Trump’s request, to yield more GOP seats. Those races could instead deliver Democrats the U.S. House majority if the GOP fails to reverse its eroding Latino support by Election Day.

Republicans hope to kickstart that effort this week in Dallas, where the GOP’s top politicians will be on display with no official platform to pass or delegate votes to count — freeing them to focus on energizing their base for November.

Republicans have pitched the convention as an opportunity to do just that, with the fates of everyone from Paxton to down-ballot candidates potentially reliant on lower-propensity MAGA voters, who helped deliver the GOP a trifecta in Washington in 2024 but have proven unreliable when Trump is not on the ballot. Joe Gruters, chairman of the Republican National Committee, has described the event as a “Trumpapalooza,” making clear that candidates who show up are associated with the president. 

Here is the entire Trib read: GOP’s Trump-led midterm convention comes to Dallas this week.

Trumpapaloser. It is a bad brand in Texas these days. Election Day is 8 weeks from today. Bring it on. See the featured photo.

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Here we go. We are in Philly for 3 games. We have a 2-game lead in the AL West with 18 games left on the schedule. We need to win, pure and simple.