Thank you, President Trump.

That’s what courteous Democrats might say to Donald Trump for the immense (and I’m sure involuntary) assistance he lent to their historic sweep in last week’s midterm elections.

After all, right up until Election Day, Trump did all he could to amplify the Democrats’ key campaign message by making the midterms about himself.

“Pretend I’m on the ballot,” he gleefully growled at rallies for GOP candidates, who were quietly telling reporters he might be doing more harm than good.

Pretending wasn’t necessary for voters. Virtually every concern in the forefront of their minds as they cast their ballots had Trump’s fingerprints all over it.

Let’s start with soaring fuel and consumer prices. Trump’s disastrous war with Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, through which passes at least 20% of the global crude traffic and about one-third of the world’s fertilizer.

The global oil shock this caused only added to inflationary pressures already created by Trump’s love affair with tariffs. According to the New York Federal Reserve Bank, tariffs added 2.9 percentage points to the price of a basket of representative consumer goods.

In other words, they were a tax on American consumers.

It’s no wonder that “affordability” emerged as a hot-button issue, but Trump merely insisted it was a liberal “hoax,” costing him dearly.

Much in the way inflation crushed the Democrats in 2024, it came for the Republicans in 2026. Yet this was by no means Trump’s only problem with voters.

As soon as he took office........

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