The past two weeks have been a roller coaster of bad news, good news and some unforced errors that together have created an even more challenging environment for the president and congressional Republicans this fall. Here’s a short recap of how it went.

First, at the end of January, Republicans were stunned when a longtime GOP state Senate seat in Texas went blue in a special election. That should have raised eyebrows, and it did. 

The next day, President Donald Trump announced a two-year closure of the Kennedy Center for a complete renovation, sending Democrats and the media into a torrent of criticism.

Last Monday, Trump proposed nationalizing elections just as the debate on the SAVE Act, designed to ensure the integrity of elections, heated up, giving Democrats a new line of attack.

Last Tuesday, the president signed legislation to end the partial government shutdown — a positive for the White House that got lost in the uproar over his comments on nationalizing elections. 

On Thursday, the president rolled out a new prescription drug program in prime time, TrumpRx, to help bring down the cost of some of the country’s most often prescribed drugs. This is exactly the kind of economic policy that people want to address the crucial affordability issue. 

But before the night was over, the president’s Truth Social account posted a video on election integrity that closed with an offensive clip featuring the Obamas as apes. The video drew sharp reactions from Republicans on the Hill, including Sens. Tim Scott, Roger Wicker and Susan Collins and Rep. Mike Lawler. 

TrumpRx was overwhelmed by the justifiable outrage over the post, which the president took down several hours later, but........

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