For Democrats to Win Midterms, Must Americans Buy Into a Certain Myth?

Napoleon Bonaparte once said that history is “a series of agreed-upon myths.” Yet that current events can be, too, brings us to a question.

Can the Democrats win the midterms only if Americans subscribe to a certain myth?

That is, the idea that President Donald Trump’s second term has been a failure.

A number of observers definitely think so. They point out that far from a failure, Trump’s tenure thus far has been a resounding success. And one of these observers, Rod D. Martin, founder & CEO at Martin Capital, has the receipts to prove it.

The View Beyond Gas

Most Americans, though, clearly don’t see things that way. A new poll, in fact, showed that almost three in four Americans (71 percent) believe the country is on the wrong track. Many polls are skewed, of course, but even if the figure is off, pessimism currently reigns.

Why is this? The issue isn’t that Trump has “an accomplishment problem,” writes Martin. “Republicans have an information problem.” Consequently, while the high gas prices are obvious, hitting Americans in the face weekly, the good news is largely unheard.

Yet since it should be heard, Martin provides a list of what he characterizes as 25 Trump accomplishments. They include:

1. Poverty hit its lowest rate in history, while real household income reached its all-time high.

In Trump’s first year back, America’s poverty rate fell to 10.2 percent — the lowest rate ever recorded. Real (inflation-adjusted) median household income reached $87,460, its highest ever. And child poverty fell to an historic low as well.…

2. He made the border a real border again and reversed mass migration.

The Border Patrol has now recorded 17 consecutive months without releasing a single apprehended illegal alien into the United States.

In a matter of months, Trump reduced illegal border crossings to their lowest level in half a century. Catch-and-release is finished. The wall is going up and even being expanded, “Remain in Mexico” is back, and the Administration reduced releases into the country by an incredible 99.9 percent!

Note here that net migration is the lowest it has been since perhaps the 1930s. In fact, when the numbers are finally in, they may show that there was negative net migration last year. How is this?

Well, three million illegal aliens have left the United States, either voluntarily (due to administration pressure) or via deportation.

This is practically unprecedented, too. For decades, the “Can’t lives on Won’t Street” dogma was that there was “nothing we can do about illegal migration.” Even Ronald Reagan didn’t succeed in stopping it. Trump did.

Martin continues (note a few items are omitted and will be mentioned later):

3. He [Trump] signed the Laken Riley Act — and required detention of criminal illegal aliens.

Named for an innocent girl murdered by an illegal alien, the Laken Riley Act requires federal authorities to detain illegals arrested for theft, burglary, shoplifting, assaulting police, or any crime causing death or serious injury. It also lets states sue officials who refuse to enforce it.…

4. History’s biggest drop in violent crime, lowest rate in 126 years.

According to FBI data, violent crime in America dropped an incredible 9.7 percent in 2025 — the largest one-year decline in history. Murder fell 18.1 percent, robbery fell 18.5 percent. And America’s violent crime rate is its lowest since 1900.

And if that weren’t enough, since Trump took office, the FBI has captured all ten of its Top 10 Most Wanted — a first in the Bureau’s history.…

5. He made the 2017 tax cuts permanent … and better.

The One Big Beautiful Bill locked in the largest tax cut in modern history …

Every Democrat voted no. With the 2017 act set to expire in December 2025, that would have resulted in the largest tax hike in American history.

6. He repealed 129 regulations for every new one …

7. He secured $18 trillion in investment commitments … and made reindustrialization real …

8. He replaced lopsided trade deals with balanced, reciprocal trade …

10. After four decades of nuclear paralysis, Trump brought five new reactors online in a single year …

11. He broke the Deep State’s power to defy the elected branches … [The president can once again fire any duty-shirking executive-branch bureaucrat.]

12. He ended nationwide injunction abuse …

14. He shrank Federal employment to its lowest level in 60 years …

15. He expelled DEI from the federal government …

16. He delivered sweeping pro-life reform …

21. He drove China out of the Caribbean …

25. He restored the [military’s] warrior ethos — and reversed the recruiting crisis.

Also touting Trump’s accomplishments is commentator Joan Swirsky. Summarizing the rest of Martin’s list, she writes of the president’s:

• shifting global energy dominance from the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of America;
• shutting down the left[-]wing slush fund known as USAID;
• getting men out of women’s sports;
• opening investment accounts for nearly 70 million American children;
• enacting our country’s first nationwide school-choice program;
• targeting anti-Christian bias;
• forcing NATO to stop freeloading;
• brokering eight peace deals in just eight months; and
• launching the first-ever true missile defense system, the Golden Dome, in U.S. history.

Perspective and More

In fairness, a few of the 25 accomplishments may not entirely be Trump’s doing. For example, poverty and crime have both long been on a generally downward trajectory. This said, even liberals such as comedian-commentator Bill Maher admit that having a government with a “kick butt” attitude and corresponding policy helps to quell crime.

As for poverty, the latest Q3 GDP growth estimate is a robust 3.5 percent — so the economic tide is rising.

Even more accomplishments could be listed, too.

So what could be said to those still skeptical? Well, we live in a fallen world with fallen voters, fallen leaders, and fallen selves. Politics is, too, as Otto von Bismarck put it, “the art of the possible.” And what’s possible is one major party or the other.

There are no perfect choices — only wiser ones. And they won’t be arrived at by accepting agreed-upon myths.