President Donald Trump closed out night one of the Republican National Committee (RNC) first-ever midterm convention with one simple plea: “Pretend that I’m on the ballot.”
“I’m asking you to pretend that I’m on the ballot. I’m on the ballot. I’m on the ballot. Just one more time, because if we lose, you’re going to lose your border, you’re going to lose your tax cuts, you’re going to lose your safety and security, you’re going to lose your wealth,” Trump said.
It’s an important ask, given how Republicans have struggled to turn out voters when Trump is not literally on the ballot. But while Trump’s name may not literally appear on the ballot, it is for all intents and purposes next to every single “R” on the ticket.
Trump’s agenda is on the ballot. But more importantly, so are his accomplishments.
Over the past two years, Trump has used his authority to shut down the southern border, restore immigration enforcement, dismantle federal DEI programs, and reverse Biden’s ridiculous definition of sex, among other things. Congressional Republicans have funded some of that agenda, like immigration enforcement, and passed Trump’s signature One Big Beautiful Bill, which adds incentives for states to crack down on fraud and waste while also introducing no tax on tips and overtime for certain employment sectors.
Securing a Republican Congress is a priority. Many of Trump’s aforementioned accomplishments were through executive order in order to restore sanity more immediately. None of that would have been easy or even possible without a Republican Congress that provided funding or stepped aside and let the president do what he promised.
That said, congressional Republicans have also still failed to codify a lot of Trump’s work — which is why the election matters even more so. Executive orders can be — and typically are — rescinded by the next president.
It’s easy to forget what life was like a mere two years ago: tens of thousands of migrants rushing the southern border, tearing down barriers and flooding the country illegally. Trump is, to some extent, a victim of his own success. Americans don’t see the problem because it doesn’t currently exist, and they become complacent.
But the absence of a crisis does not mean the threat has disappeared. It means Trump’s policies worked. And unless Congress can codify those policies, many of Trump’s victories will remain short-term, just waiting to be undone by a future Democrat president. That’s why Trump’s accomplishments, and not just his future agenda, are on the ballot. The question for voters is not whether they want the border secured for the next two years but whether they want Congress to make the border security permanent past Trump’s last day in office.
Give Democrats control of Congress, and they may not be able to order Trump to reopen the border, but they can certainly withhold funding, kneecap the president with baseless investigations and impeachments, and ensure that all Trump’s successes on border security and immigration are temporary. Trump could keep issuing executive orders, but those again remain vulnerable to immediate reversal in the next presidential election cycle.
The stakes are also higher than just preserving current wins. It also means delivering victories we still haven’t seen, like putting handcuffs on the judicial coup and securing elections.
Rogue judges are issuing nationwide injunctions trying to stop the president from doing his job even after the Supreme Court significantly curtailed use of such injunctions. That’s where turning out to elect a robust Republican Congress comes in. Take for example that Republicans in the House passed the No Rogue Rulings Act (which would limit the unconstitutional authority so many lower court judges think they have to impose nationwide injunctions) in April of 2025.
But the measure has stalled in the Senate. The same Republican Senate has failed to pass the SAVE America Act or permanently change immigration law that enabled Biden’s border crisis. Bolstering the Republican majority in Congress, ideally by increasing that majority and sending rock-ribbed conservatives to the Senate to replace RINOs, could be the key to passing the SAVE America Act, the No Rogue Rulings Act, and other legislation that would instate conservative priorities in law.
It’s easy to look at the midterms and think, “I’ll sit this one out,” perhaps for the express purpose of punishing Republicans for their failures to do more for Trump’s agenda. But the primary punishment would fall on the American people, left to bear the brunt of a leftist resurgence. Beyond that there’s a strong argument that squishy Republicans wouldn’t view a midterm whooping as a punishment; they actually want to be in the minority so they can have a go-to excuse for being useless. In reality sitting out the midterms is to sacrifice all of Trump’s victories, and all the victories we can have if Trump has the ability to govern as he was elected and to rein in Republicans in Congress to get the agenda done, is foolish.
Trump may not literally be on the ballot, but his accomplishments and future victories certainly are.
