'SO WEAK'： GOP sycophancy towards Trump turns off voters, creates BIG SWING for Dems before midterms

So this time last year, the prospect of Democrats flipping control of the U.S. Senate was farcical, silly, unimaginable. But the sheer volume of corruption and the toxicity of Donald Trump's presidency and a complete capitulation of Senate Republicans to do anything in the face of all of that have made them look so weak that a window has been opened for Democrats to succeed in doing what seemed, as we said, unimaginable. Prevail, take control in a very challenging year with a very challenging Senate map. So to take control of the Senate, Democrats have to flip four seats. Their best chances to flip seats are North Carolina, Maine, Alaska, Texas, Iowa, and Ohio. All but Maine are states that Donald Trump won. Democrats also have to hold on to in Michigan and Georgia, states also won by Donald Trump in 24. New polling released in The New York Times today highlights the very real opportunity Democrats have to flip the chamber thanks to a strong crop of candidates and a Republican Party, again, doing nothing, simply allowing themselves to be dragged down by the searing unpopularity and brazen corruption of Donald Trump and voters' very pessimistic view of their personal economic status. I want to bring in senior contributing editor Michelle Norris. Heilman is still here. Michelle, it's amazing to be reminded again by the voters, by the people, of just how dynamic and volatile their political alignments are, not necessarily on the fringes, but certainly in the sprawling middle among independents and swing voters. It's interesting to see this swing, what appears to be a swing to the left, but I think one of the things that is striking me is that labels don't mean the same thing that they used to. And for a long time, to be called a left-wing radical was something that you would have to wear as a millstone around your neck. You'd have a lot of explaining to do. You'd have to maybe swing to the center to show that that label didn't apply to you. You know, when you talk about the sheer level of toxicity and corruption that we're facing in this administration, right now, people are looking for candidates who are willing to put their gloves on and fight. And if you are seen as someone who is left-wing, that doesn't carry the same kind of weight that it did perhaps in the past. If you're seen as someone who's even radical, as long as you're to take the fight to this bunch that's in control in Washington, D.C., that is appealing to people. And the other thing about democratic socialism, because that's what we're really talking about, particularly with the results that we see coming out of Colorado, for a long time, people worried that ideology was more important than governance or than competency among those candidates. And I think with candidates like Mondami and what he's doing in New York and looking at what some of these candidates have to offer in terms of not just their rhetoric, but their background and what they're willing to do, the idea that this kind of, this brand of democratic candidate, democratic socialist candidate could perhaps go hand in hand with effective governance and the idea that they're willing to make a case that's based on affordability at a moment when you're seeing downward mobility across the board, rising gas prices, falling wages. You know, some of the things that just a few months ago, certainly a few years ago, but maybe just a few months ago, seemed like they may have been, you know, checks in the negative column, suddenly make these candidates very appealing. And then you add to that youth and the youth feel bigger that they're bringing to their candidacies. It is an attractive package. And you're seeing it. You saw it in New York. You saw it in Philadelphia. You see it now in Colorado and with the mayor of Washington, D.C. This now represents a trend. Heilman, it also is a script for Fox News to sort of sing off of and reinvigorate their attacks on the radical politics of the Democratic Party. How do you see these candidates and the broader Democratic Party navigating that? Well, if history is any guide, Nicole, I'd be concerned about it if I were a Democrat, about how well Democrats would navigate that challenge. It's certainly going to come. Republicans have tried to turn Democrats who are the furthest thing in the world from socialists or radical or left into people who people think are socialists or radical or left for a long time. You know, I would say to Michelle's point, you know, there is no question that the left and progressives and the DSA are on the march in certain places, in urban environments, all of them, including last night in Denver. That's the case, I think, in the six states, the six statewide races, Nicole, that you mentioned that The Times had their polling on in Senate races. I don't think any of those candidates, any of the people who we've seen who have won these Democratic primaries, the three mom, Donnie candidates, this is not taking anything away from them, but to one degree or another, all three of those candidates and the candidate last night in Denver would be unsuitable statewide candidates in any of the states that we just mentioned. Their views are considerably to the left of the mainstream voter in Ohio or in Alaska or in Texas. And so this is an important trend in the Democratic Party for sure. And I would think it's a trend that, but it's not yet a national thing. And it's certainly a thing that's not yet washing across purple states in the country. The other thing I'd say is that if you look at a lot of these races, and particularly this Denver case, the incumbent that got beat that last, the other last night, Diana DeJette, 15 term incumbent. And I would bet that all three of us can remember a day when a 15 term incumbent, when that would spell in a lot of voters' minds, experience, expertise, constituent service, knowing how Washington works, being able to provide for her district in a good way. I think increasingly what you see in these various races is that a 15 term incumbent spell is the absolute antithesis of change. And for a lot of young voters, it is not a qualification or an asset, it's a demerit. And that youth and inexperience are seen as positives and almost not even so much, I mean, there's ideology as part of this, but that is, I think, driving a lot of this in deep blue districts.