Tale of 2 midterms: Republican redistricting 'backfired' while Democrats 'exceeded all expectations'

Well, as we heard our Washington correspondent, Fraser, there suggest Donald Trump did have an uncharacteristically subdued, almost conciliatory response to the massive rebuke of his own party on Tuesday. The U.S. president saying that he accepts these midterm results, even adding that he is looking forward to potentially working with Democrats. I think the Democrats did a good job. I really do. I think they did a good job. They fought hard. And I wasn't on the ballot. If I was on the ballot, they would have gotten out. Look, they got out for the rallies. You never saw rallies that big. I mean, outside of the rallies I have when I have, you know, the general election, which is, you know, a step above in all fairness, like maybe a few steps above. Outside of that, I mean, these were the biggest rallies ever. Nobody's ever seen anything like it. The U.S. president then speaking to Fox News earlier today. Now, to talk more about what all of this means for both Donald Trump and the Republican Party at large, I'm joined now by Brian Lanza, a leading Republican strategist and partner at the Mercury Public Affairs firm in the U.S. Capitol. Brian, thank you very much for your time in joining us today here on France 24. So we just heard that subdued, almost friendly, you could say, response to those results from Donald Trump. Trump, are you surprised by his reaction? First of all, good morning, good afternoon. Thank you for having me. No, I'm not surprised. I think the most important thing to remember about Donald Trump is he's a dealmaker. So he's going to look at these last two years to see what type of deals he can come up with Democrats. And that if I'm a Republican, I worry about those things because you have to remember Donald Trump has been a Democrat much longer than he's ever been a Republican. And a significant part of this tariff policy is not Republican policy or it's not normal Republican policy. So, no, I'm not surprised by his tone. Like I said, I think, you know, the president's always looking for opportunities and deals. And he sees, you know, ahead of, you know, with Democrats some challenges, but he also sees some opportunities. You say that that worries you if you're a Republican to hear the U.S. president say that he's open to working with Democrats, but it does also, at least for now, this may change, of course, in the coming hours and days, but at least for now, it does seem to be an acknowledgment on the part of the U.S. president that some of the hardline policies that his administration has pursued are perhaps not really working with a large part of the electorate in the United States. So when he says he will maybe work with Democrats, what form do you expect that to take? What form could that take to not anger too many Republicans, especially his base? I think the biggest challenge he has going forward is the implementation of some of his policies, right? Because at the end of the day, you saw through the exit polls, including in Latino communities, they want the deportation of illegal aliens. So you see that the policies are still popular with the electorate. They're just unsatisfied. The voters are just unsatisfied with the implementation. I think he needs to look at that implementation and see what he can do to continue to achieve some of those goals that he's seeking. You know, in a more transparent, not the right word, but in a more open process where people don't feel, you know, you just have random people knocking on your car window, you know, pulling you out of the car and claiming to be ICE without any identification. I think those types of things or those types of changes that take place can be helpful. But I think the most important thing that the president has at his trigger to sort of, you know, dig out of this position and what he does next is he has the ability to immediately cut costs. To the American people by reversing some of these tariffs that he's put in the place. And those are the things he's analyzing right now. President Trump has always said we're going to put tariffs in and we're going to make adjustments where needed. I think he probably saw the poll numbers, at least related to Maine, and realized he needed to make some adjustment to tariffs in Maine. And so that's an acknowledgment of sort of the first step. And I think you're going to see the larger constituency of the GOP press the president. To make more changes on tariffs, which he has the ability to do, unilaterally. Now on the question of adjustments, as you describe it, treading that fine line between again not angering his base and responding to some of the concerns that voters have. If you had to name one, what do you think was his biggest mistake over the past two years? I mean, what was the straw that broke the camel's back, not only for independent voters, but also for Republicans? Listen, I think Tariff Liberation Day became the biggest issue, the mistake, and I think he acknowledged that. I think, you know, you saw the president within 48 hours sort of pause what Liberation Day was going to be and try to make those adjustments in a different way. I think that sent a message to the American people that, you know, this change was going to have a huge impact, but it was going to be sloppy. And I think the business community, I mean, if you look at stocks. They're at record numbers. So there's some components to the US economy that's healthy, but there's other components that aren't as healthy that probably need more focus now. And I think that's what he has the ability to make the changes to. At this stage, Brian, what incentive do you think that Republican representatives have to remain loyal to Trump? Do you expect any of them to break with him as early as right now? I think the potential is there for Trump to still have some power, to still have significant power within the GOP caucus. I think the Republicans are looking for a unified approach to dealing with Democrats. And I think they see the presidency as a good weapon, as a good tool. I think they want to see another Republican elected post-Trump. Both sides do, President Trump and the Republicans do. So I do think they'll work together on more things than not. But I do think that there is the expectation that President Trump's going to make some changes, which he controls, right? Right. I think if you look at. Two biggest factors that were a drag on this election was the economy, tariffs, which he unilaterally can work with the party to reverse instantaneously tomorrow. And then the Iran war, which is a lot more complicated, it's a lot more risky, but he needs to find a solution there. I think those two things moved off the table, and then you see the third year of President Trump, which we've learned as a result of the first year, the first cycle of President Trump. The third year is when the jobs kick in, when the new business kicks in, because they've done a significant amount of deregulation that will continue to accelerate these things. So I think there's some components he can change fast. I think the war becomes a more challenging thing, but if he finds a way to extricate himself or extricate us in a strong position, I think you see a rebound pretty quickly. I don't want to be too redundant here, but if the president does make those compromises, so to speak, what do you think that means? Not for the Republican Party, because you've been pretty clear about that, but what does it mean for the future of the MAGA wing of the Republican Party specifically? I think, you know, as with the Democratic Party, you know, some wings rise and some wings fall, or some wings more stabilize. You know, the Republican Party is more than just MAGA. MAGA is a component of that. I think they've had, they've likely felt they've had a good run for the last 10 years. And you're probably going to see the rise of more civil politics. You know, the big thing about MAGA was confrontation in your face. And I think this election showed, at least this election showed, that we need to move beyond that. And I think that's the biggest, the pugnacity of MAGA, I think you begin to see removed from the political table. At the same time, you see the pugnacity of the socialist left and the Democratic Party rise. So I tell everybody, the most important thing to think about in the 2028 presidential election is it's a contrast election. And it is a contrast of where the Republican Party is at that particular time and where the Democratic Party is at their particular moment. At their particular moment, the Democrats had a very good election. They exceeded all expectations. But this country is not a center-left country. If they have to make a strong economic case of what they're going to do post-Trump, their message falls on deaf ears. So they haven't sort of put themselves in a much stronger 28 position. I think they're in a weaker position because of the components of the Democratic Party today. Looking forward, Brian, I mean, Republicans had been banking, at least in part, on those massive redistricting efforts, notably in places like Texas, Alabama, North Carolina, Ohio. But even that failed to deliver more victories for the Republican Party. What do you think went wrong? It was a mistake. I think the general assumption was that President Trump's support was cemented and that they could put more parity in some of these races in hopes of gaining more. And I think it backfired. And that's politics. Sometimes you make good decisions, sometimes you make bad decisions. And that, in hindsight, was a bad decision. Brian Lanza, Republican strategist, thank you very much for joining us on France 24 today.