Democrats Won Big — Now Comes The Hard Part

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Welcome to Simply Put. I'm Ed Elson.

This week, Blue Nami.

Six months ago, I predicted the Democrats would win the midterms in a quote landslide. Last week, I doubled down, predicting one of the greatest Democratic sweeps in Congressional history. My thesis was simple. America had had it with President Trump, and this was its moment to rebuke him.

On November 3rd, these predictions came true. The Democrats took the House and the Senate in what has been described as a bloodbath. They also flipped Texas, Kansas, Maine, Ohio, Iowa, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Texas elected its first Democratic governor in nearly 40 years. Kansas elected its first Democratic senator in nearly 100 years. The last one, George McGill, was born in 1879

Ninety-four percent of counties shifted left from 2024 This wasn't a blue wave, it was a blue tsunami, one of the most resounding victories in American history.

Some call it a win for the Democrats, I call it a win for democracy. Over the past several years, our president has projected an authoritarian vision of America that too many have bought. This result was a welcome reminder of where the power truly lies, with the people. Indeed, our democracy was specifically designed to withstand people like Trump. Enlightened statesman James Madison once wrote, will not always be at the helm. Our founding fathers would be proud.

Democrats deserve their plaudits too. While Trump is chiefly responsible for their victory, they turned it into a route, from James Talarico and Adam Hamilton to Abdul El-Sayed and John Ossoff. 2026 marked the arrival of a new generation of exceptional political talent. Their message is one of toughness, but also one of love. Living proof that strength and kindness are not mutually exclusive.

However, the war isn't one. Affordability, artificial intelligence, inequality, political corruption, all of these issues were on the ballot this year, and the Democrats must now determine how to address them.

Already, they are divided. Do we prosecute Trump for his apparent crimes? Or do we move forward and let things go? Do we simply undo Trump's economic policies? Or do we go further and pursue more sweeping change? These are difficult conversations, as there are merits, unlike the tariffs, to both sides.

So, let's start having that conversation. Today, I am laying out my thoughts on how the parties should proceed. I expect some of you may disagree with me, and I welcome your criticism. The most important thing, however, is that there is a debate. After all, the next two years will define the next ten.

Let's begin with this idea of prosecution.

Many Democrats do not want to prosecute the president. Which I get. After all, they risk being seen as the lawfare party, and convicting Trump purely on political grounds would obviously be unjust. Here's the thing, though. Prosecuting people for crimes they actually committed isn't lawfare. That is just the law.

It'd be one thing if the evidence of Trump's crimes was thin, but that's not even remotely the case.

From the tens of thousands of stocks that he and his family appeared to trade on insider information, to the SEC and CFTC investigations into those unusual trades that he appeared to terminate, to the billions of dollars he appeared to steal from American households through a crypto venture that fit the legal definition of a Ponzi scheme, to the payments he appeared to accept in exchange for presidential pardons, to the child sex abuse scandal that he appeared to cover up that intimately involved him, and much, much more, the reality is that Trump appears to have committed multiple extremely serious crimes. Now, note my use of this word appears. I'm not declaring him guilty of these crimes. I'm just saying he seems to be. And guess what? That is why we have a justice system, to evaluate evidence, determine the truth, and then decide whether to prosecute. And no, these are not just petty crimes. They include securities fraud, wire fraud, market manipulation, federal bribery, obstruction of federal records, and abuse of office. If a regular person were found guilty of these charges, they would be facing more than 50 years in prison.