Dave Murray
An unusual event, the special midterm convention of the Republican Party took place in Dallas, Texas on 9-10 of September 2026.
The last time a major US party held such a rally was in 1978. This one was intended to rally the right-wing vote behind Republican candidates for the Senate and Congress in elections due to be held on 3 November. On current polling and betting odds, the Republican Party has a greater than 50% chance of losing its narrow majority in both the US Senate and Congress.
It is this majority that has allowed the Trump presidency to dispense with the “checks and balances” within the US constitution which are meant to curb the excesses of the executive branch of their government. It is Congress which is supposed to hold the power to declare war, for instance, something which it hasn’t done in the case of the assault on Iran which started back in February and drags on despite multiple declarations of victory. The same goes for the imposition of tariffs, a major feature of Trump policy and of his speech to the convention. Congress has the power to impeach the president (effectively put him on trial before the Senate) by simple majority, the Senate can dismiss the president by 2/3 majority, and both houses have committees and powers of oversight that can snarl up any initiatives taken by a president. A Democratic Party majority in both houses would seriously cramp the style of the big beautiful orange presidency, not least by opening up lines of enquiry into the enormous sums of money that have flowed into the pockets of the presidential family, as well as potentially publishing evidence of serious violent crimes from the Epstein files.
Donald Trump focused instead on the danger to the USA from “fanatics, lunatics and criminals who want to destroy our country” (ie the Democrats) and the “far-left communists” who want to do the same (also Democrats). This is the appeal to fear. In a rambling ninety-minute speech the Donald also appealed to a higher emotion – loyalty – leading conventioneers in an oath of allegiance to “the greatest president in history who loves us so much” – ie himself – while also promising to “cheat like they do”. For good measure, he also promised to pay each US citizen the sum of $5,000 if the Republicans win both houses.
All of this smacks of desperation. It comes alongside attempts to skew voting boundaries in favour of the Republicans, strict ID requirements to exclude poorer voters, attempts to take counting out of the hands of state officials in favour of Trump’s federal cronies and the mooted deployment of ICE and the national guard to voting stations – all the while making claims that it’s the other guy who is trying to fix the outcome!
Trump is record-levels unpopular for a serving president and has faced the largest-ever single days of protests during his second term.
The fact that the outcome is still uncertain is the real story. Wall Street-friendly Democrats are so despised by the American working class (food prices rose 30% on their watch) that despite a 44% increase in gas prices since February, an unpopular war and the beginnings of a fracture in the MAGA movement, the results of the Midterms are still in balance. The American working class needs a party of its own.
