Donald Trump usually knows how to take shortcuts to victory. This time, his hack blew up spectacularly in his face.

He thought if he focussed on the billionaire economy, he’d sail to an easy last two years in his presidency.

But no political party can afford to ignore either economy. You don’t pick one. It is a balancing act.

He forgot that the middle-class economy has more voters than the billionaire economy.

In elections, it is always about the Benjamins.

He is in for a world of hurt.

But let’s talk about the Democrats and their chances for 2028.

So far, it is very precarious. They over-performed. Independents voted for Democrats, but Republicans also stayed away from the polls. That means Democrat support is written in pencil, not ink or stone.

And they are very likely to make the same mistakes Trump made:

1. Assume Independents have magically converted to their side. No.
2. Focus on vengeance and not the overall economy.
3. Make enemies internally and externally.
4. Let hubris guide your decisions.
5. Think anyone cares about your paper crowns or your narrative.

Those five traps sunk Donald Trump, and very well likely will do the same to the Democrats unless they have someone in the background who can rein all that in.

That means that come 2028, the Democrats are going to face the same problem they did in previous elections.

Let’s take 2016 and Hillary Clinton. She won the popular vote; so let’s assume Americans, on the whole wanted a Democrat in the White House.

But even so, they didn’t quite trust her because the Republicans were voted to rule both the House and the Senate.

Kamala Harris didn’t win the popular vote in 2024, but she got more votes than Clinton did in 2016 and Trump didn’t have a large enough margin to proclaim his win was politically definitive, but even if Harris won, she would have faced a Republican House and Senate.

Joe Biden had more support and had the Trifecta: White House, Senate, and House aligned Democrat, but then people weren’t too thrilled and by mid-terms, but while the Senate stayed Democrat, the House flipped Republican.

If the Democrats act like Blue Trumps, the most likely outcome is a Democrat in the White House with a Republican House and Senate.

So far, the only contender and likely winner would be Gavin Newsom. He checks all the boxes: charismatic, well-groomed, articulate, governor of a large state, married, and looks like he would be fun at a cocktail party.

But if the House and Senate become spiteful and ignore citizens or bring in too much change, he’ll have an uphill battle.

What most politicians like Trump fail to realize is while people say they want something different, they don’t like change. He brought radical changes, and that was his downfall.

If the Democrats do the same, they wipe out all their fragile losses in critical states that flipped.

It will be an interesting two years to watch, in any regard.