‘Is that a red flag?’ Ex-Trump aide challenged to explain emerging GOP trend

Around two dozen Republican lawmakers are planning to retire, and rumors are swirling around Capitol Hill that others are planning to join the mass exodus.A survey of GOP representatives found some members were unwilling to commit to running for re-election next year, and “CNN This Morning” host Audie Cornish wondered what that meant for the 2026 midterms.”Is that good going into midterms?” Cornish said. “I don’t know if people don’t want to carry, if you’re saying you were victorious and no one wants to carry your your message of victory into 2026, is that a red flag?”Mike Dubke, a former communications director during President Donald Trump’s first term, took up the challenge. “I have been making this joke when I talk to to senators that you’ve had to work this year, and it’s been hard,” Dubke said. “No, they have, and I think the thing, I think that, well, the Democrats shut down, but we’ll come back to that. I do think that, you know, at the pace that this White House goes, it is you feel it throughout Washington. It’s not just in Congress, but it’s with everybody else that’s tangential to Washington, D.C., this has been a blistering pace in 2025, and I think that does take a take a toll on people. So I’m not surprised that those numbers, it’s not a fun place to work right now – in Congress. I’m having a ball.”Meghan Hays, a communications aide for former President Joe Biden, argued the retirements signaled the strength of Democrats’ position heading into next year.”Democrats are going in strong,” she said. “They have a message of affordability, they’re united on talking about health care and talking about lowering costs … I don’t think the Democrats need a leader. I don’t think that they need a national leader like they have Trump. We’ve always had grassroots leaders in our own communities, and those are the people who who are leading their communities. We had two big governor’s races that won.””Democrats have a lot of wind at their back here going into the midterms, because Republicans can’t get it together,” Hays added, “because you have someone like Donald Trump screaming at the television about all these wins that are just lies, and then the Republicans in Congress don’t want to have to defend it. Then they don’t want to have to be primaried when they speak up to Donald Trump, so it’s easier for them just to retire, which is not saying a lot about the president’s policy.” – YouTube youtu.be

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