Republicans desperate to find scraps of good news latch onto every blip in President Trump’s poll numbers. They tell themselves a good economy will save them — provided that Trump doesn’t “light American agriculture on fire,” as Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., put it, by igniting a trade war. In reality, their midterm prospects worsen by the day.
Part of the problem is the stream of retirees. David Wasserman of Cook Political Report writes: “If Democrats pick up at least eight Republican open seats (and today, eight of the 36 are leaning their way), they’ll already be a third of the way to the 23 they need for a majority.