A Republican Roadmap for Winning OR Losing in 2026

By: Christopher G. Adamo

One of President Trump's most celebrated quotes is his promise that Americans will "get tired of winning" as we rally and commit to "Make America Great Again!" When presented against the backdrop of the past four disastrous years under the Biden/Obama Cabal, President Trump's declaration has clearly been inspiring and encouraging.

Enter the Congressional Republicans, who are once again doing their utmost to prevent us from ever finding out what that might be like, with this past week's budget debacle being the biggest cold shower on that prospect since Election Day! It's becoming inarguable that the GOP "Establishment" regards every Trump victory as a threat to its future. Apparently, among entrenched Republicans, nothing has changed since 2017.

Of course they have a ready excuse for this latest fiasco. It was entirely predictable, even before the latest ruckus began, that they would have an excuse for their total capitulation. They always do! When leftists get their people elected, they get results. When Conservatives get our people elected, we get excuses. In this case, we're told by the leadership that the Republican "majority" is just too slim to make any demands, despite it being a majority. The risk of political backlash and party disunity is just too great! We can be certain that even if the Republicans were ever to establish veto-proof majorities in both Houses, they would still accomplish nothing, for fear that an excessively bold agenda might risk their veto proof majorities!

To fully understand their present aversion to actually "fighting the good fight" on behalf of America, it is necessary to go back to the original government shutdown storyline of the modern era, and how it has been leveraged against a hapless GOP ever since. In late 1995, a budget impasse between the newly established Republican Majority of the 104th Congress under the Speakership of Newt Gingrich, and the intransigent Administration of the stridently liberal Bill Clinton, led to a twenty-one day "shutdown" of all, but "essential" Government services.

It needs to be noted here that despite all the media hype, this shutdown, "the longest in the modern era," lasted a mere three weeks! Yet it was treated by the leftist Fake News (Yes! They were at it even back then...) as the greatest calamity to befall America since the British burned Washington in the War of 1812. Predictably, all accounts of it since then lay the blame squarely at the feet of the Republicans.

Yet there much more to the story! For starters, the distinct reason the Republicans received all the blame is never honestly addressed. The entire Democrat/media axis, along with its RINO enablers, have a vested interest in preventing the truth from ever seeing the light of day. If it was properly understood by the American people, the "Republicans are always to blame" narrative would immediately implode and the entire budget/government shutdown routine would drastically change. That prospect poses a threat which the D.C. Swamp simply cannot tolerate.

On January 6, 1996, when that incessantly referenced "shutdown" ended, polling data showed Bill Clinton's popularity to be the lowest of his entire first term. In fact, he was preparing to reverse himself and sign the budget bill that had sat on his desk since December 16. But to his relief, Senate Majority "Leader" Bob Dole rode in to rescue Clinton with his famous "Enough is enough!" capitulation. By those words, Dole took complete responsibility and declared his penitence for his "wrongdoing," for having earlier refused to acquiesce to Clinton's budget demands. So of course it was easy for

Clinton and his media lackeys to acknowledge Dole's contrition, and agree that he (and the Republicans) were indeed fully culpable. Since that time, the Democrats have done their best to ensure that this narrative never changes.

On the heel's of Senator Dole waving the white flag, all of the wind had gone out of the "Gingrich Revolution," and Bill Clinton sailed to an easy victory in November of that year. This was sadly understandable, since it was none other than Dole who was also the 1996 Republican presidential nominee. As a result of his budget surrender, he entered the campaign from the standing of "follower," with Bill Clinton established as the "leader." Yet this absolutely did not have to be the case. Had Dole remained firm, even in the face of a predictable (and canned) Democrat/media onslaught, he may have not only won the presidency, but charted a whole new course for the Congressional budget process.

Fast forward to this past week's budget fiasco. Once again, the worst part of this situation is the Republican rationale for supporting it, which is their inane belief that if there is ever a government "shutdown" for any reason, Americans will first be angry, and then reflexively blame the Republicans! According to the Democrats and their Fake News lackeys, this notion is ostensibly indisputable. Nevertheless, it is absolutely untrue!

In reality, whenever a stalemate between the Congress and the White House leads to a shutdown, America will blame the party that eventually caves, thus ending the impasse. Admittedly, in the past that has overwhelmingly been the Republicans. Yet if in the current standoff, they had stood resolutely against this latest abomination of a spending bill, and refused to conjoin themselves to Democrat pillaging of the National Treasury and promotion of abhorrent programs with taxpayer dollars, the heat would quickly build for Democrats to do it right so the proper spending measure could be passed.

That's exactly what happened in January of 2018 when Democrats attempted to entrap President Trump in just such a deadlock, which he then referred to it as the "Schumer Shutdown." Before too long, the Democrats not only backed down, but despite all of their squalling and finger pointing, rightly received blame for the impasse, since they could have done the right thing in the first place but instead opted to play politics. Regardless of their accusations against him, President Trump's resolve proved to be the decisive factor, and an ultimate "Win/Win" for America.

The Republican Congress finds itself once again at just such a milestone. With the 2026 mid-term elections looming, they can either take the heat, reject the phony caterwauling and condemnation, and prove which party has the best interests of the Nation at heart, or they can once again cave in to the left, and show themselves to be defensive and more concerned with their own political fortunes than doing what is right. It is on that basis that, in the past, they have reaped horrendous anger and backlash from the Conservative base which they could be inspiring and rallying. The ball is fully in their court!

Bio

Christopher G. Adamo is a lifelong conservative from the American Heartland. He has been involved in grassroots and state-level politics for many years, seeking to restore and uphold the Judeo-Christian principles on which our Nation was founded. During that time, he gained a knowledge of the leftist agenda advanced by the modern Democrat party, and the complicity of liberal Republicans (RINOs) who aid and abet them from

within the GOP. His book, "Rules for Defeating Radicals," is his effort to warn the American people of just who leftists are, how they operate, and most importantly, how our side can effectively engage them in order to prevail over them. It is available at Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Rules-Defeating-Radicals-Countering-Strategy/dp/1733218203/ref=sr_1_1?crid=VVKX3JK2TTE9&keywords=rules+for+defeating+radicals&qid=1583948399&sprefix=Rules+for+defeating%2Caps%2C166&sr=8-1