Democrats Are Laughing at Trump’s Midterm Plan. They Shouldn’t.

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Welcome to this week’s historic edition of the Surge, here in our brand-new home . Do you like the imported marble floors and silk window treatments? We’ll tell ya, it was a real hassle getting those through the Strait of Hormuz.

Indeed, today is the exciting launch of Surge 2.0. To recap, each Saturday we’ll break down the biggest news of the week into three categories: what mattered most, what we’re keeping an eye on, and what’s unfathomably inane. Plus, there’s a fresh new section of quick hits at the end. Let us know what you think!

Now we begin with the GOP’s counterprogramming to the kickoff of the new NFL season.

Republicans this week held their midterm convention, something that we “definitely” “watched.” Aside from a few stray clips and a couple of other newsy items we’ll deal with below, though, the most enduring message from the event were these words from President Donald Trump: “I’m asking you to pretend that I’m on the ballot. I’m on the ballot.” He would also tell the attendees, during a mock pledge, that they will “go to hell” if they don’t vote.

Democrats have celebrated this unsurprising decision of Trump’s to put himself forthrightly in the center of the midterm discussion. It’s a move that neatly aligns with Democrats’ strategy of making the midterms a referendum on Trump, whose approval rating is atrocious.

But we’re not willing to say that Trump’s strategy is all downside for Republicans.

The Republicans were never going to be able to stuff the president in a box this election season. Consider, for example, that Trump forced the Republican National Committee to hold its first-ever midterm convention in order to celebrate him. And at this point, the thing that would worsen these midterms from bad to catastrophic for the GOP is if MAGA stayed home.

Poll after poll indicates that Republicans are suffering from an enthusiasm gap. Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents don’t have to be told that Trump is on the ballot this year; it’s Republicans who could use all the motivational nudges they can get. Bringing MAGA enthusiasm closer to what Democrats are showing wouldn’t just help Republicans save, say, their Senate seats in places like Alaska, Ohio, Texas, and Iowa either. Sen. Susan Collins needs MAGA voters to turn out in rural Maine just as much as Ken Paxton needs them to in Texas.

Although Republican strategists would prefer a more targeted deployment of Trump’s motivational tools to specific races where his presence would help, the president’s never really been a scalpel guy. He’s foreclosing on more-delicate persuasion efforts and pushing the one button available to him— let’s get my people out there in force —as hard as he can. There’s no choice but to roll with it.

Developers of artificial intelligence have long been undersocialized creeps who openly and casually talk about how the technology they are creating has a decent chance of ending all human life. This week, a couple such comments went viral.