Are this week's election results a referendum on President Donald J. Trump?

Yes, but not for the dubious reasons offered by mainstream media types and droning Democrats who have spent the last decade underestimating Trump and undercounting his voters in their phony polls.

The results proved again that Trump is One of One.

In 2025, Trump is not on the ballot. He is in the Oval.

He is not flying around the country making eight stops a day securing votes from Americans, as he was last year. He is flying around the world, securing trade deals and peace deals, and trillions in direct investments for America.

When Trump is not on the top of the ticket, some MAGA voters stay home – and too many swing voters revert to their natural resting place and vote Democrat.

The singular ability of Trump to attract wide, deep support among unconventional constituencies was previewed a year ago, when he won the popular vote, swept all seven swing states and improved margins in blue states like New York and New Jersey.

He barely campaigned or aired ads in those states yet had the best showing of a Republican presidential candidate in over three decades.

The mechanics of Trump's historic reelection were also missing this year.

Trump's successful ground game directives to 'Swamp the Vote' and make the election 'Too Big to Rig' withered, with Democrats outpacing Republicans in mail-in and early in-person voting.

The result: freedom suffered a crushing blow on Tuesday night.

​​A proud, avowed Socialist and anti-Semite who has denounced our brave men and women of the NYPD as 'racist' and 'a major threat to public safety' yet won't condemn Hamas, will be the next mayor of New York City – home to eight percent of the nation's economy and more Jews than in any city outside Israel.

It wasn't a squeaker.

Zohran Mamdani, virtually unknown a year ago, collected 50 percent of the vote. Time will tell if his victory, and his policy positions, are a one-off or the start of a trend toward a Democratic Party often at odds with itself. ​​​​

Meanwhile, two left-of-center women will be the next governors of New Jersey and Virginia. That itself is not breaking news; the states have trended blue for years. The scale of their victories, though, gives cause for pause, since they swept with them state legislative majorities and, in Virginia, an Attorney General in Jay Jones who openly fantasized about killing a Republican colleague.

Democrats enjoying the afterglow of Tuesday's results should be careful what they wish for.

Voters in New Jersey and Virginia showed a capacity to hold inconsistent thoughts in two lobes of the brain, telling pollsters they want lower taxes and lower energy bills, fewer regulations, less crime and more cops, more fiscal responsibility and yet voted for candidates that have promised the exact opposite.

The federal government shutdown, in its fifth week, may also have juiced turnout among those affected – but that is temporary. Democrats will need a strategy beyond shouting 'Trump!' to win nationally and in true swing states.

This week also did little to simplify the Democratic Party's identity crisis.

Mamdani presents a frontal challenge to the two highest-ranking Democrats in Washington, who also happen to be from New York City. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer refused to endorse Mamdani or reveal whether he voted for him. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries insisted on CNN that Mamdani is not the future of the party.

The two women governors-elect in Virginia and New Jersey refused to campaign with the two women who recently ran as Democrats for President, Hillary and Kamala, let alone with Mamdani. 

Contrast that to the GOP side, where the Trump endorsement remains the most coveted political prize. It is powerful and persuasive, especially in primaries, and unlocks plenty of benefits candidates seek on the road to victory.

Still, warning to 2026 and 2028 aspirants – and as memorably seen in the 2022 midterms – being supported by Trump does not make you Trump. Tweeting or talking on TV a la Trump does not guarantee his voters become your voters.

Trump is inimitable. His connective tissue with millions of Americans is personal and non-transferable.

His 2024 electorate – that looked a lot more like America than any other GOP presidential candidate in history – was created and curated by Trump himself. More Hispanics, blacks, union members, young people, independents, non-college educated households, Catholic and Jewish families voted Republican than almost ever before. Too many of them swung back to Democrat candidates in 2025.

While Donald J. Trump will never be on the sidelines, in the background, out of sight, he won't be on the ballot forever.

Republican candidates must manage that reality. Next year's midterms marks ten years since Trump shocked the world in 2016 and changed the course of history. The messenger cannot be imitated – but to win, his message, mechanics and moxie must be replicated.