adminRob Finnerty didn’t mince words on Newsmax, warning that “Republicans need to wake up from this Trump hangover” after a week in which the left seized on the federal government shutdown to scorch the GOP. Finnerty suggested Democrats deliberately used the shutdown to paint President Trump and congressional Republicans as responsible and to drive turnout in this week’s crucial state contests.
The backdrop is ugly and plainly avoidable: the partial government shutdown that began on October 1, 2025, has furloughed hundreds of thousands of federal workers and snarled services for everyday Americans while Washington plays political games. Conservatives are right to be angry — citizens pay the bills, not Beltway posturing — and it’s absurd that Democrats would weaponize basic government payrolls to gin up a base.
Worse for Republicans, multiple reputable polls showed a plurality of the public blaming President Trump and congressional Republicans for the impasse, a political penalty that Democrats were quick to exploit in their messaging. That’s exactly the kind of narrative warfare Finnerty warned about — Democrats create the crisis, then point the finger at the other side and expect to reap the electoral harvest.
All of this played out with key elections on the calendar: Virginia and New Jersey voted on November 4, 2025, and Finnerty argued that Tuesday’s results should be a wake-up call to the Republican Party about messaging and strategy. If conservatives want to win, they must stop handing the other side easy television bites and start offering voters a sober, governing-focused alternative they can believe in.
Let’s be blunt: loyalty to one leader cannot replace competence in governance. The GOP’s reflexive obsession with personality politics has left a vacuum where disciplined messaging and practical solutions should be, and Democrats have shown they won’t hesitate to exploit that vacuum. Republicans who actually want to reclaim the country need to trade talk-radio takes for clear plans that protect taxpayers, secure the border, and stop Washington from holding paychecks hostage.
If anyone was under the illusion this would resolve itself, Speaker Mike Johnson’s comments on Newsmax that he’s doubtful the stalemate will end quickly should dispel it — Democrats have shown a willingness to drag this out when it suits them. The lesson for Republicans is straightforward: stop bickering, govern, and change the narrative by forcing Democrats to defend the chaos they create instead of letting them get away with blaming the whole mess on conservatives.
