MY Columns

November 3: What’s at stake in midterms

The midterms are finally upon us, and it's hard to find words to express how important they are or how much is at stake.

Of course, we say something similar every two or four years: "This is the most important election ever!" But this year, that has an authentic ring to it.

There are, to begin with, fundamental policy differences on the line. Indeed, whether he's on the ballot or not, the midterms are a referendum on the Orange Man. Do we approve of the pain and suffering he's delivered in the last two years? Higher prices for gas, groceries, and housing? A pointless, forever war against Iran? Making deals with Vladimir Putin? Cutting all funding for solar power, wind power, and electric cars? Tearing down the East Wing of the White House? Shutting down the Kennedy Center? Sending the military into American cities? Rounding up, breaking up families, and deporting millions of hard-working, tax-paying people who've committed no crime?

On another front: Do we approve of any president, Republican or Democrat, who exploits the office of the presidency to enrich himself and his family? Personally making thousands of stock trades himself every month? Hawking presidential Bibles, sneakers, hats, commemorative coins, watches, cryptocurrency? Lining his pockets with $2.2 billion in 2025 alone? And practicing "pay to play" by rewarding big donors with government contracts or presidential pardons?

Those are all important issues, sufficient for any election and in themselves enough to drive us to the polls. But, I believe, the 2026 midterms are so critical because there's so much more than that at stake. It's not just policy differences on the ballot on November 3, it's the question of who we are as Americans.

In essence, over and above politics, we are being asked to vote on whether everything we learned growing up still counts. Republican, Democrat or Independent, liberal or conservative, the question we face is: Are the values our parents taught us, the values we thought all Americans believed in, still valid? Values like...

Telling the Truth. Whether the story's true or not, there's no mistaking the message of little George Washington and the cherry tree: It's wrong to tell a lie. That's what our parents taught us. That's what we teach our kids. Yet, according to the Washington Post, Trump told 30,573 lies in his first term. So on November 3 we get to vote on whether it's OK for a president of the United States to lie every time he moves his lips? Yes or No?

Treating people with respect, even those you disagree with. In a word, it's decency - to co-workers, neighbors, or family. Recognizing that we're not always going to agree on everything, but we're all God's children and worthy of respect. Does that still count? Or, like Donald Trump, is it now OK to belittle, insult and personally attack anybody who disagrees with you - or use the Justice Department to try to throw your political opponents in prison? Yes or No?

Obeying the law. We are a nation of laws, not men and women, we were taught. Where everybody lived under and followed the same rules. Nobody, not even the president of the United States was above the law. Is that still the case? Or do we now accept a man who routinely defies the law and claims that, as president, he has the power to do anything he wants, even kill a man, and get away with it. Yes or No?

Living a moral life. Nobody's perfect, but we all learned that there's a big difference between right and wrong. It's wrong to cheat on your wife. It's wrong to sexually assault women. It's wrong to grab women by their private parts. It's wrong to pay a porn star not to talk about a one-night fling. Are we now willing to hold up such an immoral man as a role model for our children? Yes or No?

Loving your country. Forget our differences. Bottom line, we're all Americans. We love this country. We'd do anything to protect it. We'd take on any enemy, foreign or domestic, who tried to undermine it. So, do we care when a president sends an armed mob to attack the U.S. Capitol and attempt to overturn the government? Yes or No?

Those are the values on the line on November 3: Truth. Justice. Fairness. Decency. Democracy. America.

What's at stake in the midterms? Everything we believe in. Or used to.
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(Bill Press is host of The BillPressPod, and author of 10 books, including: "From the Left: My Life in the Crossfire." His email address is: bill@billpress.com. Readers may also follow him on Twitter @billpresspod and on BlueSky @BillPress.bsky.social.)

Trump’s one-man war against Washington

Donald Trump has done many things this month that deserve condemnation: from abandoning Ukraine and making deals with Vladimir Putin, to running self-promotional TV ads illegally paid for by taxpayer dollars, to talking endlessly about Sen. Jon Husted's "beautiful ass."

But I'd like to tell you today about something else that has received little, if any, public attention: his plan to destroy Hains Point, Washington's beautiful park jutting out into the Potomac with spectacular views of the Capitol and national monuments.

Why should we care? Because, once again, Trump aims to destroy a public treasure without any prior approval, against the law, and in defiance of the courts. He did it with the East Wing, the Reflecting Pool and the Kennedy Center. Now he's doing it with Hains Point.

As much as anything he has done, Trump's avowed destruction of Hains Point reveals what a mean, vindictive, greedy, uncaring, evil, egomaniacal man he is - and reminds us how important it is to stop him in his tracks on Nov. 3.

Hains Point is the latest chapter in Trump's plan to destroy our nation's capitol. He's already torn down the East Wing of the White House, shut down the Kennedy Center, paved over the Rose Garden, fouled the Reflecting Pool, fenced off Lafayette Square and announced plans to build a huge memorial arch to himself at the entrance to Arlington National Cemetery.

All that is in official Washington, where people work. But now he's moving his bulldozers into residential Washington, where people live and play. It's the side of Washington that most tourists never see: a vibrant city with colorful neighborhoods, lively markets and restaurants, and beautiful parks. And, of all Washington's parks, Hains Point is the crown jewel.

A strip of reclaimed land with the Potomac River on one side and the Washington Channel on the other, Hains Point was created by Congress in 1897 to be "forever held and used as a park for the recreation and pleasure of the people." Which it still is today. It's Washington's favorite park, featuring tennis courts, picnic areas, cherry trees, a 4.1-mile loop used by cyclists, joggers and walkers, a miniature golf course, a driving range and three golf courses where anybody can afford to play: $22 for nine holes, $42 for 18.

Hains Point is the people's park. I know it well. I learned to play golf there. I walk that loop around the park with a group of friends every Saturday morning. Even early in the morning, golfers have started their rounds, fishermen already line the banks of both river and channel, joggers and cyclists clog the roadway, and advance scouts are setting up tables, chairs and grills for family picnics later in the day.

Yet Donald Trump, who calls Hains Point "Trash Island," has announced plans to tear it all down - tennis courts, picnic areas, playgrounds, cycling and jogging loop, fishing spots, the whole works - and replace it with another Trump-like, high-end, championship golf course, which is the last thing Washington, surrounded by a dozen such luxurious golf clubs, needs.

Aren't there laws against that? Of course there are. But, as he did with the East Wing, Reflecting Pool and Kennedy Center, Trump just ignores them. He insists that, as president, he can do anything he wants, seeks no permits or approval required by law, then lies about what he's doing.

Fortunately, Trump's Hains Point plans have been challenged in court. Unfortunately, the courts are slow to act, while the bulldozers are fast. On his orders, the National Park Service cut down 430 trees this month, and Trump announced Hains Point will close on Nov. 15 so work on his new golf course can begin. Like the White House ballroom, with contractors working around the clock, construction may be over before the court decides whether he has the right to do it.

True, the vast majority of Americans have never been to Hains Point and never will, but what's happening there should concern us all. Not only because it robs Washingtonians of their favorite park, but because it's another test of whether a president is above the law and, when he breaks the law, whether the courts or Congress can stop him.

It also raises the question of why the president of the United States, who already owns 14 golf courses, should want another one. We know the answer to that: Because no matter what happens at Hains Point, Donald Trump will make money out of it.

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Black and white portrait of an elderly man smiling in a suit and glasses.