OPINION:

Now that the new year is upon us, attention will naturally turn to the November midterm elections, which, if you believe pollsters and media, will be decided on the related issues of health care and the overall “affordability” of life in the American economy.

That’s not surprising because economic concerns are always motivating factors for voters. What’s disturbing is the eagerness of national news media to skip right past the part where they identify who caused the problems people are worried about and who is already fixing them.

If you rely on legacy news outlets for your daily information, you will certainly not be reminded of who broke everything (Spoiler: It was the Democrats). You will not be told who has already had tremendous success in raising the U.S. economy back to where it should be (Hint: It’s the current president).

Last month, Newsweek published a rosy prediction for a strong midterm performance by Democrats, based on polling data regarding economic issues. “People are upset about rising costs, and voters want leaders who will fight for them,” a Democratic communications flack told Newsweek.

That person, along with most of the Beltway news media, believes the situation favors Democrats because Republicans control the White House and Congress, and voters will take out their frustrations against those in power.

Based on political history, that’s one prediction, but what if news media told voters the whole story?

What if reporters didn’t describe the situation as a snapshot taken at the present time, based on who is and isn’t in power at this moment, and instead explained how we got here? As in, who actually caused the problems people are upset about?

Only in the bizarro combined world of leftist politics and journalism could the people who caused a mess be championed as the ones to trust to clean it up.

On health care, Democrats sold Obamacare at the time as the cure for what ailed the American system, while Republicans warned that it would be a runaway government boondoggle. Republicans obviously have been right about that disaster from the beginning.

Doubling down yet again, Democrats forced a record-length government shutdown in an attempt to extend COVID-19 pandemic subsidies for Obamacare. In English, it meant they were fighting for billions of dollars to be sent directly to giant health insurance companies that are raising prices and will never stop doing so. Obamacare is a bottomless pit.

President Trump, meanwhile, has advocated for sending the money right to consumers. Republicans are supporting health savings accounts and low-premium catastrophic policies with high deductibles to reattract young people to the marketplace. They also think small businesses should be able to band together, including across state lines, to increase the size of insurance pools and achieve economies of scale.

Remember that when Democrats talk about health care, they are not actually fighting for health care; they are defending Obamacare. There’s a big difference.

On the affordability argument, we already know how media and their Democratic pals play the game.

Journalists heaped praise on Virginia Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger for her supposed laser focus on “affordability” as an issue during her successful 2025 campaign. What they didn’t report was that as a member of Congress, Ms. Spanberger helped cause inflation — and therefore unafforability — by backing every boneheaded move of the Biden administration.

President Biden declared war on American energy on his first day in office, sending the price of fuel and everything else skyrocketing. He followed that with ungodly amounts of federal spending that hugely fueled inflation. Ms. Spanberger cheered every moment of the Biden debacle, yet was somehow then hailed by news media as the solution to those very problems in Virginia.

In Colorado and California, Democrats have spent years taxing, regulating, suing and fining energy companies as though they were enemies of the state. Now, in both states, they are begging power plants to stay open because they know their mythical “green energy” sources are inadequate.

This is who we’re supposed to trust on the economy?

Another prominent fact left out is that Mr. Trump has reopened America for business after the sleepy Biden years. The economy expanded by 4.3% in the last quarter, the fastest rate in two years and far ahead of expectations. Mr. Trump also has cooled the Biden inflation, which he has brought down to 2.7%.

If you look at the facts, campaigns focusing on health care and the economy should favor Republicans, not Democrats. Indeed, if those are the issues that will decide the next election, Republicans should say, “Bring it on.”

• Tim Murtaugh is a Washington Times columnist and founder of Line Drive Public Affairs. He served as a senior adviser on the 2024 Trump campaign and as communications director on the 2020 Trump campaign.