The Patriot Post® · Tsunami Warning

By Gary Bauer ·
https://patriotpost.us/opinion/128592-tsunami-warning-2026-06-24

There’s a lot of talk about a “Blue wave” sweeping America this year. That may be an understatement. The tsunami warnings are going off. An analysis of voter turnout in primary elections this year compared to 2022 and 2018 finds that Democrat turnout is up—a lot and everywhere.
 
Voter turnout increased in 90% of Democrat House primaries this year. Even in Republican House districts, Democrats are voting in large numbers. In one solidly Red Georgia district, Democrat primary turnout surged 70%.
 
Another measure of voter intensity has been flashing red all year—the “enthusiasm gap.” One recent poll asked voters to rank the importance of this year’s midterm elections compared to previous midterms. Fifty-four percent of Democrats said the 2026 midterm election was “much more important” than previous years. Only 32% of Republicans said the same.
 
That 22-point difference is not merely a “gap.” It’s a chasm that could have catastrophic consequences for the GOP on Election Day.
 
 
 
The Implications
 
From Washington, D.C., to Washington state, the “socialist surge” is sweeping the country. Many on our side are doing the typical conventional wisdom analysis: “That will help Republicans because socialism doesn’t sell in Oklahoma and Tennessee. Most Americans aren’t like that.”
 
Let me explain why that analysis is likely wrong.
 
Voter turnout in the 2025 New York City mayoral election was huge—the highest in more than 50 years. And Mamdani won. These radical socialists are winning because they are turning out radical voters who think the Democrat Party is “too moderate.”
 
Now think about the implications of that in races for governor, the U.S. Senate and even the presidential contest. Democrats win statewide in Pennsylvania when they get a big turnout in Philadelphia. Illinois would be a competitive state if it weren’t for heavily leftist Chicago. It’s the same in many other states.
 
This fired-up socialist movement in urban America is going to boost the total Democrat vote in every statewide election. That will make races for governor and the Senate harder for conservatives to win.
 
And don’t miss the fact that these socialist candidates are young. They will be around for a long time, pulling the Democrat Party even further to the left.
 
 
 
New York vs. The Nuns
 
The Trump administration is once again putting the full weight of the federal government behind efforts to defend religious liberty. The Justice Department is siding with Catholic nuns who are resisting radical transgender mandates being forced on them by the state of New York.
 
The Dominican sisters of Rosary Hill Home care for terminally ill patients. But left-wing bureaucrats are ordering the nuns to put men claiming to be women in women’s rooms, even if the women object. They are also ordering nuns to call these men by female names and pronouns.
 
Not surprisingly, the sisters are refusing to violate the Church’s teachings on biological and biblical truth, and the Trump administration is standing with them and with common sense.
 
 
 
Faith Wins
 
While New York’s nuns are fighting for their religious freedom, judges in Texas just successfully defended theirs. McLennan County Judge Dianne Hensley has been fighting a years-long battle against the State Commission on Judicial Conduct.
 
Hensley was disciplined by the commission for declining to perform same-sex weddings, which violated her deeply held religious beliefs. After years of litigation and two rulings by the Texas Supreme Court, Judge Hensley’s record has been cleared, and the commission was ordered to pay more than $600,000 in damages and attorney’s fees.
 
The Texas Supreme Court initially clarified that declining to perform same-sex weddings was not a violation of judicial ethics. In a separate ruling, the court declared that the Commission on Judicial Conduct had no authority to discipline judges who object to performing same-sex weddings.
 
These controversies in New York and Texas are reminders that while some Christians may not be interested in politics and government, leftist politicians and leftist-controlled governments are very interested in us—they want to crush us.
 
Christian citizens must defend our rights by supporting candidates who will defend religious liberty. Otherwise, we will be forced to kneel at the Left’s altar of secularism.
 
 
 
No Joy For The Fourth Of July
 
Former MSNBC host Joy Reid is not celebrating America on the Fourth of July, and she is not alone. She sees it as “the celebration of slaveholders who freed themselves from having to pay taxes to the Crown for their slave empire.” Here we go again with leftist anti-American lies and alternative histories like the 1619 Project.
 
If someone said something like that in 1976 on our 200th birthday, they would have been marginalized forever. They could never run for office or become a leading TV personality. They would have been branded a “traitor.”
 
But, after decades of Marxist indoctrination in our schools, anti-American radicals have multiplied like cockroaches, and they are everywhere.
 
 
 
World Cup Contrast
 
You don’t have to be a soccer fan to appreciate the cultural moment that is taking place right now during the World Cup games. The Christian faith of the U.S. Men’s National Soccer team is going viral.
 
So, too, are videos of European soccer fans who have fallen in love with America. In fact, many are saying they have been lied to by their own governments and media about what America is like.
 
They have been smothered by socialism for so long that they are awestruck by all the choices in our stores. They are stunned that restaurants offer free refills and other items with their meals. They are astounded that everyone has air conditioning.
 
And in stark contrast to Joy Reid, World Cup fans are bursting with pride in America every time our national anthem is played.
 
Perhaps we can work out a trade. For every World Cup fan who is falling in love with America, let them stay and send an anti-American socialist to the country of their choice.
 
Read more of my thoughts on the World Cup in my latest public policy update for the James Dobson Family Institute.