When you’ve lost Rupert Murdoch’s newspapers, you’ve got a serious problem. The Wall Street Journal just published a scathing editorial warning President Trump that Stephen Miller’s hardline immigration strategy is backfiring spectacularly—and costing Republicans elections they should win with their eyes closed.
WHAT’S GOING ON: A Trump-endorsed Republican just lost a Texas state senate seat by 14 points. This is a seat Trump carried by 17 points in 2024. Democrat Taylor Rehmet, a labor union leader and veteran, crushed Republican Leigh Wambsganss in Tarrant County—despite being vastly outspent and going up against a Truth Social endorsement from the president himself. Rehmet is now the first Democrat to hold that seat in decades.
“How does a Republican lose by 14 points in a safe conservative Texas state Senate seat that President Trump carried by 17 points in 2024?” the Journal asked. “Answer: When there’s a voter backlash against the Trump Administration, notably its mass deportation debacles.”
That’s a 31-point swing in just over 14 months. In Texas.
THE DETAILS: The Journal placed blame squarely on Miller’s aggressive enforcement tactics, including a daily quota of 3,000 migrant arrests that “was bound to result in agent intrusions into homes and businesses.” The timing couldn’t be worse for Republicans—the election came after federal immigration agents fatally shot two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis: Renee Good in early January and Alex Pretti later that month.
Both shootings sparked massive backlash over the administration’s conflicting narratives. Officials initially claimed Pretti approached agents with a gun; bystander video shows him holding a cellphone before being pinned down and shot. The White House similarly suggested Good tried to ram agents with her vehicle—a claim contradicted by eyewitness footage. Critics say the administration deliberately misrepresented both shootings to justify the killings.
BUT BUT BUT: Immigration has historically been a slam-dunk issue for Republicans. Not anymore. A YouGov poll from January 25 found 48 percent of Americans believe the Pretti shooting was unjustified. Another poll showed 52 percent think Trump’s immigration enforcement has gone too far.
The Journal warned that while aggressive immigration policy might play well in theory, enforcement “that turns ugly in the streets is turning off the swing voters who will determine who wins the race for Congress this year.”
OF COURSE: This isn’t the first Murdoch publication to sound the alarm. The New York Post published an op-ed last week arguing the Minneapolis enforcement tactics are “backfiring politically.” When both of Murdoch’s flagship newspapers are telling you to pump the brakes, the fire is already out of control.
WHY IT MATTERS: The Journal’s conclusion was blunt: even as Trump signals he wants to “dial back the confrontations on the street,” he needs to reconsider Miller’s influence entirely. “The Miller strategy isn’t likely to fare better this year,” the editorial warned.
With the 2026 midterms approaching, Republicans are watching a playbook that was supposed to deliver easy wins instead hand Democrats victory after victory. If a deep-red Texas district can flip by 31 points, nowhere is safe—and even the conservative media establishment is now saying the quiet part loud: Stephen Miller is a liability.