Dems have an opening for a midterm villain. Donald Trump, you're hired!

The governing troubles that have plagued the party for the past year need to be forgotten by voters.

We still have a villain. We will have to tell people what that was like. That scares the hell out of me.

How did we get to the point where the base voters are so upset about two of their own senators, rather than McConnell and Trump? He said that it was a tremendously mismanaged situation.

It's not clear if anti-Trump energy can give Democrats sustained momentum, as the party has seen its priorities stall while the costs of everything from gas and groceries rise.

Democrats will focus on Trump and other Republicans in this year's elections. The party would rather run on what they have done with their two years in power, particularly in battlegrounds. Fear is a time-honored trick that Trump has mastered, and some Democrats acknowledge that fear is the best way to gin up their base.

One of the things that motivates voters is fear, and a lot of this is causing a lot of fear among not just Democrats but also rational individuals everywhere.

If the Democrats lose the majority, people are going to get away with unimaginable things. He said that Republicans haven't done a damn thing and that Democrats may be imperfect.

The most vulnerable Democrats don't want to nationalize the election since they don't want Trump to be a villain. Most are already planning to run mayoral-style races, playing up local issues and training their attacks on their own opponents to make it less of a referendum on President Joe Biden.

While centering a campaign around Trump may not be helpful, some frontline members are entertaining some campaign focus on the House GOP's biggest firebrands. They argued that things may not be going great for Democrats, but wouldn't it be worse the other way?

Do you want to give the keys to the government to these people? They are nuts.

Kildee, who is running in his first tough reelection in years in a newly redrawn seat, said Democrats can ignore issues like the economy and inflation.

Democrats hope that putting Trump and his inner circle at the top of their minds will bring in more voters who may otherwise have stopped following the party. Biden's approval rating has fallen as Democrats failed to revive some of their most popular pieces of their agenda, such as universal pre-K and the child tax credit. Inflation remains at a 40-year high even as key parts of the economy improve.

In recent days, Trump scandals and GOP turmoil have dominated the headlines.

A federal judge ruled last week that Trump likely committed felony obstruction. Even as the Russian president continues to wage a war against Ukraine, Trump called on Putin to release dirt on Hunter Biden. CNN has reported a non-nefarious explanation for the omission of call records in the White House. After Trump withdrew his endorsement for the Senate run of MoBrooks, he told POLITICO that he had continued to try to overturn election results after he left office.

As Democrats called on the justice to resign or rectify himself from Jan. 6 related cases, the backlash from the texts from Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas continued.

Don Beyer, a frequent Trump critic, said that the Mo Brooks stuff helps with turnout because people are excited.

The Democrats are worried about turnout. The House ballot went in Democrats' favor, but not as much as two years prior, when Trump was on the ballot. If Biden's approval ratings don't make a big difference, Democratic voters will flood the polls.

A recent NBC News poll showed that Republicans had a 17-point advantage when it came to voter enthusiasm, an ominous sign with just over 200 days until voters go to the polls.

The real possibility of a low-turnout election was acknowledged by Rep. Ami Bera. He argued that the answer wasn't to seize on Trump in the districts Democrats want to protect.

There is an enthusiastic Trump Republican base out there. There is less energy on our side. We are going to have to block and tackle.

I think that's how we hold onto the majority, which is less about creating the bogeyman, and more about what we did. It's important to keep it local and run better races.