Rio Grande Valley threatens to flip Trump region to Democratic control

A recent fundraising email employed veiled intimidation, referencing ICE enforcement. DeVega noted the message warned, "Does ICE need to come and track you down?"

DeVega wrote, "The president’s recent fundraising emails are part of a larger messaging campaign that has become increasingly menacing — even by Trump’s standards.

"Like an obsessed former lover, the president has been telling his MAGA voters that he loves them but is hurt because they appear to be ignoring him. He is wounded that they don't answer his multiple emails or pick up the phone when he calls. Trump's emails also ask his supporters if they are avoiding him or if they have blocked his number."

While the messaging could reflect Trump's psychological state, DeVega cautioned it reveals his continued influence over his base. "They should instead be taken seriously as an example of the power he still exerts over his MAGA base, and how he won the hearts and minds of tens of millions of Americans in the first place—factors that have long proven a competitive advantage that Democrats have struggled to overcome in recent presidential elections."

Political psychologist Steven Ducat described the dynamic as cult-like. "The leader is both the source of fear and the protector against it, it generates what social psychologist and cult researcher Alexandra Stein and others have called a trauma bond."

DeVega explained that Trump's fundraising strategy targets specific psychological profiles within his base. "As the president's support among the American people continues to crater, he will seek to exert even more control over his base. They, in turn, will likely feel even more compelled toward Trump, whom many view as their Dear Leader and personal savior, a dynamic common to political and other forms of personality cults."

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“The president called me Sunday night, and he said: 'Mike, we gotta make some changes, we need some more guests!'” Johnson said.

“Okay, well, you know the State of the Union is a very well-attended event and the gallery is already full, and we have waiting lists of people who want to be there. I said: 'Mr. President, how many people are we talking about?' [He said:] 'I think the whole team.' So we're going to work out logistics and somehow, some way, we'll squeeze in the hockey players tonight.”

Much has been said of Trump’s first State of the Union address since retaking the White House.

Critics have noted that the Supreme Court’s ruling against the president’s tariffs and his administration’s botched handling of its investigation into Jeffrey Epstein will weigh heavily on the address. Others have predicted that Trump may lash out at Supreme Court justices during his speech, and others still, that he may further “turn Americans off” by complaining about feeling unappreciated.

For their part, many Democratic lawmakers have decided to skip the address entirely, and instead host their own alternative State of the Union event in an unprecedented “break with tradition.”

“He’s made a mockery of the State of the Union speech and he doesn’t deserve an audience,” said Sen. Christopher Murphy (D-CT) recently, who will be joining Democrats for the alternative event, the “People’s State of the Union,” The New York Times reported.

“He’s going to tell 40 different lies, call Democrats names; he’s going to paper over his corruption, and I don’t feel like what he’s doing dignifies having Democrats there to cloak the speech in a veneer of respectability.”

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