Fox News host Tucker Carlson laid out a formula for a GOP victory in November during a Monday night “Tucker Carlson Tonight” monologue.

Carlson began by tempering Republican expectations that a “victory is assured” based on the strong economy alone. In fact, according to the Fox News host, Bernie Sanders, should he win the Democratic nomination, could “win thousands of voters who went for Donald Trump” in 2016.”

“Trump could lose,” he said, noting that the days of national landslides are long gone. “Will he lose? Well, that depends on what he runs on.”

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Part I

Part II

While voters responded to then-candidate Donald Trump’s promise to “Make America Great Again” in 2016, Carlson contended that a deeper dive into the current economic numbers show there is still a long way to go.

“The big numbers — unemployment and inflation to name two — tell one story, and it’s a good story,” said the Fox News host.

“But dig a little deeper. A Pew poll from this fall provides a glimpse of what’s actually happening in a lot of parts of the country. In that survey, 56 percent of Americans said the economy was excellent or good, and that’s the good news. But then this: only 31 percent said the economy was helping them, and their families. Just 32 percent thought the current economy was helping the middle class. Fifty-eight percent thought the opposite. Among lower-income Republicans, 47 percent said economic conditions were hurting them. Just 30 percent said they were helping. Now keep in mind, these aren’t sociology professors from the Oberlin faculty lounge. This is the president’s core, it’s his base.”

With a middle class still struggling in many areas, Carlson argued that the candidate “who makes it easier for 30-year-olds to get married and have kids will win the election, and will deserve to win.”

“Remember that. It’s truer than any economic theory conceived on any college campus in the last 100 years,” he said. “Improve people’s lives, and they will vote for you. Period. Republicans ought to write that on their hands. Otherwise, the temptation will be to focus entirely on the lunacy now on display on the left right now. Democrats have gone crazy. It’s definitely worth pointing that out repeatedly. We do five nights a week. But it’s not enough to win. Winning candidates come with their own program. They convince voters they will make things better.”

Carlson notes that if Sanders becomes the nominee, republicans will then start to remind people that “socialism does not work,” but Sanders could win with a promise to “forgive student loans” because “debt is crushing an entire generation of Americans.”

“Republicans need to make a plan to make it better, or they will be left behind,” said Carlson, who added that Republicans shouldn’t “ignore the social issues” important to ordinary Americans. (RELATED: Tucker Exposes ‘Ruling Class’ Behind Border Policy Uproar: ‘Their Goal Is To Change Your Country Forever’)

“But ordinary people know the social fabric is coming apart,” Carlson said. “A winning candidate will say that out loud. Defend traditional values. Don’t be embarrassed about it. There’s nothing embarrassing about it.”

“Democrats aren’t promising change,” he concluded. “They’re promising revolution: Centuries of American history and custom, abolished. A nation starting over from scratch. Year zero. That’s what they’re calling for, and most people aren’t for that. They may be frustrated with the state of the country, may are. They may be anxious about the future, but they don’t hate America. They don’t want to topple George Washington and implement Maoism.”

He continued, “They’re conservative in the most basic sense: they love their families above all. They distrust radical theories of anything, because they know, and they’re right, that when the world turns upside down, ordinary people get hurt. They don’t want to burn it down. They just want things to get better. The candidate who promises to make them better — incrementally, but tangibly — will be inaugurated president a year from today.”