The Mid-Term Caused More Red Faces Than Red Waves
The 2022 mid-term elections showed that America is more split, divided, and confused than ever.
Some of my favorite things to watch after national elections are the cascades of finger-pointing and waves of indignant recrimination that follow. The winners giggle and laugh while the losers rinse themselves in pools of fetid self-doubt.
The most fun I’ve ever had was the over-the-top wailing and weeping by the media and Democrats after Hillary lost to Trump in 2016. It will be difficult to witness such excessive levels of political self-pity in the foreseeable future. Even unrepentant losers like Beto O’Rourke (Texas) and Stacy Abrams (Georgia) combined won’t shed as many tears despite blowing $200M on their FINAL campaigns. Imagine, that all money could have been spent against Republicans in Ohio or Colorado instead. Whew!
The most obvious thing that can be said about the 2022 mid-terms is that Democrats held serve in the Senate while Republicans won the House by a whisper. The promise of a Republican Red Wave evaporated (Maybe it’s the drought) while Democrats outperformed the pre-election polls. It’s a net plus for the GOP since they didn’t run the Senate anyway. For Democrats, keeping the Senate while losing the House is sort of like kissing your sister….when your sister is Margot Robbie. Not great, but you could have done worse by losing the Senate, too.
Big Take Away #1: The 2022 mid-terms seemed to indicate that Americans are very conflicted. On the one hand, we elect a complete left-wing nitwit like Fetterman in Pennsylvania while giving a solid Conservative like DeSantis a major victory in Florida. But I’m really starting to wonder about the people of Pennsylvania. After all, they voted for a deadbeat for Senator and a dead man for the State Legislator.
As far as I’m concerned, voters in PA, MD, and NY deserve the high crime rates since they voted to keep Liberal Democrats in office. And Democrat legislators wrote and enacted all those soft-on-crime bills. As the Bible intones, “As you sow, so shall you reap.”
Do Americans really accept decades-high “Inflation without Representation,” crime waves rolling across the Fruited Plain, an army of illegal aliens swarming across our southern border unabated, massive government spending, low fuel supplies, and inept foreign policies akin to the Keystone Cops?
Do We? Maybe so. Really? No, really? The map shows Red everywhere, but Washington doesn’t reflect this reality.
The GOP’s paper-thin margin in the House guarantees trouble for Kevin McCarthy as the Speaker. Remember, Republicans have a long and sordid history of failing to keep their campaign promises to curtail big government spending, reduce the national debt, and stop waves of illegal immigration. Little Kevin ain’t Nancy Pelosi by a long shot! He ain’t got the stones to keep his restless party dancing to the same tune. Unlike House Democrats, Republicans rarely stay united. I predict Biden will roll the House GOP into submission just like his old boss Obama because House Republicans don’t have the courage to actually wield the Power of the Purse the voters gave them.
It also looks like the Donkeycrats did a hell of a job pinning the “Election Denier” tail on the GOP. Never in the history of modern American politics has such a vapid, meaningless term been used with such effect. Calling someone an “Election Denier” is like calling them a “Flat Earther” because both have zero effect on reality. Just because someone fervently claims the earth is flat doesn’t make it true. The same goes for “Election Deniers” because no matter what they say, Joe Biden is and will be the President of the United States until 2024, like it or not.
That’s a fact, no matter what anyone says. The idea that using the term “Election Denier” has any purchase on some people is beyond comprehension. Just like Flat Earthers, Election Deniers are meaningless, worthless, and pointless elements in the body politic. They can barely change their underwear, let alone change the election results from two years ago.
Which brings us to the elephant in the room: Donald Trump. It is equally unimaginable that clear-eyed and rational Republicans would ever consider Trump a viable presidential candidate ..again. That man is already a basket case full of well-developed scandals, with even more scandals waiting in the wings. While it was understandable that Conservatives and Republicans chose Trump over a weak GOP field in 2016, the GOP has no shortage of rock-solid and rational candidates for 2024.
Trump cares about Trump, nobody else. No other candidates, Republican or not, or issues matter. He only wants - craves - media attention. It took me a while, but I now realize why the media give Trump sooooo much attention: They want him at the top of the GOP ticket so they can smear other Republican candidates as MAGA rebels. The media want Trump to sap all the energy away from regular Republican candidates.
Donald Trump is the ultimate alchemist because he can transmute political gold into radio-active lead. He is highly skilled at converting his best friends and allies into fervent enemies. Just ask Mike Pence or Jeff Sessions or Rex Tillerson or General Mattis or Ron DeSantis, and Fox News, to name but a few.
Big Takeaway #2: The GOP must dump The Donald if it hopes to reap the benefits of all its hard work and take advantage of Democrat missteps. Trump is the ultimate boat anchor around Republican necks. New Centurion predicted that Fetterman would win because Oz campaigned with Trump in the last few days despite having momentum after the debate. Nobody jump-starts Democrats more than Trump.
Trump will sabotage more GOP races if the GOP allows him to continue undermining them at every turn.
New Centurion
SPQA