Do you feel that calm? That's fascism heading toward its hidey hole!
It has been a good week for democracy, and there is a fair bit to unpack. Not sure I can dive too deep here. Because, you know, life.
The Red Wave That Wasn't
Prognosticators and polls predicted a punctual, pertinacious pull of the parties past progressive. But it didn't happen. As of this writing, five days after the polls closed, the Democrats have retained control of the Senate, and the House is on a knife's edge, with a dozen or so races yet to be called. Though "they" say that the right still has an advantage to take the House, the Dems could still pull off a majority. But even if they don't, I believe the country still won.
The Anxiety That Wasn't
Or rather, shouldn't have been. If we learned anything from 2016, it was that polls lie. They lied again this year. I know I'm not the only one who had a deep anxiety in the weeks leading up to Election Day. It took a toll on my sister resisters, too. It's was a long four years, and January 6th trauma still simmers, so to face even one more day of being governed by people who "love" the country so much that they are willing to burn it down, was too much to face.
Note to self: save the anxiety for the actual counting days and skip the polls and the pundits. Do the work, then let the voters say.
Big Lie? Bye-bye!
The voters decided that they weren't going to tolerate any more MAGAT nonsense. They rejected most of the MAGAT-backed candidates. From coast to coast, they were sent packing. The SCROTUS Effect, turns out, is poison ivy. Here's a summary from AP News about the election-deniers who were denied. As they quoted Joanna Lydgate of States United, "It was a good day for democracy."
My predictions, thankfully, came true.
In these pages more than once I proposed that the only way out of our MAGA mess was for the Republican Party to become divided and to burn their own house down. Yes! It happened! The Republican Party became their own worst enemy; it became divided into "Team Crazy" and "Team Normal." Team Crazy pulled ahead when their MAGAT, election-denying candidates won primary elections across the country. But those crazies lost to Democrats' Team Normal candidates last week.
Qualified, reasonable Democrat candidates swooped up votes when independent voters – and Team Normal Republicans – decided that Team Crazy wasn't for them.
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| Thanks for the meme, Sister Resister Anne! |
My Pollyanna Moment
We have hope for the future! Hopefully the Republicans can hold on to Normal, regain their moral compass, and put forth qualified candidates. Maybe then we can actually start taking about policy again rather than if the Apricot Pol Pot is the Messiah, if we should oppress brown people, if we should regulate women back to being barefoot and pregnant, and if we should kill the Vice President of the United States of America.
Dare we hope? Maybe this will embolden the reasonable Republicans to speak up loudly, reject a TЯUMP candidacy, and shut the far-right shit down. Do we dare hope?
The "Usual" trends did not materialize
It's a historical trend that midterm voters have usually turned away from the party of the current president, especially when approval ratings were low. The usual didn't hold up this year. In fact, not only did they not firmly turn away from the current president, this year voters turned away from the previous president*.
In past trends, voters tend to push against the reigning party, especially in the first term. Here's what has happened in the last half-century or so of House midterms (stats thanks to UCSB's The American Presidency Project).
1974 Ford (post Nixon) approval rating 54%, lost 78 seats (following Watergate)
1978 Carter 45%, lost 15
1982 Reagan 42%, lost 26
1986 Reagan 64%, lost 5
1990 Bush I 57%, lost 8
1994 Clinton 48%, lost 52
1998 Clinton 65%, gained 5
2002 Bush II 67%, gained 8 (just after 9/11)
2006 Bush II 37%, lost 30
2010 Obama 45%, lost 63
2014 Obama 41%, lost 13
2018 T**** 44%, lost 40
2024 Biden 42%, TBD
At this writing, the final results are not known. Though this year's numbers are still to be determined, it looks like Democratic losses this year will not follow the usual trend. We are not in usual times.
Even if the Dems don't keep control of the House, we all won. The Repugs will have control by the slimmest margin, and the Democrats control the Senate. The election really could not have gone much better given all the circumstances. Who else is feeling elated?
What was important to the voters
Abortion rights and saving democracy. Yes, certainly the economy, too, but it appeared to be less of a driving factor than the pundits led us to believe.
We still have toxicity out there.
FAUX News's talking heads like F*cker Carlson, as well as the toxic radio and YouTube crowd, will continue to spew misinformation and whip up the whip-upable.
We still have the Wart Squad: Boebert (possibly; her seat is still undecided), Margie Green, Matty G, Scamperin' Josh Hawley, and the rest of that ilk, along with the newbies such as Senator-elect J.D. Vance in Ohio and Representative-elect Ted Budd in North Carolina. Come 2024, though, perhaps we'll have that industrial size barrel of Compound W ready and waiting at each polling place to get some of those nasties off our asses.
Yes, FAUX News is still a scourge, but without the additional mouthpieces spouting the nonsense and obstructing constructive work in the Congress, and with Moscow Mitch gone (whoo-hoooo!) as Senate Majority Leader (please, please, please, Mitch, might you consider retiring when your term ends in 2027?), at least we may have a quieter place in which to do the work.
And there's the non-elected white supremacists. They are still out there. We must continue to fight! The misogynists still wanna misogyn. They must feel strong push-back. We still have much work.
Yes, indeed, we do have a lot of work to do.
In the near term, we need to help get Senator Raphael Warnock re-elected in Georgia! His runoff election is Tuesday, December 6. Donate to his campaign or write postcards! I use Postcards to Voters. I like the way they manage the task.
We must codify abortion rights into the law of the land. We must strengthen our civil rights and work on our justice system. We must work NOW to combat climate change. We need to better our children's educations. We must continue to examine January 6 and bring all the ne'er-do-wells to justice. We must promote federal judges that will be fair and protect our Constitution and civil rights. We must continue to examine Supreme Court justice malfeasance. And so much more. The progressive agenda isn't going away just because it's going to be a little more difficult.
The Once and Future President*?
Supposedly there's a "big announcement" coming from that puckered orange mouth this week. But yanno, I don't want to talk about some two-bit bigoted grifting seditionist has-been who has umpteen court cases pending against him. Let's just bask in the big win and delegate that heaping orange turd to the loser's corner.
We did it, Resisters! Go treat yourself!
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| Dave Whamond |
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