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The legacy media are full of reports of the impending demise of the Democratic party, while the alternative right-wing media are self-congratulatory and happy. I would warn against smugness and complacency. We really did not win by that much.
Kamala was a historically poor candidate, as has been litigated endlessly this last week. The Dem message does not resonate with the voting public. People are unhappy with the direction of America and with the status of their leadership. (Etc, etc.)
Despite this combination of propitious circumstances, the Donald (all praise be upon him!) managed to exceed his historical ceiling of 48% approval by only 2 points, taking the popular vote 50.3% to 48.0. Think for a minute what that means. A change of only one voter's mind in fifty would have us hanging crepe rather than popping champagne.
We only have 52 seats in the Senate (without Pennsylvania) — enough, thank God, to confirm a SCOTUS judge but barely so — not enough to advance meaningful legislation past the filibuster. Whoever is elected Majority Leader should take some lessons in Parlimentarianism from Senator McConnell. The House is dicey. As of this morning, we're at 214 to 205 with 16 in play, so again, any majority we achieve will be by the thinnest of margins.
Mr. Trump's ability to advance important legislation will be greatly inhibited. He'll do all that he can by fiat, of that I have no doubt, but the excesses of the Biden era show how executive orders are only worth the paper they are written on.
Finally, we have the States. It looks like we had a good night, taking 8 of 11 contested mansions. This leaves us with 27 Republican and 23 Democrat governors.
I think this is actually very sobering news. Given the state of the nation, this election should have been a historic blow out, a 65/35 Presidential contest, 250 seats in the House, and 55 or more Senators.
What are we doing wrong?
How is it that right-wing thinking cannot prevail even in these unique times?
We have a lot of work to do.
Discussion (867)
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Nominating Kari Lake was an unforced error. I forgot the name of the previous unforced error the Repubs kept nominating in Arizona. Candidate selection matters. The repubs nominated weird candidates in 22 in Michigan, and picked Kristina Karamos as party chair ( later overthrew her, but tremendous damage was done.). Kristina was either insane, or a democratic plant, or both. In Michigan, Repubs did 24 right, but the hole from 22 and Kristina was too much. McSally was the previous unforced error in Arizona.
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The fact that The Turtle spent $0.00 to support Ted Cruz and Kari Lake while sinking millions on a slug like Hogan says a lot about what "our" problems are. Even Mark Levin, no friend of Democrats, advised against voting for Hogan even if it meant the Democrat was elected.
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According to the polls, which were wrong. How many Trump supporters failed to turn out in blue states because they live in blue states?
Underthinking is the bête noire of the Democrats, overthinking for Republicans.
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Republicans in AZ voted for her in the primary. It wasn’t a back room pick. 55-40 in the primary. That’s not a small margin. I don’t have a clue about the party dynamics in the State, but letting McConnell pick who gets money seems a losing system for people he doesn’t like. He for sure has no interest in furthering Trump’s agenda. He’s happy with a slim margin.
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But Hogen was one of them. Therefore deserving.
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