— Feature, Musings —11.09.2022 11:59 AM
My latest: We’re gonna lose so much, you may even get tired of losing
Trump lost.
His name wasn’t on any ballot, true. He wasn’t in any race, agreed. This morning, he is what he was yesterday: Donald J. Trump, private citizen.
But make no mistake. The stunning outcomes in Tuesday’s midterm elections were a short, sharp repudiation of the once and future Republican presidential candidate. In every corner of the US, across the land of the free and the home of the brave, Americans considered Trump, and said: nah. No thanks.
Early in the evening, one of Trump’s repellant sons tweeted: “Bloodbath!” But if there was any blood figuratively spilled, it was of Republican expectations. No Red Wave materialized, at all.
It was left to Trump’s loyal man-servant, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, to acknowledge the unhappy reality: “[It was] definitely not a Republican wave, that’s for darn sure. Hats off to the Democrats.”
Hats off, indeed. Consider these results, none of which are good for Trump or Trumpists:
• In the House of Representatives, where Trump loyalist Kevin McCarthy had been predicting a big GOP majority and absolute control, the Trump party will gain – best case – 15 seats. That’s a huge failure, by every standard. Why? Because it’s just a fraction of what has been achieved by the opposition party in past mid-term contests. If mid-terms are referenda on sitting presidents – and they are – Joe Biden won.
• In the Senate, too, cocky GOP types had been predicting total control. But, so far, that just hasn’t happened. The Republicans lost a seat they held, Pennsylvania, to a bald guy who wore hoodies and had suffered a speech-impairing stroke mid-campaign. And in Georgia, the outcome still isn’t known – but there, a football star and Trump favorite, Herschel Walker, remains behind his Democrat opponent.
• Republican hopes were dashed everywhere. While they now dominate Florida – more on that in a minute – GOP claims to capture the monolithic Hispanic vote didn’t materialize. Fantasies about expanding their base in House races, from Maine to Arizona, didn’t happen either. And Democrats prevailed in Senate races Republicans had been counting on, in New Hampshire, Washington and Colorado. New York, too: despite untold millions spent to prop up the Republican champion, a Democrat remains governor.
• Trump-endorsed election deniers were denied across the election map. In the Senate, the House, governor and Secretary of State races, at least 16 prominent deniers of the 2020 election outcome lost. Some, like the rebarbative Colorado Trump fanatic Lauren Boebert, blew a massive lead and was behind on Wednesday morning. And Republicans who defied Trump, and certified the 2020 outcome like Georgia’s Brian Kemp, won big.
• Most ominously for Trump, his likely opponent for the Republican presidential nomination, Florida’s Ron DeSantis, swept his state, turning it into a Republican stronghold for the first time in generations. DeSantis did that not just despite Trump’s attacks on him in recent days – he arguably did that because of those attacks. After Tuesday night, DeSantis is the strongest Republican politician on the national stage. Not Trump.
Trump was the loser on Tuesday night. But what of the man who beat him in 2020 for the Oval Office? Joe Biden, won, as well. Despite inflation, despite the price of a gallon of gas or a loaf of bread, despite a Democratic Party that has moved too far to the left, Biden did not suffer the humiliating defeat that many were predicting.
He won, last night. DeSantis won. Democrats won.
Trump lost.
[Kinsella volunteers for Democratic Party campaigns.]
The fire next time though. The Dems need to start thinking very seriously about how to deal with a DeSantis/Psychopath du Jour Republican ticket in 2024.
Time is not on Trump’s side. Yesterday’s man?
DeSantis is now well positioned to get the GOP nod. To put it another way, it’s his race to lose.
As for Joe, not totally convinced the Dems want to chance him in 2024. If that’s the case, who’s out there on the Blue side?
Douglas,
Newsom is already pre-positioning. Others will follow. If Joe stays under 45%, he’s toast, period.
Sir Ronald,
He’s already toast. Let the jockeying begin.
Orange menace is an antisocial confidence man that has
already had his day in the limelight. He’s yesterday’s man geopolitically. G7 & G20 would not tolerate yet another iteration of this level of unprofessionalism.
The U.S. Deep State could not risk another right wing term in the case of orange man bad. Trading partners have evidenced his destruction via trade wars initiated by his admin prior to his exit.
RW
I think the election denial thing among Republican supporters is more nuanced than many of us realized or considered. Yes, there are full on batshit crazy Republicans who actually think that every time a Republican wins it’s fair and square and every time a Democrat wins it’s solely as a result of cheating.
But I think there’s a significant bunch of Republican supporters for whom it’s more of a passive-aggressive dig at Democrats. They don’t really seriously believe it, but they espouse election denialism because (a) it pisses off Democrats and anything that pisses off Democrats is ipso facto good and (b) related to (a), it’s also a sign of tribal affiliation.
It’s like when you get into a really really dysfunctional relationship, so much so that your S.O. will deliberately lie to you just to piss you off and to express hostility towards you.
I don’t know Doc. Most of those fools look like Kool-Aid drinkers, at the very least. The level of gullibility is off the charts. They live in an alternate reality.
Completely agree. And it couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy. The sooner the GOP jettisons this idiot, the better.
“late earlies” are my new favorite obscure American election term, replacing “dimpled chad”.
The Republicans need to get rid of Donald Trump. His obsession with the last election, his arrogance, his childish language and his temper have turned many voters against the Republican Party. Ron DeSantis is a far more intelligent and professional politician.
The problem the GOP faces, though, is that its power structure became almost completely inverted under Trumpism. The inmates took over the asylum. Any Republican leader who backs away from Trump is instantly derided as a RINO and a cuck by the hard-core Trumpists. As many good political observers have noted, in a very real sense, the GOP leadership and candidates are scared shitless of the wrath of their own base. Look how quickly they turned on the likes of Liz Cheney, whose Republican and conservative credentials were impeccable.
And remember, it’s those batshit crazy Trumpists who turn out in droves for Republican primaries. A lot of the commentary going on right now utterly ignores the fact that Trump still crushes all potential opponents among the Republican base for the 2024 Presidential nomination. He laps De Santis in most polls. I guess we’ll see if that really changes.
Actually, a happy update — apparently some of those Republican primary poll numbers are starting to move against Trump.
I hope the coming knock-down drag-out fight between DeSantis and Trump severely damages the Republican party for several election cycles to come. Nothing like some good ol’ fratricide among your opponents to put the wind in your sails! It won’t take peeling away many die-hard Trumpers from supporting GOP tickets to benefit the Dems going forward.
Warren,
This is what Fox News reported back in August:
‘Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell could soon be faced with a new wave of Republicans in the Senate who oppose his messaging, however he continues to offer support for those representing the GOP on the ballot amid “candidate quality” concerns.’
On Thursday, when asked for his 2022 prediction at the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce luncheon, McConnell cited “candidate quality” as a reason why he believes Republicans will face difficulty in flipping the Senate in November and instead might only be able to flip control of the House.
“I think there’s probably a greater likelihood the House flips than the Senate,” said McConnell, who has led the GOP in the Senate since 2007. “Senate races are just different, they’re statewide. Candidate quality has a lot to do with the outcome.”
Bingo. Right on target. Republican Senators should be kissing his feet now rather than grumbling how they intend to try and replace him as leader.
Republicans…such gullible suckers. Hopefully, these election results will finally finish off TheDemonSeedTM.