2022 Midterms: Not A Tsunami, But Some Real Republican Gains
Controlling the House means no more Biden legislation, and investigations of the corrupt Biden family influence peddling business.
There is no way to view the midterm election results as a Republican success. But the full results are not in. It’s likely Republicans will win the House. The Senate also is still in play, with Republicans having to win two of Nevada, Arizona, Georgia — possible.
Definitely not a red tsunami, and not what would be expected where the economy is as bad as it is, and the sitting president is profoundly unpopular. It should have at least been a wave, and the reasons it wasn’t will be studied and the subject of controversy.
Here are some thoughts, in rambling fashion.
If this less-than-wave fell into place in Republicans’ favor the night of the election (last night), people might be feeling less despondent. As Rick Grenell pointed out on Twitter, one of the reasons election night seemed like such a failure is that the media operates on East Coast time. The western races, including California house seats, that may put Republicans over the top were too late for those who write the headlines. And we will not know the results of Nevada and Arizona for at least another day, maybe 2-3 more days. (Georgia has a December 6 runoff.) The time delay in Arizona and Nevada is unconsionable, and not the first time.
So when I went to bed sometime after midnight last night, and woke up not that long after (seriously, I was agitated), I was feeling really down. I’m feeling a little better now, though not happy. It should have been like election night 2016, we should have heard the lamentations of their women. But with the benefit of multiple additional election cycles, perhaps 2016 was a fluke, a unique confluence of factors, including Democrats who underestimated Trump and an electorate motivated by Hillary-hatred. It was catching lightning in a bottle, and may not be possible again.
We will have a lot of time to figure out why these midterms were a disappointment. One of the reasons for sure is that Democrats created and have mastered the art of early and mail-in ballots.
In 2020, using the pandemic as an excuse, Democrats reconfigured much of our electoral system and embraced the new normal, while the Trump campaign focused on in-person election day voting. How did that work out? Democrats continued to embrace banking hundreds of thousands of early and mail-in votes, while Republicans continue to emphasize same-day voting. This tweet from Election Wizard nicely summarized the issue:
“All this Trump v. DeSantis talk is juicy, but under the hood, there’s a far more pressing issue: Democrats fortified their COVID mass mail-in-voting apparatus. It’s a vote-harvesting juggernaut that will continue to produce competitive results no matter the GOP nominee.”
There are a lot of people who will not bother to go and vote, but will check some boxes on a ballot and mail it in, particularly with some assistance. Republicans need an early and mail-in voting operation just as robust as the Democrats, or they will keep losing.
The Republican wins were particularly impressive given what Republicans are up against. “Our Lawyer” Ron Coleman tweeted:
Such pedestrian takes underselling tonight’s results for the GOP. At no point in US history has every single cultural institution – press, entertainment, academia, unions, public employees, the massive public employee sector, the professions, law enforcement, federal agencies … major corporations, Wall Street, non-profits, mainline Protestant denominations, the military – I could go on – been so profoundly and explicitly aligned the way they have been behind the Left in the last five years.
There’s nothing “typical” about this midterm election.
Moreover, the GOP is bringing legitimately interesting and exciting new blood into its coalitions as candidates, young leaders and voters. This includes many minority communities dismissed as automatic Democrat sectors for all time to come.
Not that the GOP isn’t stuck with some old and stale figures – but the Democrats have no bench, no future. No one. And their party message is and will remain rooted in resentment, nihilism, division and contempt for most Americans, their values and and their intelligence.
And then you’ll tell me, “It was only Florida!”
I mean if you don’t understand or want to accept what Florida means – the Latino vote, the economic growth, the low taxes, the nature of the leadership that transformed its political landscape – I can’t help you. Not at this hour.
But if your response is Pennsylvania… Or New York… or Illinois… or California…
it is to laugh.
You’re missing the forest for the trees. The 20th century is way in the rear view mirror.
These states are the living dead of our Republic. They’re bleeding population, representation, talent, youth … NY escaped the fate of the rest of the rust belt by retooling as a financial center and safe tourist attraction. The quarter century of that success was mulcted to zero by Democrats in less than a decade. It’s hopeless.
NY is too, and so is PA. Just slower.
Then there’s the Trump factor. I think it’s hard in present time to assess the growing consensus that Trump blew it for Republicans by promoting weak candidates. Some of the Trump candidates were really weak, but some were not. And Republicans have run plenty of weak establishment candidates. Just ask President Romney. More so than weak candidates, Trump-hatred was used to energize the Democrat base.
Then there were the cheap shots Trump took at Ron DeSantis just three days prior to election day. Calling him “Ron DeSanctimonious” dominated the news cycle for 24-48 of those last 72 hours. Also, it was a pathetic nickname, hardly the power of “Crooked Hillary,” “Low Energy Jeb” or “Little Marco.” And then the night before voting, throwing a verbal hand grenade warning DeSantis not to run for president because Trump knows damaging information about DeSantis – really, this is what you are doing the night before a critical national election? And add to it Trump’s announcement that he will make an announcement next week, all to draw attention away from GOTV and onto himself.
I think even a lot of diehard Trump fans would have to admit that was not the time and place – there will be years to fight over a nomination, it didn’t have to take place in the 72 hours before the midterms. And no, it was not a power move or three-dimensional chess. If anything, it elevated DeSantis even more.
So of course this all infuriated DeSantis supporters. And there are a lot of them. And their numbers are growing, which is why Trump is acting precipitously.
I don’t know if DeSantis will run, but the wind is at his back. That said, being a successful Governor doesn’t necessarily translate to the national stage. I thought Scott Walker, having slain the public sector unions and survived withering media fire and protests, would be a great national candidate. But it didn’t work, he never outgrew the Governor’s office. So DeSantis’ sweeping victory doesn’t necessarily translate onto the national stage, but it might. DeSantis has a strong, enthusiastic, adoring base. Not as large for now as Trump’s. but it sets DeSantis apart from others who couldn’t hold an electoral candle to Trump in 2016 – Rubio, Jeb, and the others didn’t have that base.
So I’m waiting to see how the three pending Senate races play out before assessing the end result. Controlling the House means no more Biden legislation, and investigations of the corrupt Biden family influence peddling business. Controlling the Senate means no more judges for Joey, though we still will be at the mercy of Romney, Collins, and possibly Murkowski if she ends up winning the Alaska ranked-voting race.
This whole midterm mess more than anything should be a wake up call.
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Comments
It absolutely was a tidal wave.
But, the Democrats control every facet of the election administration.
And their computers are waterproof.
They are Communist’s, but they ain’t dumb.
The job of running the election was there for the picking.
The Republicans did absolutely nothing but sit on their hands and fret.
And no a single peep out of them.
‘ No push-back, no challenges…
Oh, we would never contest a free and fair election.
Well, there ain’t been one in a while, and with the kind of representation we have, there will never be one again.
Gutless Cowards is an understatement.
This is just not true. You are wildly making things up without any basis in fact.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/11/odd-election-map-new-york-appears-show-exact-vote-counts-red-counties/
Gatewaypundit?! Seriously?! You’re citing that as evidence of something?! Gatewaypundit is a garbage site with absolutely no credibility. Anything published only there is automatically not worth looking at. So I’m not even going to bother following your link. But going by the text of the link I’ll bet it’s about some news site screwing up a map, and nothing to do with any official results.
Kid, you are usually better than this.
Try again.
Facts, Milhouse. Deal with them, or refute them.
What facts? There are no facts at Gatewaypundit. And there are no facts behind Snowshooze’s rant.
It is certainly not a fact that any two NY counties, let alone half a dozen, all reported the same vote counts, at any time after the stage when they were all at zero.
You are 100% right but I decided to look at the sites story and it is even more pathetic than you thought, it does not even name the media source this supposedly happened at.
You remind me of a postdoctoral coworker of mine, who saw fit to criticize my listing to Rush Limbaugh (while in a closed, dark room with lots of running pumps for an electron microscope), saying “How could you listen to him???” I asked, well, tell me what he said that you disagree with? “Well, I don’t listen to him!!!” I remarked that I hoped her science was more fact based than her political positions. She turned all red, and I turned up the volume.
Maybe you should start from the “a broken clock tells time right twice a day” and take a look at the article. If it is ridiculous, you should be able to tell.
I always read the links and usually find that I can clobber my debate opponent over the head with things they missed or didn’t understand.
Dimsdale, as you will see later in the comments I did look at the article, and as Danny said it was even worse than I had originally thought. For one thing it is not sourced at all. For another, assuming (for no particular reason) that the video it shows is genuine, all it tells us is that some unnamed web site (not the Board of Elections) made a stupid mistake. How long that mistake lasted until the site’s owner corrected it? Who knows, and who cares? The point is that to pretend this shows something fishy going on at the Board of Elections is either deliberately dishonest or else just too stupid for words.
Fair enough. But you did say “So I’m not even going to bother following your link.” which could be construed literally.
I wasn’t going to follow it, because my past experience has taught me that everything on gateway pundit is garbage. So my attitude is that it’s a waste of time to read it; if anything is true it will be reported elsewhere and you can cite it from there. Citing gateway pundit in an argument is an automatic loss.
But upon snowshooze’s insistence that the story was sourced I did eventually look at it, and it was even worse garbage than I had originally thought. Never again.
GP censors comments. They suck.
Thats sooo true! I keep getting booted by gp. They are Putin propagandists
Which part is it you think I made up?
The part where there was a tidal wave and it was somehow hidden by fraud of which there is not a shred of evidence.
So you are going to tell us that mail in and early voting are not rife with fraud, to the point other countries outright ban the practices?
Let me see your links.
No, of course I’m not going to tell you that. Where could you have got such an idea? I’m not going to tell you that, because I don’t believe it. I’ve been posting the exact opposite on this site for years. But if I were telling you that, it would be you who would have to come up with evidence otherwise, since you’re the one making a positive assertion rather than a negative one. That nothing happened is the null hypothesis, which doesn’t need proving, it needs disproving. As it happens, as a general proposition there is plenty of evidence. What there isn’t, is specific evidence that it happened this time. Or last time. We can assume it did, only because we know it happens all the time and there’s no reason why it wouldn’t have happened again.
I dunno, perhaps from “The part where there was a tidal wave and it was somehow hidden by fraud of which there is not a shred of evidence?”
I think the simple fact that Florida experienced such honest results after dumping the Dem voting crap, and Orange County in California showed obviously opposite results is tacit proof.
It doesn’t help that the Dems are so gung-ho about it; that usually means they have found a way to exploit it.
I wrote what I meant and I meant what I wrote. There was no tidal wave and there is no evidence of fraud. I stand by that.
What I will not tell you, because I’ve been arguing the exact opposite here literally for years, is that mail in and early voting are not rife with fraud. Of course they are.
But there is, so far, no evidence of that fraud in this election, and there’s still very little evidence of it in the last election, for the simple reason that such evidence is difficult to obtain, and the recent changes in the rules make it almost impossible.
Still, it’s lazy to rely on that to explain where the wave went. The simple fact is that there was no wave. Florida voted differently from Orange County because Florida is a different place with different people.
And, thanks for the down-vote.
Snowhooze, you are right on the money. It’s a horrible reality, but at least you’re not in the denial so many in the GOP are.
Oh, you think it was just coincidence that all of the machines malfunctioned, and the paper shortages and all that only ended up affecting republican areas?
Yes, total concidence. They happen, you know. I mean, take the American Coup of 1963, aka the “Kennedy assasination”: you remember that chestnut, don’t you?
Pull your heads out of your butts, people: this is death by a thousand cuts, and the left is prevailing.
No, I don’t think that is what happened. I think you are making that up.
You are utterly hopelessly naive or deliberately obtuse if you are claiming the Dems do not engage in rampant widespread cheating.
Huh?! When did I ever claim that?! Of course they routinely cheat, on as big a scale as they can. And in 2020 they ramped it up even more. But there is very little evidence of fraud in 2020, and so far there is almost no evidence at all of fraud this time. Finding such evidence is serious work, and most of it can’t be found at all. They’re good at this, they’ve been doing it for over a century, and they know how to hide it.
The plain fact, though, is that the “red wave” did not happen.
Yah willfully obtuse. Cheating IS committing fraud.. duh
And there is no evidence of their cheating, either this time or last time.
Snow, you are absolutely right.
Time to put a foot in the ass of the GOP’s useless Romney relative Rona Romney McDaniel, milquetoast McCarthy and horrid rat McConnell.
Till we do, we have NOTHING to complain about. NOTHING.
And let’s not even bring up the idea of auditing all of this new bureaucracy and automation that produces results that only fools and idiots would accept. You would think automation would make an easy task like counting ballots faster and more accurate rather that more ponderous and prone to massive “errors” but… look away! Look away! Nothing to see here! Let’s all be polite and get along!
Even at LI, we are again going all jazz hands and jimmy legs as our cowardice in confronting evil once again takes the stage. And this is an evil that will not get undone. The time to confront this was two years ago or even earlier. We at least should have had a review process before moving ahead with machines and ever-changing laws. We can’t vote this away when the vote is rigged. And we clearly are not going to take anything to court. But that is now okay. We are far too polite to risk upsetting anyone over corrupt elections. Generates too many down votes on blogs. We operate a polite insurrection around here.
Who but an utter fool would accept a job as CEO or CFO of a company without first ordering an independent audit of the books? I know we are only talking about the integrity of the voting process which lies at the very heart of what makes America great, but shouldn’t we be interested in finding out why there are so many problems and almost all of them favoring Democrats? Have we all turned into ditzo Ann Coulters?
Now I am hearing Republican consultants recommending that the Republicans themselves should adopt cheating because it’s too late. We must “move on”. Again. Intelligent adults (wherever they are) are not allowed to ask questions anymore. And if everyone is doing it, it’s okay. We’re cool with it. Just like looting and rioting. It’s just the way we do things now. No need for lawyers. Judges are crooked too. That’s just the way we do things now. Just accept it.
This is the latest example of how Republicans mop up after Democrats to lock down their gains. Cool! Let’s “move on”! Very inspiring.
As it turns out, Professor Jacobson was right to be uneasy about the election. I had hoped for a resounding red wave. It seems likely that it was muted, in part by a thoroughly corrupted electoral process.
Here’s a summary, from a D perspective, of how well the Rs did in NY.
Look at the numbers from New York.
Why are multiple counties all reporting the exact numbers of voters and percentages?
It is ludicrous.
The Democrats are lazy thieves.
You look. They are not.
You look at the GAteway Pundit piece.
They didn’t write it.
It was submitted to them.
They published it.
And it is sourced.
Go, look, ok, don’t.
But just drop the bs kid.
The facts are there.
Nothing reporting, and less than an hour later, over 90% reporting.
You really are slacking off badly.
Okay, guys, calm down. We are all feeling stuff, but taking it out on each other is not a good idea. We are all on the same team: Team America!
It doesn’t matter whether they wrote it or someone else did. Anything they publish is garbage.
But I did look at it at your insistence, and no, it is not sourced. It’s utter garbage.
Except of course the very early part where every county reports zero 🙂
Fuzzy, I am not on the same team as people like Snowshooze, who simply make things up and insist they’re true.
I hear you, Milhouse, but just let it go. We have this GP debate every few weeks/months, and it’s always the same. Some people really like that site, and that’s okay. Others don’t. That’s okay, too. Everyone is so on edge right now, that a little bit of patience goes a long way maybe?
No, Fuzzy, I refuse to be on the same team as outright liars, who make stuff up and pass it off as fact. I don’t want them on my team, and I don’t want to be on their team. They have no principles, no ethics, no morality. Everything is transactional and everything is measured only by how it affects their golden calf.
Deep breaths, people. I’ve programmed HTML. There’s a fair chance that the webside of that database is either cross-linked or working off duplicated links. Yeah, it looks horrid, but I’ll lean in the direction of programming error until malice can be proven.
The GatewayPundit is not worthy of being read. It is a piece of garbage; actually it is worst than a piece of garbage because people dispose of garbage and so get rid of it.
What it does is it spreads comforting lies and does anything it could for its narrative. Those lies have actually gotten us in trouble.
Democrats could afford expensive myths and insulating propaganda; we can’t.
Snowshooze, way too many of us need to take off the mental snowshoes we appear to be wearing as we cruise across the sea of bullsh-t we’re walking on.
Why do you think I would even consider entertaining a D perspective?
They are clueless, baseless Communist’s that have no idea the concept of integrity…
You mean like Gateway Pundit? Or Donald Trump?
You need to cite facts instead whining.
No, you need to cite facts. All you are doing is making stuff up, like Gateway Pundit does.
Most certainly Dems have taken the wrong path, in that they were highjacked by Marxist’s, while the Republican party was highjacked by Trump. Republicans got a better deal. To say that you will not listen to a Dem perspective is foolish, it is always easier to defeat an opponent if you understand their position, and their nature. Beyond that, it is desirable to convert those Dems who are gradually discovering how toxic the Dems have become. I have been able to fan uneasy Dems discontent. It has to be approached ever so gently.
Absolutely agreed!! I like to play devil’s advocate to present the conservative side of things without putting myself too much at risk.
Faculties can be vicious.
Wow Professor, I have had a feeling you are a DeSantis fan, now I know for sure..
very disappointed really
We know DeSantis has been a good governor, but he’s also in the pockets of the GOPe amd big business, lie 250,000,000 amd growing.
Clearly they are allowing him to do the things he is doing to build a base, but make no mistake , despite his running as an American first candidate in 2018, begging Trump for his nod amd Trump holding fund raisers , rally’s, etc, he pulls dDesantis over the line by 33,000 votes. No Trump, no red Florida amd no DeSantis.
How did DeSantis repay President Trump, well I’m sure you have read the many comments I have posted, maybe not, but over a year ago he started meeting with McConnell, McCarthy, and the money men.
Hmmm
Mara Lago FBI raid, he knew about it in advance as Governor, did nothing to intercede, his in his basement for 5 days and came out with a weak comment, not in his professional mail, but a personal non government tweet…. A tweet, for the man who you owe your very job to.
He has been saying some very nasty things about President Trump behind his back, but sure to get to his ears
His nickname? Really? Did you see his commercial where he makes himself to be the second coming? That’s what that was all about!
And the so called “comments” about Ron by President Trump, there really is no proof he said any of that..
And finally , President Trump was the only Republican leader crisscrossing the nation and fundraising in the millions for Republican nominees. His record so far is 215/10 losses.. pretty darn good.
Kari is probably going to pull it out, Nevada will go red
President Trump did that!
Bullshit. Absolute bullshit. Where did you get such a stupid idea?
And this means everything else you write is probably bullshit too. Every single “fact” you report should be presumed false until proven true.
Absolutely he did, it is standard practice for one law enforcement agency to notify another when there is an action within their boundaries. The FBI would have notified the state AG, the state police as well as the local police. They would have also notified the secret service. All of them would have been done at different points and times ahead of the raid. If for nothing more for officer/agent safety to make sure that no one got hurt by a misidentification. Add to that Desantis hid in his basement for 5 days before making a very tepid statement that meant absolutely nothing. I am sorry to all the Desantis cheerleaders but Desantis is a sheep in wolfs clothing. He is lock Stock and barrel owned by the GOPe McConnel/McCain/Romney/Bushie’s/Cheney’s cabal. Mark my words everything he does is strictly choreographed to give the appearance of him being a Trump alternative. but the truth is he is just another Romney.
Absolutely !!!!! Well said!!!
More BS. It is not standard practice for the FBI to inform state governors of its operations in their states. The FBI is constantly doing things in the various states; the local police are lucky if they get advance notice, but the governor?! Of course not.
As some one who had family that was highly placed in a state AG office as well as having family that was a chief of police. I can tell you the FBI NEVER made a raid without local and state law enforcement at a minimum knowing about it ahead of time….
Local cops may be informed, as a courtesy and to stop them accidentally trying to stop it. Though there is no requirement for even that, and I’m sure it doesn’t always happen. Particularly if they think the locals may tip off the targets.
But what the hell has that got to do with the governor?!
Yes, but was CNN notified first?
Your wrong again Milhouse, the FBI has to inform the Government of the state
No, it does not.
Where are you getting this garbage from? Your backside? Or are you reading it in some fever swamp site?
Please cite relevant statute if you genuinely believe that.
“Every single “fact” you report should be presumed false until proven true.”
Milhouse, I have generally supported you, but you do occasionally run off the rails, as you have here.
DeSantis is an actual politician, and therefore not trustworthy, Trump is not, that is part of what I like about him.
Why don’t you produce the statute saying FBI tells the governor they are operating in his state?
Everything Gonzo claimed is simply untrue, if you are going to enter the argument accept my challenge and find the statute. Find where federal law states the governor must be informed of FBI operations in his state.
I’m with you on Trump. We’ve folded like a cheap suit when we tolerated the second coup in our nation’s history in 2020 (the first being in 1963). It’s hard to believe we can fold any deeper, but considering Kevin McCarthy for Squeaker? And not a peep about booting out that incompetent swamp parasite that is GOP Chairwoman Rona Romney McDaniel?????
W. T. F. ?????????
Sorry, DeSantis is the golden boy now. No peeking under the hood.
You know I am solid pro-Trump and would like DeSantis to be a team player for at least through 2024. But since everyone is once again buying into the latest shiny new object without inspecting it just to spite Trump, I think the time is now to be asking questions about DeSantis. The gloves are off.
Biggest question, and it’s a doozy: where did that $250 million war chest come from? Who are the donors? And most importantly, what do they want? Quid quo pro.
Just like the idea of even asking for an audit of chronically messy elections is verboten even here at LI, the idea that DeSantis may not be who he appears to be is now also taboo apparently. DeSantis hasn’t yet declared that he is challenging Trump next year, but that war chest…. You see why Trump is throwing shade at him?
If DeSantis, does challenge Trump, I’m done with him. It’s a character issue. Just what we need, another ambitious backstabbing phony just in it for himself and whose services are available to the highest bidders.
Hey! Everyone is doing it! Get with the program! We are ALL crooks now!
Should be easy enough to find out. Have you tried Open Secrets?
Check out https://theconservativetreehouse.com/ and search on DeSantis. Sundance is in Florida and knows what he’s writing about.
DeSantis did great when his opponent was an unpopular party flipper. DeSantis could be vulnerable to a black drug user on the down low candidate. His previous margin was 0.4%. Past performance is no indication of future results applies to both races and we don’t know what 2024 will be like.
I loved how Trump fought for America and Americans and still admire him warts and all..,but to disparage DeSantis… you are way out of line and your grasp of reality in tenuous at best.
How does DeSantis intercede the FBI at Trump’s Florida residence?
So having billionaire and finance industry backers makes a candidate “GOPe” and in the pocket of the funders? Take a look at the list of billionaires, including many from finance, who backed and funded Trump in 2020, https://www.forbes.com/sites/michelatindera/2021/02/19/here-are-the-billionaires-who-donated-to-donald-trumps-2020-presidential-campaign/?sh=5e1d602e4667 Trump helping a candidate doesn’t make that candidate his property. And DeSantis urged the party to unite behind Trump years before Trump helped DeSantis in the Governor’s race – https://floridapolitics.com/archives/208720-ron-desantis-calls-gop-unite-behind-ticket/
Gee, I wish I could give you more than one up-vote on this.
Also Rubio won by 17%,
Abbott won in double digits
Other republicans won in double digits but it’s all “DeSantis “
Someone has a man crush
One thing that De Santis did in Florida was clean out the rats attemping voter fraud. Thus, in Florida, there was none of any significance. Hence, the large numbers GOP politicans won by.
It is beyond moronic to think New Yorkers actually voted that ghoul Hochul into office. Zeldin probably won by 10 points, but with swamp voter fraud institutionalized (ACORN, remember??), enough sane people actually believe Hochul won by a popular vote.
I would have to agree. That, and the publicized fact that 70%+ of voters are dissatisfied with the state of the union, and would support the party directly responsible for the mess, makes me wonder.
Of course, they ate up the hoaxes about President Trump and many still believe the false accusations against him as gospel….
That would be you… on Trump… who I love but it doesn’t stop me from objectively viewing him and knowing that other politicians who aren’t Trump are great
Not sure exactly what happened. Still in shock. But we now have early voting, mail-in ballots, drop boxes (usu. not monitored), loose safeguards overall, and quite a bit of ballot harvesting. It’s a new slimy game that democrats have mastered. Republicans now have to do the same. The electoral process as we knew it is over. It’s Tammany hall nationwide now.
I’f we accept it it is
It’s a LOT worse than Tammany Hall. Tammany Hall types have not history of attempting genocide. Leftists do.
That’s very concise.
Inroads for r with Latino voters across the Nation not just FL were expanded. That is is big deal with continuing dividends. Assuming of course that the establishment doesn’t somehow mess this up. Gains in African American vote though to a lesser degree but still adding to the work DJT put in. Important not to underestimate how important that was; he sorta broke a logjam with his ‘what have you got to lose’ question.
Cutting into those demographics and earning their votes away from d/prog is a long term commitment to continue to earn their trust and votes. We can’t make the mistake of the d/prog and just drive by at election time. Continued emphasis on the basics:
1. Keep the weirdos away from the kids, no dudes in the girls locker room, no CRT/DEI in schools
2. Secure the border
3. Energy independence with fossil fuels for the foreseeable future
4. No proxy wars and foreign interventions that do not directly impact US National Security
5. Govt spending must be reined in and the budget deficit addressed.
6. Federalism – let the States make decisions about issues that are traditionally not the province of the Federal govt; abortion.
To those that would blame Trump, before you point your frustration at him, explain why Republicans underperformed the polls this year while they outperformed the polls the last two cycles with Trump on the ballot.
There are multiple possible reasons, but I think it is a strong possibility that the Trump voters – the blue collar voters who usually never voted until Trump- stayed home without Trump to support.
Improper ballot harvesting is another good answer. But the chattering class who have sought to blame all their messaging failures on Trump for the last 6 years keep whistling past that graveyard.
“whistling past that graveyard????” Hey man, it’s more like GOP voters breaking into a Broadway finale tune as they pass the graveyard.
People wonder how Hitler came to power in a great democracy like Weimar Germany. Now you know!
Well, per Winsome Sears (lt gov-Va), Trump’s endorsements under-performed the field by about 10%. Is she correct? I don’t know. I only caught the tail-end of the interview and picked this up on the crawl.
There are some State level victories here worth celebrating, but overall extremely disappointing results.
NV, this election, was a big win for R’s. A sign of the swing of Hispanic voters from D to R.
VA is still a swing State, even though national R’s seem to think it isn’t worth investing in.
FL is now solid Red. OH doesn’t seem like a swing State anymore either. D’s are going to have a tough time winning POTUS elections with these two States now pretty reliably in the R column.
Obama won Indiana and Iowa, Clinton won Iowa, Missouri and Arkansas both elections. NONE of these States are even swing States any more. Reliably R.
AZ results make sense to anyone? There are no polls that are R biased, and Kari Lake was up 10 points in the D leaning pollsters polls.
Geez, the cheating, the immediate break down of 20% of the voting machines I. Maricopa county, super Republican.
Kari is still going to pull this out
I sure hope so.
Talk me off the ledge, Gonzo!
We are living through The Big Reset Coincidence Era”. Isn’t it the darnedest thing how coincidences just keep occurring one after the other. But nothing to see here. We’ve “moved on”. Leave your common sense in the drawer, you won’t need it anymore. You will own nothing and be happy.
AZ has about 30% ballots out, as of yesterday eve. Those are the election day ballots which tend to be heavy r. When counted that puts Lake over the top and maybe Masters.
Maybe Biden is right: the voters are just starting to learn what he did now.
In AZ those who drop off the ballot do not have to show an ID. While I presented mine a number of people just walked up, handed an envelope and left.
Not encouraged by the results, sorry. I never believed the Red Tsunami nonsense, I don’t see (R) leadership doing a damn thing in Congress. Prove me wrong, (R)s. You’re so good at not doing that. I need evidence for real change. Until I see it, it doesn’t exist. A commenter here, forgive me, I forgot who, was predicting an Oregon (R) governor. Uh huh. They just called it for the KD Lang Cosplay grand prize winner.
I live in a Texas House district that hasn’t elected a Democrat in more than a generation.
Until yesterday.
Overall the state legislature will be pretty much the same as it was, with (R)s in solid control and not losing seats in the aggregate. That’s good. But the legislature redrew my house district to make others safe for (R)s, blowing off this one. With (R)s like this, who needs Democrats?
Not saying things can’t get better. But yesterday ain’t a sign that it will any time soon.
“I don’t see (R) leadership doing a damn thing in Congress….”
Are you blind??
House Republican Profiles in Corruption:
https://www.americanprogressaction.org/house-republican-profiles-corruption/
Then there’s the king rat of them all:
https://nypost.com/2018/03/17/how-mcconnell-and-chao-used-political-power-to-make-their-family-rich/
The Republicans didn’t investigate this last time and it happened again Tuesday:
https://choiceclips.whatfinger.com/2022/11/09/retired-general-thomas-mcinerny-outlines-midterm-anomalies/
Yeah, I think we’ll be luck if the Republicans just refrain from crossing the aisle and do nothing.
Excellent article, spot on
I saw President Trump standing in that pouring ran , it was a sight to see, I was in Awe…
November 9, 2022
The Establishment Is Trying to Divide and Conquer MAGA
By J.B. Shurk
“There are videos making the rounds showing President Trump standing on stage in Miami’s pouring rain while imploring Americans to get out and vote. The metaphor is striking. There’s Trump, battling the elements, lively as ever, refusing to give up, insisting on finishing what he’s started. Citizen Free Press appropriately notes that “President Trump is truly a force of nature.”
I know that the months ahead will make for some spirited political debate among friends, but I encourage you to cement in your minds this quintessential image of Trump unbroken and unbowed. Whatever else can be said about the man (and there is plenty), he remains the only leader in our times unafraid to stand alone. When other self-proclaimed allies run the other way or look for somewhere safe to weather the approaching storm, Trump stands inside the tempest, demanding that it give up and surrender. That’s something that will forever separate him from those who pretend to be him.”
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2022/11/the_establishment_is_trying_to_divide_and_conquer_maga.html
Gonzotx,
The swampers here aren’t with us.
Fine,
Most everyone who comments here voted for DJT in 2016. That’s hardly supporting the establishment. Most of us did the same in 2020. Again not exactly pro establishment or Never Trump actions.
Some people, like you and Phil and Gonzo are full throated DJT supporters. No problems with that. Dude did as well as we could hope given the full circumstances. Unfortunately, Biden was inaugurated instead of DJT in Jan ’21. Sucks, I don’t like it and I doubt most commenters here like it.
I am absolutely open minded on the 2024 presidential primary. DJT has an opportunity to earn my vote should I decide to enter the race. Most of us will give him a fair hearing. I will for sure.
Should DJT earn the nomination I will not only vote for him but work hard locally to support his candidacy in the general election. Many others will do so as well.
None of this demonstrates any support of the establishment or McConnell or McCarthy. An open mind re the r nomination is how DJT earned my support in 2016. I see no reason he can’t do so again.
Your framing is off. The underlying premise of your argument here is false. I and others refuse to anoint DJT but we don’t outright reject him. It’s simply wrong to equate being an establishment stooge with refusing to hand the nomination to DJT.
I have been on the populist right since Perot attempting to find ways to combat the establishment and get candidates more friendly to the populist right elected. I am thrilled that DJT in 2016 turned on new folks to the populist right and welcome y’all to the fight. That fight started before DJT and will continue after DJT and I will be around to continue the fight against the establishment. I hope that when the day comes that DJT isn’t on the ballot that y’all will stick around to help us continue the decades long fight against the establishment.
I’m with you except for the Perot part. His goal was always to elect Clinton. Twice.
Yet the ‘great sucking sound’ of manufacturing jobs exiting did occur. Govt debt ballooned, now $31 Trillion and growing. The interest payment for our debt, much of it is short term, as older issues expire and higher rates are required is about to explode.
Bush lost when he broke his no new tax pledge. IMO.
I agree completely. It’s difficult to tell the GOPe candidates in time. They always talk a good game but then work against us in DC. So help us out and give us the scorecard so we can tell who’s who.
I don’t tell folks who to vote for anymore. I will offer up some advice.Evaluate the candidates with the following criteria:
Does this help the broad middle-class, the center 70% economically, or does it on balance benefit the Financial interests, corporate America, special interest groups and those with $ to pay lobbyists to get their piece of the pie….and likely yours?
Look for concrete results in performance. Did this guy get the roads paved and trash picked up when he was County commissioner or did he give a no bid contract to some crony who failed?
Did they fire the incompetent and the corrupt bureaucracy when they needed to do so? If unable to fire did they at least suspend their duties and have them kept away from making things worse?
Was there a situation where this person folded and didn’t live up to their promise? A vote on holding someone accountable or to raise taxes for something that’s not a critical function of govt?
Apply those tests and it’s pretty easy to sort through the show horses and find the reliable work horses way more often than not. Then keep applying them and always hold them to the standard you set.
Always make them continue to earn your support; the moment they believe they have your support in their pocket is the day they start slipping.
The left hates President Trump so much I have to love him!!
I will have no trouble voting for him again.
This whole midterm mess more than anything should be a wake up call.
I thought 2020 was a wake up call? If so, 2022 was the snooze bar.
I’ve been hearing THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT ELECTION!!1!!!1 for a minimum of 22 years. It’s time for a different strategy and seriously reform the innards of the country. Politics is downstream from culture. I didn’t fully understand this when Breitbart was alive. I thought I did. I really didn’t. The American culture is rotten. All of it. This is how we get honest to God mental defectives winning elections and people saying – yeah, I’m OK with that. Also, define “win” any way you want. It doesn’t matter. If the people in this country are not virtuous, and/or think the other party is full of Nazidemons, of course they’re gonna be OK with tyranny. We cannot let the Nazidemons in charge! OMG!
It’s too late; this WAS the most important election in US history. Now, Obama in his third term, will move at warp speed to ‘fundementally transform America”.
https://www.timesrepublican.com/opinion/columnists/2022/06/biden-continues-obamas-fundamental-transformation/
I say this with no affection whatsoever: way too many idiots on our side.
I believe dark days are ahead of us, I see it getting worse before it gets better. And I don’t see it ever getting better in my lifetime.
But.
I don’t believe America is finished. However, I see our side wanting only to fight at the back end of things – winning at the ballot box, and even that is done in a half-assed way too much. Winning elections is crucial, yes. But someone cannot, say, run for the House of Representatives until age 25. We are seeing what three decades of leftist brainwashing does to a person. That shit has to stop, so that people running for Congress aren’t the second coming of Fidel Castro. Every corrupt institution needs to be gutted and reformed or flat-out eliminated. This is a huge undertaking. Schools, pop culture, media, bureaucracy – basically everything there is. The left didn’t own America overnight, we won’t won’t get it back that way either.
I believe dark days are ahead of us: odds 10 to 1
I don’t believe America is finished: odds 50/50
The pendulum must swing, and swing hard.
Well, the good news is we won’t be feeling complacent.
Never-Trump/Trump Derangement Syndrome: The pathological hatred of Donald Trump by a person who is unable to synthesize new information that logically calls for a revised assessment of Donald Trump.
Always-Trump/Trump Derangement Syndrome: The pathological love of Donald Trump by a person who is unable to synthesize new information that logically calls for a revised assessment of Donald Trump.
“ Controlling the House means no more Biden legislation, and investigations of the corrupt Biden family influence peddling business.”
Right. uh-huh. Sure.
Get ready for reruns of “GOPe Kabuki Theater”.
The GOPe controlled all three branches when Trump took office and defeating Trump became their prime objective. So why should we expect McCarthy barely controlling the House to be better?
Maybe the smaller majority forces him to work with and to some degree push legislation that the growing number of populist right members want to see?
More like Freedom Caucus making up a bigger proportion of Republicans and so having more influence on everything.
Which is another way of expressing the same point.
I don’t know if you believe that true but what you said is 100% a lie.
When one of the sides has the presidency the president sets the legislative agenda.
The ONLY legislation Trump got was his prison break bill and his tax cuts AND HE GOT BOTH.
Stop myth making. Trump was not betrayed by his own side he had a weak legislative agenda, and got what he asked for.
Well, this is not entirely true, either, Danny. Trump wanted a huge infrastructure bill, but he did not get it (which may have been a good thing given the disastrous consequences of Biden’s). He wanted to build the wall, and he did not get that (though he did get a good bit built). He wanted ObamaCare gone. He didn’t get that. And that’s just off the top of my head.
No, he didn’t want 0bamacare gone. That was the whole problem. He just wanted to rebrand it as Trumpcare.
Ditto with DACA/DAPA. He didn’t want it gone, he wanted Congress to enact it as law.
He got rid of the mandate, which was good. But you are right, we was very big on some kind of legally-passed (and signed into law by him) DACA amnesty and that stupid as frack child care handout. People blame Ivanka for that (and they’re not wrong, she wanted it), but he went along with it.
He wanted to “lock her up” but he didn’t get that. Of course I’m joking. That was what I wanted.
He specifically stated that he would ensure that didn’t happen, that he wanted to help Hillary “heal.” https://legalinsurrection.com/2017/11/the-optics-of-trumps-flip-flop-on-investigating-hillary-clinton/
Ridiculously stupid move in hindsight now that we know it was mostly Hillary behind the Russia collusion hoax.
I have the mea culpa that I forgot about the infrastructure package. It was dropped easily so I forgot.
The wall he actually got through congress. He failed in the senate because of Democrat filibuster and because he tried to get it well to be frank way too late (McConnell had what ten minutes to overcome a filibuster?) That wasn’t betrayal that was incompetence.
That said the Obamacare repeal was something that came from within congress that Trump chose to back (although I should mention it was very tepid backing he did call the whole thing cruel didn’t he?).
Even counting Obamacare as his he got rid of the taxes and the individual mandate so is at least partial victory.
Even if you count Obamacare as his and not the Republican Congress, while overlooking the victories on Obamacare and overlooking how quickly the 200 billion infrastructure plan was given up on Trump batted a decent record.
I was wrong to think he batted a hundred (my memory wasn’t a hundred and I was counting the Obamacare repeal vote as a defeat of congressional Republicans not Trump.).
However the two times he did it the right way he won.
I have been told that doing it the right way (presenting legislation, adjusting it for concerned senators while applying a carrot and stick approach while giving enough time to realistically advance through the senate) wasn’t Trump’s style; the problem is there is no other style for getting legislation through both houses and anything short of that won’t be considered worth their time by senators who will (not unreasonably think) it is just campaigning and not something to work on.
You left out “Fur”
BTW, has everyone forgotten how “Governor Awesome” once had “conservatives” swooning 20 or so years ago? Yeah, Chris Christie. We didn’t check under the hood that time either. Luckily he was found out but there was no one to replace him.
This time, we are throwing away the best fighter we’ve ever had, a man who has produced “awesome” results despite the entire universe (except the voters who elected him) being against him. He was on OUR SIDE. For once, we had someone who was clearly on our side. We never once questioned the money backing him.
Now back to DeSantis. About that $250 million stash? Explanation please? We gotsta know now right now, before this goes too far. We’ve been duped by “Governor Awesomes” before. WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON?
“”has everyone forgotten how “Governor Awesome” once had “conservatives” swooning 20 or so years ago?””
Speak for yourself. I didn’t know any conservatives who thought anything of the kind.
I am really surprised so many of the American people are happy with ALL the cost increases of our daily lives because of democrats policies. Turning our country into socialism.
The brainwashing of adults and conditioning and grooming of children from preschool is quite effective, which is why tyrants, socialists and communists have been doing it forever.
Look how easily they swallowed DIE, “equity” and hatred of whites.
Pantifa morons climb out of their basements and riot.
BLM creates fake racism and subsequent rioting, burning and looting.
College kids think socialism is good.
Legalized pot and worse (Oregon?).
Boys are girls and girls are boys. Sometimes they are fluid! A transgender in every pot!!
Bringing back segregation and having it be politically acceptable.
Racism is now good!
Counter affirmative action keeps the smart, successful kids out of school.
Cheating in elections is now SOP.
And the list goes on….
What fresh hell is this?
“Republicans need an early and mail-in voting operation just as robust as the Democrats, or they will keep losing.”
Or how about we stop accepting the left’s legacy and reform our voting laws, stopping early and mail-in voting?
Oh, and one wake-up call for the GOP should entail replacing the two Micks “leaders” with new, bold blood. They’ve served well but their time is over. They should step down in their own but if they need a push, it should be provided.
Because you can’t reform anything without being elected and you can’t be elected if you don’t create your own operation.
Amen. Blaming and trashing Trump because some political fantasy did not come true? Professional politicians should know better than that, and they do, so nothing more than another attack on Trump.
They came out, with the help of mailing ballots, and yet wasn’t enough to prevent losing the House.
Lesson: reform mail in ballots and don’t buy into political theory
Looks like the divorce from Trump will not be amicable. Oh well, but Trump is done. I supported him up until this point, but he ain’t Jesus. We move on and figure out how to win, and he ain’t doing that with Trump.
Fun thought via Scott Adams this morning:
Q: What demographic group was most supportive of democrats Tuesday?
A: Single women, particularly young, single women.
Q: Where do they get most (if not all of their news)?
A: TikTok
Q: Who owns / controls TikTok?
A: China / CCP
Conclusion? Maybe we ought to think about banning TikTok between now and the next election, before the CCP meddles in 2024 too. If I were the CCP, I couldn’t ask for a better outcome. Cheers –
Yep. We shouldn’t underestimate how much influence the various social media platforms have. Folks younger than Gen X are on it at every opportunity. The platforms or at least the mainstream platforms are in the hands of folks hostile to our message and they suppress or banish it.
Then Musk bought Twitter. The d/prog ain’t sky screaming about this for no reason. If actually follows through on moving towards a more neutral setting for content it breaks the near monopoly enjoyed by d/prog on mainstream platforms.
IMO, he baited the weirdos with his reach out regarding content mods. He gave them what they wanted and they turned around and shit on him pressuring ad agencies to suspend buys. Now he can more easily demonstrate why these folks who demand their Orthodox views remain uncontested are slap Cray Cray and begin ignoring them.
We don’t need Twitter or Musk to become an exclusive right wing playground, all we need is the ability to present the argument and not be suppressed or exiled. If we get a neutral platform that’s all we need to expand the reach of our voices.
We can’t ban TikTok. Even if we controlled the White House as well as Congress, and could pass whatever we liked, we still couldn’t ban TikTok, because Congress can’t do that. “Congrefs shall make no law”, etc.
The Professor and “our lawyer” get it, as does Aarradin, tho his list is different.
Lock in the wins. Learn from what worked, and didn’t. Wash, rinse, repeat.