2018-11-07

Americans Vote For Grid Lock And No Blue Wave

Quick take on the Midterms.

Meh. In terms of the House or Senate flipping party, this is nothing special. It certainly was not a margin of victory Democrats were hoping for.

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Here's an example of how November 6 compares to the past regarding the House of Representatives.

House seats gained/lost followed by the year.

+9 1934 Franklin D. Roosevelt (Great Depression...duh)
+8 2002 George W. Bush (yes, you read right thanks mostly because of 9/11)

-4 1962 John F. Kennedy 
-8 1990 George H. W. Bush 
-9 1926 Calvin Coolidge 
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12 1970 Richard Nixon 
-15 1978 Jimmy Carter 
-18 1954 Dwight D Eisenhower

-22 1918 Woodrow Wilson 
-26 1982 Ronald Reagan Recession
-27+ 2018 Donald Trump
-47 1966 Lyndon B. Johnson 
-48 1974 Gerald Ford 
-52 1930 Herbert Hoover
-54 1946 Harry S Truman 
-54 1994 Bill Clinton 
-57 1910 William Taft 
-63 2010 Barack Obama

-77 1922 Warren Harding 

Did you notice Obama? That's ugly. For a guy allegedly so hated, Trump did much better than Obama did. The irony is that a former President inserting himself in the national conversation (barely filling up arenas I hear) performed worse than the sitting President he's coyly under mining.

The insufferable surrealism of it all.

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Still. A win is a win. The Dems have the House. People, it looks like, don't give a shit about record unemployment and high GDP rates. They vote along the lines of identity politics and this is not a good thing. Cripes, Texas almost went to the Democrats in the Senate!

Problem is they've already said, without officially naming the Speaker (likely to be a broken record, spent force in Pelosi), they're not interested in working with the President and will look to, get this, continue to investigate Russia and look into Trump's tax returns.

They've shown their bullets.

It's probably a safe bet at this point no impeachment is coming, nor is Trump going to quit - as if either of those were realistic possibilities to begin with. In fact, expect the potential of Trump winning 2020 with an even bigger mandate.

Not only will Democrats waste everyone's time with nonsense, they'll squander any chance at meaningful governance and focusing on dealing with the rising far left faction within the party. So do expect a doubling-down of 'we're all racists and Hitlers' hysterics. Look, it didn't take long for the puerile rubbish to be published in The Globe & Mail.

Oh, they called this 'obstructionism' when the GOP allegedly did it. Small difference. The GOP had complete and total control of the Senate and House and were expected to keep Obama in check. And they did. Which is why he had to resort to Executive Orders and tried to pass it off as 'binding governance' as I call it.

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Do you notice something?

No, not the continued ignorance of pundits obsessing with popular vote which is just about the most irrelevant figure in Western politics given the nature of how we constructed our political institutions. Alas, this is not the point of the post here.

That's the sound of how responsible and sane people react to a loss. Do you see people screaming in the streets, mobilizing to 'resist', over-reacting on social media and so on?

Interesting contrast between right/conservative/libertarian/Republican supporters and the left/liberal/Democrat/progressive radical/socialist, no?

Will we be hearing GOP politicians call for people to march on people's homes to be hounded or to kick Democrats out of restaurants?

I think it's safe to say that won't happen.

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Moving on.

So much for the 'Blue wave' or 'Blue tsunami' the media kept pretending was upon the electorate. If anything, this can be seen as disappointing for the Democrats. They threw everything and the kitchen sink and still only won a few extra measly seats.

Consider that despite two years of endless histrionics (Antifa, charges of rape and racism, obscene public displays of intolerance etc,) and a hostile press (see NBC, CBS, CNN, NYT, WaPo) any President has faced in living memory (worse than even what Reagan or Dubya faced), the constant bashing on talk shows, SNL and from celebrities, the Democrats still only managed a well below average showing in the midterms by historical standards.

That should cause some concerns among the NPC bots.

Their increases were barely in the mean for a party totally out of power in the House. Probably and arguably more important they may have lost three to five Senate seats which is a big loss given whatever they do in the House, the Senate will ignore. 

That, and as someone noted in a comments thread:  "...combined with their failure to win the governorships in Florida and Georgia make it a pretty lousy night for them. It would be one thing if they had won a huge majority in the House or had at least stayed close in the Senate. But their majority in the House is going to be so small that it will be nearly impossilble to keep Democrats from swing districts from cutting deals and forming a working majority with the Republicans. That combined with the larger Senate majority ensuring that Trump will now get pretty much any appointee he wants, puts them in a pretty lousy spot all things considered."


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More observations.

Despite Trump being Literally Hitler he allowed Americans to vote and 'save Democracy!' That's some kind of suppression, right? And where were the Russians this time?! I mean, why wouldn't they help Trump out now?

Interestingly, while it's tempting for Democrats and their fans in the media to shout for joy and claim victory, this wasn't as bad as Obama's losses in the 2010 and especially 2014 midterms (which gave the GOP absolutely control). But I'll wait for the final tally.

Another interesting tidbit was the fact four anti-Kavanaugh Democrats, including McCaskill (thanks Project Veritas! Heck, they probably took down Gillum and Beto too. Go look up those videos. Good job) lost their bids but the appalling Menendez was elected in NJ (take that Trump!) and Ocasio-Cortez - a fucking full blown socialist - won. I say that, because in all seriousness, that's one ignorant and illiterate fool to send to Congress. Good going New York. Along with California, they just love their morons to be extra-crispy moronic.

Are Americans ready for Ocasio-Cortez's Loonie-Left-wing Armada?

Stay tuned.

That's it for now.

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I absolutely agree with this take. It's pretty much what I've been writing about since the Dubya years.













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