As I write this (November 11, 2022) the midterm elections are over, and I obviously overestimated the Democrat victory margin, but I was clearly ahead of the curve in debunking the threat of a red wave. And, in spite of the phony victory laps on the left and the desperate silver lining seekers on the right, I’m saying it was an easy call: there never was a red wave.
As I explained in previous posts, the geniuses in the Washington D.C./NYC mainstream bubble grossly underemphasized and misunderstood the local impact of Dobbs, underemphasized and misunderstood the impact of Biden Administration programs for EVs, computer chips, and infrastructure, underemphasized and misunderstood the public willingness to forego temporary hardship in favor of Democracy, both here and in Ukraine. People in the bubble need to get out more. (Special red face karma payback to the right wing media for believing pollsters they usually so disparage.)
The Democrats should have done better. By so egregiously underperforming, they bequeath a forebodingly unpleasant next two years, two additional years of little or nothing being done to address the damage caused by the ever-widening economic disparity between an ever-increasing wealthy class and the ever-increasing poor. Two more years of inadequate health care, two more years of inadequate early childhood education funding, two more years of no childcare tax credits, two more years of wasting billions of dollars on weaponry used in foreign wars (this from the president who bragged about ending forever wars) and I could go on.
And I have an unfunny feeling the “temporary hardship” is about to be extended. If you’ve got the dough, however, it’s not a hardship. of course, things just cost more. If you’ve got a lot of dough, you don’t even think about it. It’s only a “hardship” to those who can’t afford it. But the election results show a majority of Americans are willing to put up with the hardships, especially when Democracy is at stake, here and abroad.
Most happily, the results will also put to rest I hope finally the myth that Donald Trump is the inevitable Republican candidate in 2024. (Nor should President Biden be the inevitable Democrat candidate. Suddenly a Biden-Trump rematch seems, with the media gathered around it like hyenas at rancid meat, unfit for human consumption.)
So, on we go.