Everything I’m reading and hearing about the Tuesday midterm elections is a “massive red wave.” “Panic in New York.” “Blake Masters Takes Razor Thin Lead.” “Majority of Voters Support J.D. Vance.” “Red Wave Tuesday? Final Rasmussen Poll: GOP Leads Generic Congressional Ballot by 5 Points.” “The Democrats are in Trouble.” “Hispanics Across Arizona, Florida, Texas Abandon Democrats.” “Laxalt, Lombard Lead Democrat Opponents with Hispanic Voters.” And on and on it goes.
I watched Sean Hannity interview Newt Gingrich Friday night. I have a tremendous amount of respect for Newt. He predicted 54-55 Senate seats for Republicans, and “20-50” seats picked up in the House. 20 to 50 is a broad gap, but probably accurate. It’s not as big a setback for Democrats as we might think, however; they lost 63 seats under Obama in 2010. Things were bad then, but they are horrible now. If I were a Democrat, I would consider losing only “20 to 50” seats a moral victory. Still, the Republicans would have control of the House. However, 54-55 Republicans in the Senate would be a rout; remember, the GOP is defending Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin, and North Carolina, so 54-55 would be massive. 51-52 would be a victory, even with McConnell, Murkowski, Romney, Graham, and a few other RINOs hanging on.
But, if Republicans win the House, even a 50-50 split in the Senate, while disappointing, wouldn’t be a disaster, because it takes passing both Houses before a law could be enacted. So, a Republican House would be able to stymie any more of Biden’s agenda. The GOP needs control of at least one house in Congress, and it does appear very likely they will win the lower House, and very possibly the upper chamber as well.
A few days ago, I posted an article on Townhall where I was a little more conservative than Newt because, well, I’m a conservative, it’s in my bones. I predicted a final tally of 51-52 Republican Senators and a pickup of 20-30 in the House. I do think 53-55 Senators is possible, along with a 30+ pickup in the House. Given the condition of the country, I don’t see how anybody can vote for any Democrat, but I always go back to the fact that I spent much of my career in higher education, so I do know the sad condition of academia today. I didn’t get to teach every student in America; what a shame. I wish I could have taught more.
Two things about the election Tuesday scare me. One, so many of the races are so close. Nearly all the important Senate races are neck and neck: Pennsylvania, Arizona, Nevada, New Hampshire, and Georgia, all so very tight. Why? How can Americans look at the country and not slaughter the Democrats? Hannity and a couple of other pundits Friday night said that less than 100,000 total votes in all of those states could decide the makeup of the Senate. Again, how can these races be so close? Well, I hate to be ugly, but one of my long-held mottos is “never underestimate the stupidity of the American electorate.” That certainly seems to be the case this year.
For example, how can ANYBODY vote for John Fetterman? How did that guy, even before his stroke, get elected to anything? It’s not just that his policies are horrendous, but the man is now physically incapable of doing a credible job in the most powerful political body in the world. But the people of Pennsylvania may put him there. Such is utterly mind-boggling to me. Anybody, anyTHING but a Republican. Well, I confess I feel the same way about Democrats. But Republicans haven’t run the country into the ground the last two years and didn’t do so in the four years Trump was President. It was a very good four years for America. But…these races are so very close.
Things do look better in Ohio, Wisconsin, and North Carolina, where the GOP seems pretty solid to win. But those are “holds,” not “pickups.” Yet, still necessary.
The second thing that scares me is because so many contests are so tight, the Democrats will certainly try to cheat and steal as many as possible. And if only a few thousand votes separate, say, Blake Masters and Marc Kelly, who’s going to prevent the Democrats from “finding” the few “extra” thousand they need? The media is certainly not going to call attention to any irregularities. Indeed, if any Republican questions the outcome of ANY election (including local dog catcher), the Democrats will immediately shout “election denier!”, a “threat to democracy!” How does one stop that? Are the courts going to help? Probably not. Will Mitch McConnell become involved to protect his people? Don’t make me laugh. Do the Republicans have a defense to protect free and fair elections? In other words, to protect democracy?
If the Democrats do cheat and steal some elections…what can be done about it? Any litigation would take years to sort out, and by that time, it will be too late.
So, yeah. I’m a little concerned. More than a little. I don’t trust the Democrats' one-millionth of one-nanometer. They will cheat if they can—holding on to power, by fair or foul methods, is everything to them, and in Marxist theology, cheating is justified behavior if by doing so power can be maintained. And the Republicans haven’t impressed me with a strong defense. Trusting Democrats to be fair, to tell the truth, and to do the right thing is absolutely the height of buffoonery. I hope the Republicans have a better plan than that to secure a fair election.
Christmas is coming! My 2nd Rob Conners western novel, River Bend, is now available. Honestly, I think it is much better than my first book, Whitewater. Both are available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Eliva.com. Get a 10% discount on the paperback at info@elivapress.com. And read some different posts on my blog at thailandlewis.blogspot.com.