This election cycle was the best climate for the Republican red wave. You couldn’t pick a better season for Democrats to get shellacked at the polls. We have rising crime, high inflation, an economic recession, abject incompetence by congressional Democrats, and a White House aloof. Instead, Democrats were able to mount capable defenses of some key districts, stifling Republican efforts to clinch a sizeable House majority. The Senate was more dismal—Democrats are projected to keep control of the upper chamber, even though it looked as if a last-minute GOP surge could knock off Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) in Nevada, one of this cycle’s more vulnerable incumbents, and Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) in Arizona. Both managed to win their respective re-elections.
CBS decided to investigate why the red wave “fizzled,” with The New York’s Susan Glasser dropping the triple-Ds: Donald, Dobbs, and Denialism. Whether we like to admit it or not, the 2020 election is over, and something I worried Trump would focus too heavily on when he announces his 2024 presidential run tomorrow. We’ve moved on from 2020 just as we moved past the silly nonsense about Barack Obama’s birth certificate. Every governor who signed into law that further restricted abortion won their re-elections by healthy margins, so the Left’s case for vindication on abortion remains murky at best.
The segment hit on the upcoming debate the Republican Party will have with Donald Trump and what to do with him. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) should not be in the fight for her political life, but she is, with reports that her constituents are getting tired of her mini-Trump antics. The number of split-ticket voters in some crucial races, like Nevada and Pennsylvania, may point to Trump fatigue. It makes no sense for counties of Berks, Beaver, Cumberland, and Luzerne, all Trump country, to vote for Democrat Josh Shapiro in the Keystone State’s gubernatorial contest, but they did; Oz won these areas in the Senate race. Trump endorsed Doug Mastriano for PA’s governorship, who lost handily.
Some of the most Trump-aligned candidates either lost or saw massive shifts towards the Democrats in their respective races this cycle which was absent in years past. Does the former president do more harm than good? We were supposed to wipe the floor with Democrats. Instead, they formed a blue wall, and we crashed onto it.
Trump said this constituted a “good evening.” I’m at a loss over his mindset, but it isn’t good.
