We’re just about to go into midterm election season. I expect that party primaries will quietly wrap up over the next six to eight weeks and after that the usual barrage of political haymaking will get underway. Considering how the world of politics has been more active than usual during the Trump administration, I expect we’re going to see a very busy election season that starts noticeably earlier than usual. As anticipated, the predictions of a blue wave in the midterms despite all evidence to the contrary are already flowing and the establishment GOP is already rehearsing its surrender speeches. Obligatory reminder: don’t buy it. Even if your candidate is not the biggest Trump backer ever, remember that a Democrat will be much worse.
Let’s acknowledge a few ugly truths here. First, the Democrats quite possibly CAN win in November. The electoral map (especially in the Senate) is not favorable to them, but the establishment GOP inexplicably is. Many in the GOP seem like they would rather lose than win by getting on the Trump train and I’m sure both their constituents and their Democratic opponents will be happy to help them do that. I’ve talked before about how the few Democratic wins in special elections don’t signify anything except that the Democrats have learned that their key to victory is to filibuster voters with enough salacious horsecrap that the Republicans just say the hell with it and walk away like they did in Alabama. If Conor Lamb is any indication, the Democrats have also figured out that attacking President Trump directly is not the way to win and the old standby of pretending to be gun-friendly and worker-friendly is their best bet. Also, if the Democrats’ incessant crying about “voter suppression” and the razor-thin margins they’ve managed to win by are any indication, the Democrats have upped their fraud game since the four million fake votes for Dr. Pantsuit failed to do the trick. So yes, it’s entirely possible that we could be looking at losing one or both houses of Congress, whether due to fake news, cheating, or the Republicans continuing to run away from President Trump. I would say that makes it imperative that we make the most of the next few months but really, the congressional GOP hasn’t had any sense of urgency so far. I don’t look for them to get their act together now.
That all being said, there are some things the Democrats CAN’T do, in November or ever. Love him or hate him, President Trump has done things that no other politician before him has been able to do and things none have even attempted. Breaking the hegemony of the fake news remains his greatest accomplishment–and it’s ongoing. Demonstrating that an outsider can run for and win national office (regardless of the money involved, it wasn’t supposed to be possible at all) has permanently changed the political landscape. It doesn’t matter what happens from here on out. The left can undo a lot of the good President Trump has done, but he has broken some things that cannot ever be unbroken, and try as they might, they cannot make it so he never existed. They’ll be trying to de-legitimize him in every way they can for the next half century at least, but they can’t erase him from the history books.
Now let’s assume for the moment that the worst happens, the Democrats flip the House by enough of a margin to pass articles of impeachment, and even manage to flip enough Senate seats to remove President Trump. I’m not going to say they can’t, but I am going to say they WON’T. Oh sure, they MIGHT do the impeachment just to say they did, but then what happens? Think this through. On the one hand, they get impeachment through the House, and then nothing happens in the Senate. La Resistance doesn’t understand that’s how it works. How do they explain to their dimwitted goons that President Trump isn’t going to be led away in shackles? But the second option is worse–they impeach, and then remove the President in the Senate. Sure, this is what they claim they want…but then the result is they get Mike Pence. How do they explain to La Resistance that they DON’T get Dr. Pantsuit now, nor do they get a do-over election? How do they explain that this does not mean President Trump will be dragged into the public square to be pelted with rotten fruit and guillotined at high noon, like so many of these deranged people seem to expect? Finally, and most importantly, how will they energize their lunatic base once the target of all their hatred is gone? Not only would this deprive them of their best ever distraction/punching bag and let the air out of La Resistance, but it would also turbocharge and enrage the previously-sedate Trump base. This is not a happy result for the Democrats.
If the worst does happen, pray they’re that stupid. Pray we’re that lucky.
Democrats and leftists clinging to their hopes of a blue wave this fall might want to consider what happens if their dreams come true, and the fact that their rabid base will expect them to make good on the hyperbole. If they did, it’s hard to say whether the establishment GOP or the Democrats would be trying harder to throw these midterms away.