Most of the country is basking in the after glow of the biggest mid-term sweep by the Democrats in US history. Many see it as the beginning of the end of what Trump called “the golden age”, and he wasn’t just talking about all that obnoxious gold that now encases the Oval Office. The real work now begins for the Democrats. All the people who voted for them are expecting big things. Undoing the mess that Trump has made. Ending the war in Iran, bringing down prices of everything, and restoring accountability, decency and faith in the federal government. We must keep in mind we are dealing with a dangerous, incompetent, and intellectually failing man who doesn’t like to lose. He repeatedly told people to vote as if he was on the ballot. All his endorsed candidates lost. He now says it was their fault.
Trump managed to con voters twice by making promises we all now know he didn’t keep. He managed to turn one of the two American political parties into a cult of personality. You wonder what Lincoln would think of what happened to his party. There have been quotes from both parties on what this election means. Democrats are riding high. Republicans are trying to figure out what now. Republican Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt may have said it best in his social media post. He wrote the Republican Party is “morally and intellectually bankrupt…and it’s time to make American good again.”
There are new multi-cultural candidates that are now challenged with making that come true. The first Muslim Democrat Abdul El-Sayed was elected to the Senate from Michigan after what he called “a hateful, spiteful campaign”. Trump said he was “on the side of terrorists.” Georgia elected Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms the first female black Governor in history. They have a foundation to build back what has been badly damaged. Voters in entrenched Republican strongholds like Texas, Kansas, and South Carolina have said “ I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore.” To quote anchorman Howard Beale from the 1970’s movie “Network”. Voters want progress and change to make their lives better.
It’s important to look at the history big swings in mid-term elections. In 1974, in the aftermath of Watergate and Nixon’s resignation Republicans took a pounding. Democrats gained forty-three seats in the House and three seats in the Senate. In 1976, the little known Democrat Jimmy Carter defeated incumbent Republican president Gerald Ford. Many worried the Republicans would never recover. Four years later, Ronald Reagan won big and the Republicans were back for eight years of Reagan and four more of George H.W. Bush.
Trump refused to believe he lost the 2020 election and called into question the use of mail in ballots. Eighteen states allow mail in ballots and eight states conduct elections entirely by mail. There have never been any election corrupted by mail in ballots. Voters came in record numbers both at polling places and by mail. Historian and filmmaker Ken Burns wrote in the NY Times that this election was fourth great crisis in American history after the Civil War, the Great Depression and World War II. “These events tested our republic and our resolve in fundamental ways, but the center always held-elections took place, there was peaceful transfer of power and the judiciary was still independent. Our core democratic institutions remained fundamentally strong, rested by the public and our leaders alike.”
It’s a new day. The skies are blue but we must keep an eye on the forecast which history shows us can change.
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