Well, I mean, yeah. Divided government is what was the on the table. “Better than the alternative” was the only realistic option available to us.
Democrats started this election cycle in a very deep and dark hole…2018 is about starting to dig our way out, and Dems were more or less successful at that last night.
My predictions:
Trump will continue to say ridiculously stupid things, including self-incriminating things…and Mueller will be there, waiting and making notes.
Dems will use the control they gained in various statehouses to start repealing a lot of terrible state level GOP stuff, including gerrymandering and voter suppression. This is key to winning in 2020.
Republicans will continue to claim credit for the past 10 years of economic growth while simultaneously blaming the President and party who were actually responsible for the first 8 years of said growth for ruining the country. I mean, it’s what they do.
Steve Chabot ran campaign ads here in Ohio literally touting his last ten years in office as some of the most successful in Ohio job growth and economic gains. I had to restrain myself from punching my television. Motherfucker, who do you think was responsible for that?! Hint, it wasn’t you. Also, weren’t you in office during the 8 years BEFORE that when everything went to hell? Uh huh. And yet he still won. Why? Because most of my fellow Ohioans are morons.
How close to the 2020 election will be to close for Mueller to release his findings?
Ask James Comey.
Did anyone put votes on Trump fires Sessions and moves Rosenstein from overseeing Mueller?
I don’t expect much of anything to happen at all. This is ideal for Trump. He’s protected against impeachment, and since he never had any interest in policy or legislation, he can just do nothing for the next two years and blame Congress for everything. These last two years were embarrassing because everything Trump and the GOP did was self-defeated by incompetence and illegality; but the next two will be just fine as far as he’s concerned.
Are we sure about this? He (DJT) just forced Jeff Sessions to resign today. The new AG was Sessions’ chief of staff or something. He might take over overseeing the Mueller probe. It’s apparently a guy who has been on record saying Mueller is going too far.
I think a lot depends on what Mueller finds. If Trump really did money laundering for Russia, I could see an impeachment. If nothing concrete is revealed then nothing will happen.
I think attempting to fuck with the Mueller investigation right after Dems took the House in the election but before they can actually take over would basically be an admission of guilt and likely provoke a strong reaction from Dems and the country come January.
Democrats will demand a more “balanced budget”, i.e., to remove government investment. Unfortunately, the money to keep the economy going must come from private savings then, which are not high enough to keep the bubbles going forever and will increase the private debt level instead, which is already above 2007. Once demand starts failing due to lack of purchasing power, the “progressive” democratic response will once again fail to realize what happened and throw money at failed business instead of employment. Republicans will seize the opportunity to select a more “moderate” and “serious” candidate, possibly throwing Trump under the bus to pardon latter. After that, I don’t have a prediction, but it’s not 2019 for certain, anyway.
I did. I thought it was clear that Trump was going to fire Sessions after the mid terms.
I’m still a little surprised he had the self-control (or his staff was able to restrain him) to wait until the midterms. He’s been itching for this for a long time.
Looking at this year’s results in the big picture, here is my overall takeaway:
The Dems lost ground in the Senate, which is institutionally and demographically tilted against them, and in which the Dems faced a truly terrible map this year. So, although this result was disappointing, it was a relatively minor negative. The 2020 Senate races will be huge.
The Dems gained ground in the House, in the face of a statistically excellent economy and large scale gerrymandering against them. This is a very strong positive sign and also gives the Dems actual power to affect at least parts of the national agenda. A big plus.
The Dems, on balance, gained ground at the state level. Although there were some huge disappointments (Florida, Georgia), the overall results moved several states out of GOP dominance into divided rule or Dem dominance. This is both a strong positive sign as the local component of politics cannot be ignored, and also a real shift in power in that a lot of the GOP techniques to cheat and exploit will be limited in several states, improving Dem chances in 2020.
So, despite several notable disappointments and a weak showing in the Senate, this was a very good election for the Dems, overall.
Strategically, this was a crucial beachhead election, setting up a potentially decisive battle in 2020. So despite some negatives, we should actually be pretty pleased overall.
Um… what? This makes no sense.
Thanks. I look forward to reading your takes on politics.
Yeah, I’m with Menzo here. I’m not sure you have a good grasp on the American political party priorities.
Yeah none of that relates to anything I’ve ever seen.
Intention is one thing, results have been another, in the US or otherwise. I won’t mind too much if my unorthodox new lens is completely off base, though.
In the interest of letting you figure your own stuff out, I’ll keep my insanity to myself now.
My prediction: GOP happy voters will 100% buy into ‘obstructionist libruls’ when the House starts…obstructing Trump.
And 2020 will be far worse then 2016.
Signed, Depressed Voter