Personally, I feel a bit down about the midterms, too. I guess I was hoping for a clear rejection of Trump and an end to the nightmare of the last 2 years. Unfortunately, it’s now clear that there’s no end in sight.
@KevinC is right. This is what the GOP is now, and we’ll be fighting it for a long time. I’m getting old, so I’ll probably be fighting it for the rest of my life. That’s sobering.
I also think the GOP got slapped around pretty hard and the only reason this election is even a mild disappointment is because polls (and projections like 538’s) had primed everyone for a ridiculous scenario where the default is no change in the Senate and +36 seats in the house. That was never the default. The default was no change in the House and R+7 or +8 in the Senate. This is a major wave, but Trump was always going to helicopter in to some races that might win then declare victory when the Republican won some of them.
That said, despite me thinking this was a massive wave for Democrats, I think some 2019 doom and gloom is in order. It would be apocalyptic doom and gloom if there hadn’t been a wave, but one wave isn’t enough to overcome the horrors of 2016, 2014, and 2010. Things are going to be rough, there’s a lot of fighting to do over the next two years to turn out anything close to this kind of wave in 2020, and we especially need that focus at the state level. Correct me if I’m wrong, but redistricting isn’t in the bag yet because it’s the people in office after the census is complete who get to do it.
I think Florida and Georgia have a lot of Democrats feeling down despite the excellent showing across most of the rest of the country Tuesday night. That’s understandable, especially since both losses showcased the effects of GOP dirty politics like gerrymandering, voter suppression, attack ads, and outright lies (aka the Trump effect). I think a lot of people really started to believe Beto had a shot in Texas as well, and are feeling let down about that race.
The truth is that the fact all three of those races were as close as they were with all the deck stacking the GOP could pull off just affirms that the “Blue Wave” is a real thing. We did good, even in places we didn’t win. And those losses will propel people to get even more involved and invested in 2020…this time hopefully tipping the scales. This election was about two things:
Both tasks were accomplished with authority. We can build on the states in which there is now contested control or Dem control to turn the tide on voter suppression. Successes there will lead to increased GOTV campaigns and turnout for the 2020 election.
This election wasn’t supposed to be an end to the Trump/GOP problem, it was supposed to be a stepping stone along way to 2020, a barometer of how angry and motivated the decent people in America could be. The message was sent, loud and clear. If we keep pushing, 2020 could be the victory we all want.
Been thinking about my reactions some more and I suspect it’s simpler, at least for me. I’m just exhausted. The constant horror of everything has worn me down.
Yeah, this. I was hoping that the people of the United States would roundly stand up and say “this racism shit is terrible!” and we could drive the small number of shitheels that truly do agree with Trump back under the slimy rocks that they’ve been peeking out from. I was hoping that we could excise the virulently racist portion of the GOP and go back to having a conservative party and a progressive party.
What Tuesday showed me (Florida and Texas being the exemplars) is that the shitheels are far, far more numerous and mainstream than I wanted to believe, despite what 2016 more than hinted at. It showed me that rather than swatting the racists down with a stern rebuke and concentrating on other issues (like the survival of the planet), we’re going to have to be fighting the shitheels tooth and nail to prevent them taking power. Every. Fucking. Election. Forever.
He did. The Dems took pretty much every suburb everywhere. Growing and populous areas over a certain size went Blue almost without fail.
But that’s kind of part of what has me depressed. I really don’t want voters in our country to choose between the White People’s Party and the Non-White People’s Party. And I don’t want people to vote for the Urban People’s Party or the Rural People’s Party.
It is exhausting. I totally understand this feeling and struggle with it as well. I’ve tried to scale back a bit, not watch as much news or read as much political stuff (he says as he responds to posts in a political forum!) and play more video games, spend time with my kids, watch TV or read fiction or whatever I enjoy doing, because at the end of the day you still need to live your life, and you can’t change what’s happening all by yourself. You can do your part by voting, maybe volunteering and/or donating, and then go back to living day to day with as much positivity as you can create for yourself.
I understand this as well. But it may not be as bad as it seems. Remember that America is not a 50/50 split between normal, caring, decent people and evil, racist shitheels. The more of the former we can get to come out to the polls on election day, the sooner we drive the latter back under their rocks. Tuesday was a big step in the right direction for this. Also, not sure if it was in this thread or elsewhere, but the graphs that showed what remains of the rabid GOP base tends to be heavily concentrated in white men 40+ years of age, that graph is like a roadmap to victory. Every single day in this country that particular susbset of America gets a little bit smaller. Every young African American/Latino/Native American/Asian/White person who gets elected to office by knocking out someone form that demographic (40+ White GOP) is another small victory, and there were A LOT of those Tuesday night.
The road to 2020 is going to be rough. Things might even seem to get worse before they get better, but they WILL get better. In 2020, and beyond. It’s inevitable. The demographics of America are changing, and old white ignorant people see that change coming and are scared, so they lash out against it even when it means voting against their own best interests. But the change can’t be stopped, and it’s our job right now to make sure it doesn’t even slow down.
I think folks really don’t fully grasp what happened in this election.
In this election, you had a president who was presiding over a booming economy, lose 30+ seats and control of the house.
I mean, this was a CLEAR rejection of Trump. Trump’s essentially the main bad thing here. He’s the reason the GOP lost those seats. And in the exit polls, the GOP saw reduced support from essentially every demographic group.
I dunno if you guys expected Trump to just disintegrate on Wednesday or something? But he got his ass kicked. Things are gonna be bad for him.
Absolutely. Hence his hysterical meltdown at the press conference yesterday.
Tuesday was a disaster for Trump and the GOP. I really don’t know how it could have gone any better for Democrats, other than maybe eking out victories in Florida instead of barely losing. And even then, the GOP still controls the Senate and it’s just one Governorship out of 50.
Exactly. Great post.
I mean, there was so many districts that flipped that I had no idea they were even in danger. Democrats in Oklahoma, multiple in Iowa, the Kansas governorship, and even UT-4 is looking like they’re going to send up a Democrat!!
If this economy starts to stumble, Trump is going to ratchet things up even further as even more support evaporates.
The reality is, the economy is almost certainly heading for a recession in the next year.
Aside from the badness of the recession itself, I’m sure that Trump will be able to spin this into “See! The Democrats broke the economy!” even though they will not have been able to pass any legislation at all.
I think you don’t fully grasp what’s happening in this thread. WE KNOW THE ELECTION WAS GOOD. That doesn’t mean we don’t also realize that 2019 (that’s the point of the thread, looking ahead) won’t be particularly great. Those of you concerned about the “doom and gloom”, “brainwashing”, etc should maybe go start a “hooray we won the midterms” thread that isn’t specifically about next year, so you can get the jollies you’re looking for.
OK, looking back at that it’s a bit harsh, but I’m gonna leave it because I’ve said the same thing more softly and we’re still getting these “why are you so down” posts.
Hey, everyone knows I am ALL ABOUT the doom and gloom.
I guess this begs the question what did you EXPECT to happen in 2019 based off the 2018 elections prior to election night?
I imagine that almost all of us would have said “it is going to suck”. What is the purpose of confirming that, especially if many of us now think it is going to suck less?
I’m exasperated not by the lack of cheering, but rather the undercurrent of “Democrats won the house, but so what? Now they’re doomed because Republicans will say mean things” (that and the insidious nothing matters refrain found throughout this forum.) Winning the house and thwarting the Republican legislative agenda was the goal along - or so I thought. I’m confuzzled that there would be any other expectation.
The fact that 47% or so of votes cast were for the fascist party is inherently extremely depressing.
In 2016 you could kind of say that it wasn’t obvious they were the fascist party. Polls are just polls. Now we have a nationwide election and people still went in and pulled the lever for fascist in their tens of millions.
I truly hate this.
This country elected Ronald Reagan four years after Nixon. In a landslide.
They re-elected Bush in 2004.
I’m not surprised they press the lever for trump and his cronies.
Republicans have always been shitty, and people have always voted for them, and in large numbers.
It’s actually progress their numbers are diminishing.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think everything is puppy dogs and rainbows, far from it. SCOTUS alone ensures crappy outcomes for what remains of my life. And it’s not just here, it’s everywhere - Europe, now Brazil.
People suck. But people have always sucked.
But not everyone, and in fact a majority don’t.
Silver linings.
Great question. Here you go:
Let’s see, small pickup in seats. Yep. Enough to flip the House, fortunately, but nothing like a landslide. And losing ground in the Senate. (Yes, I know there’s a reason for that.)
Next, good raw numbers but not a big swing in seats.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/07/politics/voting-2018-popular-vote/index.html
Yep.
Now the next bit, about a huge trumpeting of this election as a turning point, that not so much. People, many in this very thread, seem to have their heads on straight in terms of understanding the limited value of what was accomplished. I suspect this might have been different if Florida/Georgia governors and the Beto/Cruz races had gone the other way.
And then 2 years of nothing due to divided government…well, that’s already been said in this thread repeatedly.
Hopefully I was wrong about the next bit, too…that in 2020 the passion will have died out due to fatigue from the divided-government stalemate and posturing. We’ll see.
If Dems aren’t willing to be in it for the long haul now, then we deserve what’s coming.