Wave GoodBye

One thing is absolutely certain about the mid-term elections—there was no red wave, and those of us who suspected that a wave would occur were wrong. It appears that the majority of voters in districts and states that did not contribute to a wave are perfectly happy with inflation at 8-plus percent, high energy prices driven by absurd policies that create fossil fuel scarcity, urban crime that is at troubling levels, and a southern border that is a porous as Joe Biden's memory. 

It's also appears that the Democrats strategy of running against the hated Donald Trump worked quite well—that claims of the "death of democracy" should his endorsed candidates (many initially funded with Democrat money) win, moved people to vote for bigger government, more inflationary spending and other policies that will make life more costly and less free.

But ... as a wise man once said: People get the government they vote for, and that's exactly what will happen over the next two years.

However, the Democrats better be careful as they celebrate this victory. James Freeman comments:

Cheer up, Republicans. While a red wave may not have washed over U.S. politics on Tuesday, the ultimate outcome could be even better for the GOP. Given the president’s lousy approval ratings and inability to speak coherently, a midterm shellacking on the order of 1994 or 2010 would have triggered an aggressive effort by Democrats to push Mr. Biden off stage before the 2024 elections. Now they may be stuck with him ...

If Mr. Biden somehow ends up on a debate stage 23 months from now with Ron DeSantis or Glenn Youngkin or Tim Scott or Kim Reynolds or Doug Ducey or Greg Abbott, the president could lose 40 states. 

But there's more to it than that. Had the Red Wave actually occurred, the Democrats with the help of their trained hamsters in the media would have been able to blame a deeply red House and Senate for all of the nation's problems. Bumbling Joe Biden's teleprompter would have claimed that the GOP blocked him from fixing the economy, providing cheap and plentiful energy, reducing violent crime, and securing the border. It'll be a bit more difficult to do that now,  although I'm sure his teleprompter and media shills will give it a try.

In addition, the blue state authoritarian policies that occurred throughout the COVID debacle appear to have had little effect on the mood of blue state voters. I guess lockdowns, school closures, draconian mask and vaccine mandates were a net positive in those states and that the damage to lives and livelihoods was ... well ... acceptable? Then again, if blue state voters were consumed by irrational fear due to COVID, and to assuage that fear, embraced insanity as many did from March 2020 to mid-2022, it's not at all surprising that there was no anger directed at blue state leaders who became petty dictators. Who knew? 

And finally, there's a bit of good news for those within the GOP who think that Donald Trump is now past his expiration date. This non-wave election has tarnished Trump's brand among many in the GOP. He endorsed candidates who were not quite ready for primetime and made an ass of himself by attacking the only architect of a statewide GOP Wave—Ron DeSantis in FL. Although Trump remains a player, there is now a possibility that he will not be the GOP nominee in 2024. If the next two years under Biden play out like the first two, it will be hard for the Dems to blame the nation's ills on Trump, particularly if he's not the nominee.

Then again, if this mid-term teaches us anything, it's that abstractions matter more than measurable accomplishments, that emotion matters a lot more than pragmatism, and that many Americans are convinced that a two-party system is a "threat to democracy," particularly if the party that wins does not have a (D) after its candidates' names.