little bit of a different feel for the midterm elections this time. We all know that historically, the presence party gets their butts kicked in midterms. But it is not clear to me that that will be the case this time.
Part of the reason is that there is a greatly increased polarization in the electorate now. As I have frequently noted, the little trickle of difference between the parties became a stream, and then the ditch, and then the canal, and is now a raging river. It is now impossible for people to “straddle” the two sides like they used to be able to. It is no longer just about tactics, it is about the overall strategy and intent.
Whereas everyone used to have the same overall goal, the tactics were a bit different at times. But now the rift is not at all in tactics, it is in the overall goal. And that means there is little ground upon which one can compromise.
In any case, I’m not sure that these coming midterms are going to be like past ones were. Things are really are a lot different now, in almost all respects. And the Mamdani thing in New York City only further clarifies the issues at stake.
It looks like the Democrats’ baggage, especially from the Biden years, is heavier than the loads Trump Republicans must juggle. Democrats’ credibility has been damaged as their arguments, one after another, have proven to be based on lies: the Russia collusion hoax, COVID-19 school closings, “transitory” inflation, the Hunter Biden laptop and open-borders immigration.
… The veteran liberal reporter Thomas Edsall portrays in his Times online column a “realignment (with) staying power” and fears. There is a “real possibility that discontent with the Democratic party — its perceived failure to value work, its political correctness, the extremity of its social and cultural liberalism — might have become deeply embedded in the electorate.”
And the truth is, most people aren’t simply not on board with that. They rear like a shying stallion at what Democrats are pushing. There has been a Lefty weaponization of conservative politeness–and the conservatives’ default reaction of letting anyone believe (and push) whatever they want has been taken advantage of. And THAT has been to the detriment of Conservatism. They have been FAR too polite!
But the pendulum seems to be swinging back a little. I guess we will see how much.