It was going to be a red wave, no, a bloodbath with all kinds of controversies, conspiracies and maybe even violence — the proverbial American carnage. Instead the midterm election of 2022, which should’ve seen the party out of favor (that would be the Republicans) make significant gains on the party in power (that would be the Democrats) was more birdbath than bloodbath, a fairly typical midterm with some election dysfunction, a nutjob or two, but mostly people quietly, boringly exercising their right to vote. We’ll take quiet and boring.
And while the Republicans may wrest control of the House of Representatives and the Senate from the Democrats — lots of races are still too close to call — the Republicans would have only a wafer-thin majority and no mandate, similar to the Democrats the past two years. The difference is this was the Republicans’ race to lose — and lose they did. Indeed if this were a tennis match, it would be like the Wimbledon darling failing to close out the fifth set despite two championship points. (Et tu, Roger Federer?)
In high profile race after high profile race, the Repubs were repudiated, which was stunning in a country with the highest inflation in 40 years and a president with a similarly numbered approval rating. Why didn’t the “party of Lincoln” capitalize on a message of the economy, inflation, crime and immigration?
For one thing, while voters cared about those issues, they also cared about the right to choose, perhaps more than they let on to pollsters. People — especially young people, who turned out for the Democrats in droves once again — don’t want children to have children and doctors to watch women who’ve had miscarriages die, because they’re afraid to remove fetal tissue.
And voters clearly were sick of the election denialism drama. Many of those Republican candidates associated with it and President Donald J. Trump (Pennsylvania Senate hopeful Mehmet Oz, M.D., for instance) lost while those Republican candidates who did their job like Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and stood clear of former President Donald J. Trump’s claims that he won the 2020 presidential election — and even stood up to those claims like Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger — were rewarded. Meanwhile, Arizona, a reliably red state in the Sen. John McCain days, is once again trending blue. What does this tell us?
It tells us that whatever happens now, the big loser of the evening was Trump, who positioned pro-lifers, election deniers and even Jan. 6 insurrectionists into primary wins, with a little help from Democrats, who thought, rightly as it turned out, that they could beat them in the general election more easily than traditional Republicans. Trump is said to be fuming at the turn of events as he was planning to ride the red wave into his big announcement coming out of Mar a Lago Nov. 15. According to The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman, he’s even blaming wife Melania for suggesting he back the carpetbagging, crudité-loving, Oprah-rebuffed Oz.
But we suspect Trump’s real anger may be directed at archrival Gov. Ron DeSantis’ big reelection win in Florida. Often described as Trump but with brains — more like Trump but more insidious — DeSantis is considered the challenger to Trump’s quest for the Republican nomination in 2024. Already Trump has given him the classic Trump treatment — a nickname (DeSantimonious), a weight assessment (fat), a warning (don’t go near the nomination) and a promise. In a chilling Haberman article, Trump said that he might have to reveal some unflattering information about DeSantis, and that he knew more about him than his wife, Casey, who, Trump said, manages his campaign.
The implication is that DeSantis is led by his wife. But if Trump were mad at his wife for suggesting he back Oz, which he has denied, wouldn’t that say that Trump was led by his wife as well?
Many Republicans and conservatives are waiting for DeSantis to mop the floor with President Joe Biden. But DeSantis will never be president as long as Trump is in play politicallly. Trump is the type of person who must not only defeat you but crush you. DeSantis is the kind of governor who spent all kinds of money better used elsewhere to drag some downtrodden illegals from one state to a third just to stick it to the “woke” Dems.
Remember Trump’s '“Drain the Swamp”? This is going to be like an alligator and a boa constrictor in a Florida swamp: It’s going to get really ugly really fast.
If DeSantis gets the Republican nod, Trump will go all Bull Moose Party in a china shop on him. (Or should that be Bull Moose in a China — “Ghyna” — shop?) The pair will split the Repubican/Conservative vote, thus ensuring a Democratic White House.
Indeed, if the election’s Trumpian disturbances proved anything it’s that a Republican will never sit in the White House as long as Trump exerts political influence.