As is usually the case, the “out Party” (the political party which doesn’t control the White House) is expected to do well in Tuesday’s mid-term elections.
In the past 70 years, the President’s party has lost an average of 26 House seats, with a high of 63 seats in 2010 and a low of 5 seats in 1952. The phenomenon is consistent no matter which political party controls the White House because any problems besetting Americans (like war, the economy, crime, taxes, etc.) are deemed the responsibility of the Executive Branch.
It is likely that both the House of Representatives and the Senate will become Republican-majority as a result of this coming week’s mid-terms. However, the ability of the G.O.P. to control the national agenda will be offset by President Biden’s constitutional veto power. In order to pass any “Republican” legislation, both Houses of Congress would have to override a Presidential veto with a two-thirds majority vote… which hardly ever happens.
Thus, Americans can once again look forward to two more years of do-nothing-ness in Washington D.C.
What we can expect is an onslaught of political theater, where Congressmen and Senators will do their best shock shtick to impress voters back in the home district. The next two years are the run-up to the Presidential election of 2024, so there will be a circus atmosphere with every aspiring politician trying to get his mug into the spotlight… just in case there is an opening for Vice President.
Narcissist Donald Trump is really enjoying this time in his life, with about 40 percent of the Republican Party faithful in his hip pocket and various fund raising grifts working well. He is a kingmaker, which is good for his ego, and enjoys aspiring and incumbent Congressmen and Senators lining up to kiss his ring.
It is unknown yet whether the ex-President will make another run in 2024. He is hinting that he will, and this week he took aim at his most likely Republican opponent, Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida.
The problem that Trump and the Republicans face is his electability: he has lost the past two popular votes for President and was impeached twice. Plus, the guy faces multiple criminal cases relating to fraudulent business practices in New York, , election tampering in Georgia, and possible incitement of the January 6, 2020 Capitol Riot.
People who are not all that political will come out to vote against him, as was witnessed in 2020, when Joe Biden beat him by seven million votes.
President Biden turns 80 years old in two weeks and is showing his age. It is hard to believe that the Democrats would run him again. Donald Trump is 76, thirty-two years older and more polarizing than the conservative Ron DeSantis.
It is hard to believe that the Republican Party would run a 76-year-old, unpopular ex-President when they could nominate a fairly-popular Governor and almost surely win the 2024 Presidential election with him. However, Trumpian politics being what they are, with all the craziness exploding right and left, who knows what will happen?
In the meanwhile, we can anticipate some shameless theatrics in D.C., once the new Congressmen and Senators are seated and the TV cameras are turned on.
Two more years of wheel-spinning in the Nation’s capital.
