The midterm election results are still being tabulated, but it appears that a much-anticipated “Red Wave” (Republican Party) tsunami at the polls has not materialized.
The G.O.P. will regain control of the House of Representatives but will not be in position to dictate changes in Biden Administration policy due to the Democrats control of the Senate and the Presidential veto power.
Republican Party leadership was hoping for, and expecting, a thorough drubbing of the Democrats on Tuesday. With the economy, the Ukraine war, and a doddering Democrat in the White House working in the G.O.P.’s favor, the 2022 midterms should have been a cakewalk. That didn’t happen, and Party leaders are publicly and privately throwing the blame around. “We shit the bed”, said one Republican political engineer. Another added, “We might have reached the limit of crazy”.
Certainly, a much more sober assessment of the G.O.P.’s 2024 Presidential election goals is in order. Before the mid-terms, Donald Trump and his core followers, were licking their chops in anticipation of another shot at the big prize. However, Tuesday’s results cast a dim light on those hopes. Although the ex-President exerts a huge gravitational pull within the current Republican Party, he still remains unpopular with most Americans. “Saving democracy” and “saving Women’s rights” were strong Democratic Party themes during the midterm campaigns. The January 6, 2020 Capitol Riot and the overturning of Roe vs. Wade, both Trump undertakings, damaged the Republican brand this past week, as did the continuing “election denial” foolishness and the ex-President’s myriad legal problems.
At the same time that some big-name Trump-endorsed candidates were being rejected at the polls, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, the rising star in the G.O.P., steamrollered his opponent and set a glide path to the Republican National Convention. More and more influential politicians, megadonors, and even Rupert Murdoch (Fox News publisher) are saying publicly that it is time for Donald Trump to resume leadership of his family business.
Trump being Trump, he will not be told what to do and may decide to run for President again. This would be a catastrophe for the Republican Party, as DeSantis would probably be a shoo-in if he was nominated. If Trump and DeSantis go at it publicly for the next twelve months, it will get ugly and the Democratic party will enjoy the G.O.P. blood-letting.
Being the ersatz Kingmaker of the Republican Party seems to be something that the ex-President enjoys and he certainly has enriched himself in the process with all of those fund raising scams. There’s certainly something to be said for the beauty of this grift: simply put out an inflammatory e-mail and get ready to open up tens of thousands of envelopes with $20, $100 and $1,000 bills.
He might prefer to continue this lucrative industry rather than getting publicly bashed by DeSantis, disgruntled Republicans, Democrats, and the press. After all, he needs a lot of money to pay for the attorneys who are fighting his legal battles in various jurisdictions.
As a matter of fact, those legal problems might encourage him to announce his candidacy, as it might deter the Department of Justice, State Attorneys, and the January 6th Committee from pressing criminal charges on him… during an election campaign. He is very comfortable claiming “Witchhunt!” whenever he’s in hot water, and he’s in an ocean of it right now.
Let the circus begin.