Oh, NOW They're Worried

Shortly after the January 6th Capitol riot, I predicted that the Democrats would milk the incident for all it's worth and as long as possible, including its use as a lever in the mid-term elections. The riot, along with Trump's disgraceful behavior before, during, and after, was a massive gift to the Democratic Party and to the Left in general.

Massive enough, at least in their own eyes, that they seemed to figure the warnings offered by the election itself, including their terrible showing in Congress, where they lost seats in the House in a year their candidate won the White House, and would not have taken the Senate were it not for Trump's idiocy, could be ignored.

The Democrats abandoned the message of moderation and normalcy they proffered leading into the election, and ran with an aggressive agenda well to the left of Obama's. They ignored and continue to ignore all the concerns of the unwashed masses, e.g. crime, the southern border, inflation, the economy, educators shutting parents out, and on and on. Instead, they presume that their carrot-and-stick politics: massive social spending and giveaways, a heavy regulatory hand, brute-force "greening" of the nation's energy sector, inculcation of a woke-leftist worldview that requires overt racial discrimination not only in universities, but throughout ELHI, and a perpetual scolding that those who aren't on board with all this are horrible subhumans to be shunned by all good-thinking people, could be legislated and pen-and-phoned into reality without consequences.

Or, at least, without blowback greater than what could be overcome by "...but, TRUMP!" messaging.

Suddenly, they've woken up to the possibility that they might actually lose their Congressional majorities in the mid-term election this November.

A possibility that I (and many others) not only predicted a year ago, but one that I am more sure of with each passing day.

History tells us that Presidents with good lead-in success and popularity can make modest gains in mid-term elections, but those instances are rare. Far more commonly, Presidents' parties lose mid-term seats, and not-infrequently in substantial numbers. Taft in 1910, Wilson in 1914, Harding in 1922, FDR in 1938 and 1942, Truman in 1946, Ike in 1958, LBJ in 1966, Ford in 1974, Clinton in 1994, Obama in 2010, and Trump in 2018 lost 40 or more House seats.

The Democrats, today, hold a 13 seat advantage, with 5 vacancies (4 of 5 were last held by Republicans). Given the Dems' poor showing in 2020 and the massive unpopularity of Biden, it is hard to imagine how the GOP doesn't* win the House. The Senate looks as likely to go GOP, given the 50-50 current split.

None of this is news.

Nor is Biden's unpopularity.

While some harridans on the far-Left think that this unpopularity is tied to 'not doing enough,' that's pure echo-bubble delusion, and the enactment of even more monster-spending bills that'd feed the inflation beast will only exacerbate the Democrats' problems.

Another tell-tale: the increased stridency, hyperbole, and excuse-making from the usual suspects. The View's Joy Behar informs us that a GOP sweep in November, "would be the end of the country—the beginning of the end for this country." A couple other talking heads informed their viewers that the only way the GOP wins is by cheating. Apparently, Democratic victories are all legitimate will-of-the-voters, but Democratic losses are the result of voting shenanigans. Nancy Pelosi has helpfully chimed in:

I fear for our democracy if the Republicans were ever to get the gavel. We can’t let that happen. Democracy is on the ballot in November.

Odd, that, since the victory will represent the will of the people. I suppose the latest redefinition of formerly uncontroversial words is that we only have “Democracy” when Democrats are in charge. Nancy claims to have a plan, a plan I suspect consists of little more than bleating “January 6!” over and over again.

Don't expect them to change their policies at all, though, despite their sudden realization that they're staring at a redux of the Clinton 1994 drubbing and the Obama 2010 shellacking. Theirs is not the way of representative public service. It's about management, about imposing their worldview on the public, the public's wishes notwithstanding.

Don’t expect a post-loss correction either. Obama didn't adjust in 2011, and Biden will likely emulate his former boss.

Part of me suspects that the honchos at CNN and MSNBC will not be all that displeased with a big loss, no matter how despondent their on-air blatherers. It'll be a big boost for their ratings. Their viewers' shock and sadness can be channeled into rage, and all Biden's failures can then be blamed on ‘Republican obstructionism.’ No matter that, just as in 2010, the GOP will have been given the majority to stop the President’s policies.

The Democrats will reap the stridently partisan seeds they sowed across the past few years, should they lose their majorities. Not that I wish for a continuation of across-the-aisle sniping and headhunting, but my wishes don't matter - the Repubs will give what they got, and launch committees at the Dems' naughtinesses, including the Hunter Biden laptop business that the press and the social media overlords quashed ahead of the election.

Assuming things go as expected, we are in for two years of gridlock, with Biden apt to continue pressing his hard-left agenda, and the Republican Congress apt to reject all of it. While it'd be nice if Biden course-corrects, Clinton-style, I think he's too deeply entrenched with the leftists to even consider doing so.

Meanwhile, a government that does nothing is far preferable to a government that does all the wrong things.

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Peter.