By Marc Cooper (November 7, 2018)
I don’t know about you, but I wasn’t expecting a revolutionary seizure of power in the midterms. I was hoping that a significant step would be taken to stop forward movement by Trump.
It did. Taking the House by the Dems means that Trump is a legislative lame duck for the rest of his term. NO funding for the The Wall. No cuts to Medicare or Social Security. No more tax giveaways to the rich. No birthright bullshit. No funding for nor passage of ANY mad hat scheme. It also means a reopening of the House inquiry into the Russian portion of Trumpland. It means oversight and scrutiny and I would bet several resignations from the feudal empires that some of his cabinet secretaries have built. The Dems also won a number of Governorships in the Trumpian Heartland.
And mostly it means preservation of the basics of Obamacare and further expansion of Medicaid.
Look, I am not now and I have never been a Democrat. Personally, I expect(ed) NOTHING from them. In spite of their incapacity to build a robust opposition party, there were enough voters to jam up congress for Donald Trump. I’m sorry, but even for a non-Democrat that’s a huge victory!
WE now have two years to build a movement that speaks to the millions who still do not vote and feel abandoned that could lead to a better outcome for 2020.
Let me also remind you that the same people lamenting this wasn’t a blue tsunami, are mostly the same people who two years ago were crying that we were on the verge of fascist dictatorship and we would soon be locked up in FEMA camps. Please get a hold of your expectations!
The Senate was NEVER in play. Even taking the House was little more than a mirage two years ago.The map this year did not allow it. Electing black statewide Democratic officials in the deep south is still a steep climb but we came a lot closer then ever before. Beto was a good candidate but, frankly. I think he ran a poor campaign tacking too far to the left for Texas. He still made Ted Cruz sweat it out and gave him notice that this is Cruz’ last term as a US Senator.
In politics, there are NO short cuts. You don’t wish movements for deep social change inot existence, you have to do the hard work of building them brick by brick. They are not delivered to you from Nancy Pelosi via room service.
And, finally, I would say that every day you live in fear, in fear of Trump doing this or that, is one more day you have capitulated to Donald Trump’s agenda.
Take your victories where you can get them and keep pushing forward and with more effort.
Now is the moment for Trump, despite, his bluster, to live every day in fear. Whether he does or does not depends on YOU.
