IMHO, all GOP pols share the blame. They are the folks that ceded power to Donald due to their cowardice. My Grandfather fought in the trenches during the First War and my father fought in the South Pacific during the Second War, Each risked their lives to preserve our freedoms. Asking pols to risk their jobs for the country is not asking for the same sacrifice.
Democrats turned out bigly to reject Trumpism. MAGAs didn't because they didn't see the vote as necessary to keep Trump in power. MAGAs a person-cult. They don't vote for issues, they vote for 'their guy'. He wasn't on the ballot (as they saw it), so for once the polls overcounted their turnout.
Even people who are glad that the flow of illegal immigrants has subsided are horrified by Trump's use of masked thugs to arrest decent people doing menial jobs at car washes and restaurants. I voted for Biden but the Dems really blew immigration. The nightly news footage of thousands of illegals streaming across the border was a big problem in the 2024 election. The result was the election of a cruel and deeply disturbed narcissist. Now let's send Trump another loud message in the mid-terms.
I don’t think they have the moral backbone to oppose Trump, not when he is sill capable of flinging lies and disparaging comments about them to his adoring masses. They are afraid of both Trump and his rabid supporters who are only too happy to do his bidding.
If, and that’s a big if, they do oppose Trump it won’t be until he’s clearly weak and powerless and when his mean-spirited keyboard rants will be just shouting into the void. Will that day come? I doubt it - he will still be trying to ruin America when he’s out of office, especially if one of his puppets gets elected - then he will be able to pull the strings from afar and everyone will fall in line again.
When Trump's a faded shell keyboard ranting incoherently into the Cloud -- which is to say, now -- Fox and the rest of the right-wing media machine will still be fluffing his unique greatness, the MAGAs will still self-reinforce their cult of the person, SCOTUS will still be letting him do whatever (he/Vought/Miller) wants, and GOP Congresspeeps will still be choosing oligarch money over death threats.
Yup, wer're stuck with him until he dies, and maybe longer, if they can get away with AI generated Xeets and video clips until Elon gets his replicant DJT up and running.
It is going to take more than these Democratic wins to slay the beast—MAGA partisans and supporters have to unfortunately feel the pain of the government shutdown, denial of healthcare benefits, economic hardship first before seeing the light of a new day—but we are on our way!
However, Dems cannot get high on THIER own supply. Anti-MAGA may win the next election, but they still need to establish a New New Deal consensus that will last for a generation or more.
Blaming Trump is bullshit because every fucking Republican is complicit in his coup, they all willfully violated the constitution in allowing him to do things that the constitution does not allow the president to do; The "unitary executive" does not constitutionally exist yet the entire GOP, including those on the SCOTUS, created it from whole cloth. All should hang for this treason.
The data point on California Prop 50, where 92% of the voters prefer districts drawn by a non-partisan committee but 63% voted for Prop 50 anyway, is extremely interesting to me. It's in line with what happened in Virginia's Attorney General race, where Jay Jones won the race to be the state's chief law enforcement officer for the state's Republicans and Democrats and everyone else despite recent texts leaking in which he said he wanted to kill Republican opponents. What these data points are telling me is that Democrats are beginning to choose pragmatism over principle, and it's not a great development, but given where we are with a lawless and unprincipled GOP, it's a necessary development. Purity tests need to be put in storage until the GOP is beaten repeatedly and badly over a sustained number of election cycles and either changes how it operates or dissolves as a party.
Right now, it's vote Blue no matter who, even if the candidate may have said some stuff about killing folks from the other side. Because any Republican candidate is completely unacceptable.
I’m a lifelong Democratic voter and I would not have voted for Jay Jones, but I would have voted for Prop 50. The Democratic Party must not lose its moral center. Two corrupted parties will be even more revolting than one.
I totally respect that way of looking at it and I agree having a two party system with two degraded parties is a disaster. Unfortunately, it's also a disaster if just one of the parties is degraded because that party will not respect the rules of engagement and will take advantage of the one that does respect them at every opportunity.
I'm in North Carolina, but from Virginia (also a lifelong Democrat), and if I had've been a Virginia voter I would have held my nose and voted for Jones, because Virginia potentially has a Prop 50-style redistricting of its own in its future, and the AG can block any such effort there all by himself. So, if you had any hope for redistricting in Virginia, voting for Jones was the only way to get it, as it would never have made it past Miyares.
And apparently Jay Jones opponent Meares was going to vote against redistriciting and there was some past stuff that was awful as well. It just wasn't as well known.
And now....Trump will hold 40 airports hostage by reducing air travel 10% as leverage to get the government to re-open. It's being framed as taking pressure off air traffic controllers--who no doubt deserve a break and their paychecks--however, Trump doesn't care about air traffic controllers or anyone else suffering. Yes, the election was a referendum on the president and his policies--so much so, that after a few hours of reprieve, the revenge begins.
Jzcode: McConnell is a power hungry coward and a major reason for the rise of Trump. He could have had him impeached. But maybe the silver lining in all of this is that the majority of Americans have woken up and are now roused enough to throw the bums out, as my grandpa used to say. It will be a long hard slog to push out the anti-democracy MAGATS but I think we are up to the task.
How could any election in these days not be about Trump. He's in our faces 24/7. He's taking food out of the mouths of kids and seniors. Murdering fishermen. Masked goons in our streets. It's going to stay about him until we get rid of him.
Republicans were quiet assholes for years, and got things done.
Then they decided they wanted to be loud and proud.....
IMHO, all GOP pols share the blame. They are the folks that ceded power to Donald due to their cowardice. My Grandfather fought in the trenches during the First War and my father fought in the South Pacific during the Second War, Each risked their lives to preserve our freedoms. Asking pols to risk their jobs for the country is not asking for the same sacrifice.
Democrats turned out bigly to reject Trumpism. MAGAs didn't because they didn't see the vote as necessary to keep Trump in power. MAGAs a person-cult. They don't vote for issues, they vote for 'their guy'. He wasn't on the ballot (as they saw it), so for once the polls overcounted their turnout.
Love the loss for Ciattarelli in the face of his anti-immigrant platform. May he never have a role in politics again. That would be the best outcome.
Remember, this President still has 34 felonies:
his future is ordained!
Unless he can get Elise elected governor. She can wipe out those convictions with a stroke of the pen.
Oh, geez!
Even people who are glad that the flow of illegal immigrants has subsided are horrified by Trump's use of masked thugs to arrest decent people doing menial jobs at car washes and restaurants. I voted for Biden but the Dems really blew immigration. The nightly news footage of thousands of illegals streaming across the border was a big problem in the 2024 election. The result was the election of a cruel and deeply disturbed narcissist. Now let's send Trump another loud message in the mid-terms.
Most of those "thousand of illegals" was bullshit on faux news.
Democrats can't defend themselves against outright lies and the morons who fall for it.
I don’t think they have the moral backbone to oppose Trump, not when he is sill capable of flinging lies and disparaging comments about them to his adoring masses. They are afraid of both Trump and his rabid supporters who are only too happy to do his bidding.
If, and that’s a big if, they do oppose Trump it won’t be until he’s clearly weak and powerless and when his mean-spirited keyboard rants will be just shouting into the void. Will that day come? I doubt it - he will still be trying to ruin America when he’s out of office, especially if one of his puppets gets elected - then he will be able to pull the strings from afar and everyone will fall in line again.
When Trump's a faded shell keyboard ranting incoherently into the Cloud -- which is to say, now -- Fox and the rest of the right-wing media machine will still be fluffing his unique greatness, the MAGAs will still self-reinforce their cult of the person, SCOTUS will still be letting him do whatever (he/Vought/Miller) wants, and GOP Congresspeeps will still be choosing oligarch money over death threats.
Yup, wer're stuck with him until he dies, and maybe longer, if they can get away with AI generated Xeets and video clips until Elon gets his replicant DJT up and running.
It is going to take more than these Democratic wins to slay the beast—MAGA partisans and supporters have to unfortunately feel the pain of the government shutdown, denial of healthcare benefits, economic hardship first before seeing the light of a new day—but we are on our way!
Boy oh boy, that this a harbinger of the great awakening, we’re rooting for that with all our hearts up here is the great multihued North!
However, Dems cannot get high on THIER own supply. Anti-MAGA may win the next election, but they still need to establish a New New Deal consensus that will last for a generation or more.
Blaming Trump is bullshit because every fucking Republican is complicit in his coup, they all willfully violated the constitution in allowing him to do things that the constitution does not allow the president to do; The "unitary executive" does not constitutionally exist yet the entire GOP, including those on the SCOTUS, created it from whole cloth. All should hang for this treason.
Trump, of course, takes credit for everything, so it seems only appropriate that he take the blame too.
The data point on California Prop 50, where 92% of the voters prefer districts drawn by a non-partisan committee but 63% voted for Prop 50 anyway, is extremely interesting to me. It's in line with what happened in Virginia's Attorney General race, where Jay Jones won the race to be the state's chief law enforcement officer for the state's Republicans and Democrats and everyone else despite recent texts leaking in which he said he wanted to kill Republican opponents. What these data points are telling me is that Democrats are beginning to choose pragmatism over principle, and it's not a great development, but given where we are with a lawless and unprincipled GOP, it's a necessary development. Purity tests need to be put in storage until the GOP is beaten repeatedly and badly over a sustained number of election cycles and either changes how it operates or dissolves as a party.
Right now, it's vote Blue no matter who, even if the candidate may have said some stuff about killing folks from the other side. Because any Republican candidate is completely unacceptable.
I’m a lifelong Democratic voter and I would not have voted for Jay Jones, but I would have voted for Prop 50. The Democratic Party must not lose its moral center. Two corrupted parties will be even more revolting than one.
I totally respect that way of looking at it and I agree having a two party system with two degraded parties is a disaster. Unfortunately, it's also a disaster if just one of the parties is degraded because that party will not respect the rules of engagement and will take advantage of the one that does respect them at every opportunity.
I'm in North Carolina, but from Virginia (also a lifelong Democrat), and if I had've been a Virginia voter I would have held my nose and voted for Jones, because Virginia potentially has a Prop 50-style redistricting of its own in its future, and the AG can block any such effort there all by himself. So, if you had any hope for redistricting in Virginia, voting for Jones was the only way to get it, as it would never have made it past Miyares.
And apparently Jay Jones opponent Meares was going to vote against redistriciting and there was some past stuff that was awful as well. It just wasn't as well known.
And now....Trump will hold 40 airports hostage by reducing air travel 10% as leverage to get the government to re-open. It's being framed as taking pressure off air traffic controllers--who no doubt deserve a break and their paychecks--however, Trump doesn't care about air traffic controllers or anyone else suffering. Yes, the election was a referendum on the president and his policies--so much so, that after a few hours of reprieve, the revenge begins.
Jzcode: McConnell is a power hungry coward and a major reason for the rise of Trump. He could have had him impeached. But maybe the silver lining in all of this is that the majority of Americans have woken up and are now roused enough to throw the bums out, as my grandpa used to say. It will be a long hard slog to push out the anti-democracy MAGATS but I think we are up to the task.
How could any election in these days not be about Trump. He's in our faces 24/7. He's taking food out of the mouths of kids and seniors. Murdering fishermen. Masked goons in our streets. It's going to stay about him until we get rid of him.