Commentators say that Trump was a liability for the Republicans but I think the momentum he brings got them closer. The real damage was the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe vs Wade – very much a step too far.
I find that sensible people will tolerate a certain amount of right-wingness if they have to, but this kind of oppressive legislation is the opposite of free market principles and letting people operate how they want with minimal govt interference. I’m not sure if US media realise that abortion and gun control are not election-deciding issues in any other country.
Anyway – I think the thickos of the far right have shot themselves in the foot on this issue. Will Trump run in 2024 and will this help the Republicans? I think they need to cut him off and let an election cycle wash through before coming back with someone who isn’t mad.
We breathe a sigh of relief at the better than expected results. Then look closer – fucking hell, there ain’t half some crazy loopy bastards over there who make the likes of Cruella and Pretty Vacant look like pinko woke liberals.
Pretty Vacant? Hate to tell you this but Lydon is a straight MAGA man. Death Disco indeed.
The Trump approved candidates were rejected. Younger voters came out un numbers enough to cancel out the over 65 vote, you know the ones who buy super deluxe box sets by classic rock acts. There’s reason to feel hope. The direction of the trend can be diverted.
….but then who will buy all the box sets?
Do the Republicans have anybody likely who isn’t mad?
It’s likely that the only reason that Trump hasn’t been assassinated is that all the gun-toting nutters are his supporters.
Apparently there are some of them who accept the 2000 result. None of them will get anywhere near a nomination though. That party has gone totally insane. Like a crack dealer at the school gates, DT gave them a taste of the absolute power they could have if they just refuse to submit to civilised values and rule with hysterical propaganda and the threat of lethal violence. They’re addicted to that idea now -as, rather alarmingly, are about 80 million voters.
Trump got them closer? Not sure about that, consensus seems to be he is a disaster to the party and they have no chance of winning in 2024 with him as candidate. Since 2016 (when Hilary got more votes), they have done relatively poorly in 3 elections in a row.
I was in Detroit last month talking to someone who has been a Republican all her life. She despises him and all he stands for, many traditional Republicans no doubt feel the same
The Trump base is solid. But it’s a base. That’s it.
No-one who didn’t vote for him in 2020 will vote for him in 2024. So he will lose. Again.
I actually found this a hugely depressing result. One would think that, given the grotesque behaviour of Trump and his cronies, the Republicans would have been booted into touch for at least a decade and Trump would have been hounded out of the country, but here they are in control of the house and losing the Senate by a whisker. This is less than two years after a Trump-backed attempted White House coup that many Republican candidates still vocally support. What the actual fuck do these people have to do for people to stop voting for them?
It’s the Democrats. Much like Kier Starmer, it’s “Let’s just do nothing and win by default”. Here they are sticking it to the GOP:
No it’s encouraging. Biden had very low approval ratings, inflation high, interest rates going up (not really his fault), he’s not the most charismatic president and he’s old. Still managed best mid term results for 20 years.
The long game is that the GOP is demographically finished. I just don’t fancy the thought of what the death throes might look like.
It’ll look like Trump’s skidmarked Y-fronts after a late night fumble in front of Fox News. Sorry for the unpleasant imagery but he’s an unpleasant man.
I have spent time in California twice in last 8 weeks and the first time, every state between Oklahoma and California. There is plenty of open support for him even in that most democratic of states.
So much so that I will take a break from visiting there other than for business. It has lost its soul and much of it’s joy.
California has always been split though. They had Ronnie and Arnie as governors. Arnie couldn’t balance the books and, incredibly, turned into an environmentalist. Ronnie nearly blew up the world, but that’s another story.
Yeah I remember visiting in 2008 and seeing “Governor Schwarzenegger” on TV, thinking “wow that really happened”. Never thought in a million years that Donald Trump would become president one day though
He did have a great strapline, though –
The Governator.
I also used to visit quite often. America is not half as much fun as it was 20 or 30 years ago. Much less clever, sourer, and more corporate. No longer do i find it a thrill to visit. To be fair, I feel the same about the UK, too.