- Elections matter. Voting matters. How often over the years have we heard cynical observations to the contrary. No, in democracies voting does matter. It’s the way the people speak. And the people have spoken.
- Trump got his wish. He really was on the ballot. And the people gave him a big “thumbs down.”
- Nevertheless, this vote is less an endorsement of the Democratic Party per se than a rejection of Trump and a Republican Party that had become his wholly owned Trump subsidiary.
- Now let us pause a moment to honor those Republicans who had the courage to stand up to Trump and paid the price: the Liz Cheney’s and Adam Kinzinger’s, the Jeff Flake’s and Cassidy Hutchinson’s, and even Jeff Sessions, Attorney General in Trump’s first term and first term Vice-President, Mike Pence.
- Things change pretty fast. Less than two years ago, Trump seemed all but invincible. Law firms and universities bent the knee and cut deals. Tech bro’s lined up to kiss the ring. And pundits declared an enduring Republican coalition.
- Liberal Christianity regained a public voice with the successful candidacies of Adam Hamilton and James Talarico. It may now be okay, even wise, for Democrats to welcome people of faith. Will that extend to those of Jewish faith?
- Again and again, winning politicians are seduced by their own success. They go overboard, as Trump did on immigration, on tariffs, on foreign policy and in Trump’s case, insisting on bad candidates. Allow John Cornyn a smirk.
- Democrats now on the crest of the blue wave would be foolish to read it as license for excess and revenge. Tennessee Williams was right. “Success and failure are equally disastrous.” Or at least they can be.
- You can criticize people for being motivated by “gas prices” or their pocketbooks. But maybe go easy on that. A lot of people don’t have time or energy for policy debates, but they can read the number on the pumps and draw their own conclusions.
- I was wrong in predicting there would be an undertow (the undertoad) to this Blue Wave. It appears to be so decisive that questioning the results, charging fraud, won’t fly. Trump says he will “accept the results.” I’ll believe it when I see it.
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