Today sort of has that vibe of Sunday, Nov. 6, 2016. There was lots of anticipation in the air, fused with hope and dread, these two emotions vying for supremacy.
But the tension is not nearly as evident this time around. This is because Donald Trump is president, and he's done three crucial things: 1) Appointed two conservatives to the U.S. Supreme Court; 2) Cut the corporate and personal tax rates while also reducing burdensome regulations, thus firing up the economy; and 3) Put up some resistance to runaway illegal immigration.
Granted, Orange Julius hasn't kept his promise about building the wall, and illegal immigration continues, even if at a lower rate. But what he hasn't done -- things Hillary would have done -- is appoint left wingers to the Supreme Court, leave the world's highest corporate tax rate in place, and open up the floodgates to millions of non-assimilating Third World immigrants (90 percent of them future registered Democrats).
This year, the Sunday before Election Day has me concerned partly about the Democrats taking over the House (perhaps about a 50-50 proposition), about certain key gubernatorial races and the outcome of several contests in my home state of Michigan.
First, Congress... I am confident the Republicans will gain 2 to 4 seats in the Senate. The Democrats are really delusional if they think they have a prayer of capturing the upper chamber. As for the House, the polls have been all over the map, the number of seats designated tossups is high, and we just don't know how the turnout will be among young people and minorities. There are also those nettlesome things about polls that ought to cause Democrats to fret: Vague wording of questions, conservatives not answering their phones or not being frank about how they'll vote, and the absurdity of surveyors using land lines AND often calling during the day, when conservatives probably aren't even home.
As I have stated, conservatives are full of revulsion at the Democrats' Kavanaugh caper and support of a bum rush on the southern border by impoverished and sometimes criminal elements. Yes, Democrats despise Trump (even to the point of openly discussing assassinating him), and they are doing their utmost to get out the vote. But the millions of people whose lives have been improved by a flourishing economy and a booming stock market probably will rank economic conditions high on their decision meter. Why don't Trump and the Republicans use Ronald Reagan's famous line from 1980, paraphrasing it to ask, "Ask yourself: Are you better off now than you were two years ago?"
Here in Michigan, I think it's a done deal that State Sen. Gretchen Whitmer will handily defeat a very weak GOP candidate, Attorney General Bill Schuette. This is not so much because Whitmer has an impressive track record; it's more because the abysmal Gov. Rick Snyder has gravely damaged the Michigan GOP, the same thing Barack Obama did to the national Democrat party.
I recounted in great detail why I have contempt and antipathy for Snyder in my 2014 post, "Why I Won't Vote for Rick Snyder." If anything, I'm even more down on him now than I was then, in part because he shows the petulance and small-mindedness of a Barack Obama or John Kasich: He won't even endorse Schuette (probably because Schuette crushed Snyder's sock puppet in the GOP primary, the lame Lt. Gov. Brian Calley).
As far as the open U.S. Senate seat, I think conservative black Republican John James, a military vet and small businessman, has an outside chance to upset incumbent Sen. Debbie Stabenow. Stabenow's lead was a high as 17 points a month or so ago, but has been in single digits the past couple of weeks.
What most concerns me in Michigan is the fact that Democrats could capture both the Attorney General's Office and the Office of Secretary of State. The Democrat AG candidate is hard-left Dana Nessel, who leads Republican House Speaker Tom Leonard by double digits, while Democrat Jocelyn Benson leads Republican Mary Lang in the SOS race, by about 7 points in a recent poll.
In conjunction with the SOS race, a ballot proposal would take redistricting out of the legislature's hands and put it in the hands of an ostensibly bipartisan committee. The mischief that will result should that initiative pass (I think it will) and Democrat Benson be put in charge at SOS, would be considerable.
Turning to other states, crooked socialist Andrew Gillum, mayor of perpetually corrupt Tallahassee, is running neck-and-neck with Republican former Congressman Ron DeSantis in the Sunshine State. And in Georgia, where I used to live, leftist black Democrat Stacey Abrams is in a tight race with Georgia Secretary of State Republican Brian Kemp. Either of those states going blue would be foreboding for the 2020 election, but especially Florida.
I have much more confidence that Florida will come to its senses and elect the Republican, given the toxicity of Gillum, than I do Georgia. It's gotta be, as they say, "bad optics" that Kemp is Secretary of State -- aka, his office counts the votes -- AND is running for governor at the same time. Expect this awkward reality to simmer and boil in the coming months should Kemp win.
I believe that, given the volatile climate, we will see recounts of many close races in November and December (especially U.S. House races), and plenty of litigation. At the same time, the Saul Alinsky-like rabble-rousers of the Democrat Party will be out smashing windows, blocking traffic, assaulting conservatives physically and verbally, and just generally being the assholes they are.
Fasten your seatbelts. It's gonna be an ugly end to 2018.
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