Readers of the Posse may wonder why neither K.N. McBride nor I have posted anything about the results of Tuesday's elections.
I cannot speak for my esteemed co-blogger, but I will say that I have been so burned out by politics, and so disheartened by the Biden/Harris victory, that I haven't felt like writing any comments.
I'm going to make a few brief observations, then hold off for several days before addressing the presidential election and U.S. Senate in more detail. Part of the reason for this is I'm trying to let the dust settle a bit. Rumors and unsubstantiated information are swirling wildly across social media and the Internet. I need to dig into this a bit to have a better idea what's really going on with regard to allegations of fraud, plans for recounts or audits, and chilling threats from the left about enemies lists and truth & reconciliation commissions.
I believe that some fraud did occur, but I also think it is highly unlikely we'll ever get to the bottom of it. Over the past 8 years or so, we have seen repeated abuses of power and criminal activities perpetrated by President Obama (e.g., IRS targeting of political enemies and the FBI's spying on reporters Sharyl Attkisson and James Rosen); by Hillary Clinton (the Clinton Foundation money laundering, perjury, plus violations of the Espionage Act); James Comey and James Clapper repeatedly lying under oath... The list goes on.
Yet no one has been held accountable, nor have most of the FBI hacks who tried to undermine President Trump with a flurry of lies, flimsy evidence and a bogus investigation that led to the impeachment sham. Just as there was no accountability in these many cases, so will there be no getting to the bottom of election irregularities in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan.
On the positive side, the Republicans picked up five or six House seats, and may still pick up 4-5 more. They have a reasonable chance of retaining Senate control. Currently they hold 48 seats; their incumbent candidate in Alaska is way ahead (think 60-30 percent), and their North Carolina incumbent is a couple percentage points ahead of his opponent. If they win both seats (highly likely), they'll be up to 50, and may still pick up two more seats when Georgia's two Senate races go to a Jan. 5 runoff. Incumbent Sen. Kelly Loeffler has an excellent chance of staying in office, but incumbent David Perdue faces a stiff challenge from progressive media darling Jon Ossof. Most likely, the GOP will end up with a 51-49 advantage, but 52-48 is possible.
Besides the House and Senate silver linings, it has become clear that a much large percentage of Hispanics and blacks voted for Trump than in 2016. Even Native Americans and Muslims gave Trump much better support than they did four years ago. Indeed, Trump did better with minorities than any GOP presidential candidate in 60 years. Preliminary numbers show about 26 percent of his votes came from non-white voters. He has successfully performed a makeover of the GOP. Once the snobbish, blue blood country club party, it is now clearly on the side of the working class, middle class and minorities who are fed up with Democrats' empty promises and poor performances.
Meanwhile, the Democrats, once the lunch bucket / hardhat party of "Joe Sixpack," have morphed into the party of secular progressives, "woke" lunatics, coastal elites and billionaire oligarchs. There's no doubt in my mind many people voted for Biden/Harris not because they love them or the Democrats' radical platform, but mainly because they loathe Donald Trump.
The media already had become thoroughly discredited in recent years; this election also demonstrated that pollsters are eqully full of it. I have even observed some commentary from honest liberals who acknowledge that the media narrative of Trump supporters as racist hillbillies and neanderthals ("deplorables" in the words of HildaBeast), were grossly inaccurate. A good example is this column by Josh Hammer of Newsweek.
If the Democrats somehow manage to scratch and claw their way to a 50-50 tie in the Senate, that makes V.P. Harris the tiebreaker. It also opens the door to evisceration of the Constitution and permanent one-party rule. The Supreme Court would be stacked with leftist justices; D.C. and Puerto Rico would become states (four more Democrat senators guaranteed); the immigration floodgates would be opened up; generous healthcare and welfare benefits would be extended to tens of millions of illegal aliens despite the fact we cannot even take care of our own as it is (including homeless Veterans). More than 100 million conservative Americans will be put out to pasture forever more.
But I'm not going to drive myself crazy worrying about this doomsday scenario. I'm going to keep praying about it, and continue trying to do productive things with my time and my life.
There's a heck of a lot more to say about this election, and I will definitely have more commentary soon. But for right now, I've got to step back and take a breather. This whole year has been trying in so many ways. I have resolved not to get angry, depressed or stressed. That in itself will take some self-discipline and focus, but it is extremely crucial.
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