Discover more from Politics From The Heartland
The dust is beginning to settle with respect to the most recent midterm elections and it looks like, for the time being, the electorate has rejected the more radical aspects of the authoritarian wave that has characterized our politics over the past few years.
While much has been written by the political pundits concerning what happened last Tuesday, much of the euphoria may be misplaced. Yes, voters have taken a second look at what has been going on and have signaled that they are ready to reject the chaos of our current politics and return to some sense of normalcy.
However, in many ways, not much has really changed.
While Democrats retained control of the Senate, it looks like Republicans will control the House of Representatives by a very, very thin margin. There is a power struggle going on within the Republican caucuses in both chambers over what direction the party should take as it moves forward as the majority. Does the party become more beholden to the more radical elements of the caucuses who continue to embrace MAGA, election conspiracies, and Trumpism, or does it reject this approach and move back toward more traditional conservative approaches to governing and reject nativist populism? On the House side especially, there are still a lot of representatives that support Trumpism and this will be a disruptive force within the caucus.
Perhaps the 2022 midterm election was democracy’s Battle of El Alamein, that the election was the end of the beginning of our politics being controlled by the chaos, division, and anger that has characterized our politics for so long.
Of course, the 500 pound gorilla is still in the room.
Donald Trump has declared that he is a candidate for the 2024 Republican nomination for President of the United States.
Despite all of his political, financial, and legal problems, he is, by a fairly wide margin, the frontrunner for the nomination (there may not even be a primary as 30+% of the Republican base still passionately supports Trump and his “politics of intimidation” could and will discourage challengers, even strong challengers like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis). Depending on who the Democrats run in 2024, there is a good chance that Trump could win the White House.
He will have a huge say in terms of how this all ends, including burning the whole thing down if things don’t work out in his favor. He might be wounded and weakened, but he is far from dead. Remember, Trump has been investigated, impeached, and left for dead in the past, but the man is amazingly resilient.
So, while the results of the other night are encouraging, it is not time to sing “ding dong, the witch is dead.”
Perhaps an example from World War II would be appropriate here.
One of the turning points of that war was the Battle of El Alamein. Before this climatic battle in North Africa, the Germans, under General Erwin Rommel, had been pushing the British across North Africa and were threatening to take control of the Suez Canal, the loss of which would have been devastating to the British and the Allied effort to defeat Germany. Fortunately, the British were able to defeat the Germans and began driving them back across North Africa toward Tunisia, breaking the back of the German army and turning the tide of the war.
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill remarked after the battle had been won, “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”
This is not a time for victory laps. This is not a time for complacency.
Perhaps the 2022 midterm election was democracy’s Battle of El Alamein, that the election was the end of the beginning of our politics being controlled by the chaos, division, and anger that has characterized our politics for so long.
It must also be remembered that World War II lasted another two and a half long, hard, and bloody years after the Battle of El Alamein.
This is roughly the same amount of time until the general election of 2024. Think about that.
Now is not the time to get complacent. Antidemocratic forces on both sides continue to threaten American democracy.
The danger to our liberal democracy still exists at the national, state, and local levels of government.
The danger exists in the media as it continues to move away from relatively objective journalism toward “infotainment” where opinion reigns over fact and media outlets, and the so called “journalists” who populate them, more openly take sides in order to drive ratings and revenue .
The danger exists on social media, where chaos reigns and the stain of false rumors, disinformation, propaganda, and conspiracy taints and perverts political discourse (social media being the “public square” is a joke).
The chaos is still all around us and we must be careful. With the beginning of the 2024 presidential election last night, it may get worse before it gets better.
Now is the time to take the offensive for democracy. Now is the time to attack. Those who embrace what has characterized the past six plus years of American politics have been smacked in the face and put on notice.
That doesn’t mean that the war to save American democracy has been won. The battle will be long and hard and there will be setbacks. Two plus years is a long, long time in politics and the antidemocratic forces are not going to concede or surrender. The are desperate to hold on to power and control.
As January 6th showed, those who oppose American democracy are willing to do insane things to hold on to power and are willing to burn the whole thing down if they can’t.
Yes, the midterms were a great victory, the end of the beginning of the battle to save our democracy.
It was not, however, the beginning of the end.