Gritty unwinds the American midterms
Okay - look here. This is a fucking travesty, and anyone who tries to convince me otherwise is counterrevolutionary scum. At the same time, there are ‘some’ reasons to be hopeful. The pessimism is really destroying my liver. And the union ain’t cheap, either!
It the Grit. The midterms have come and gone, and the balance of power has shifted. Races have been won and lost. Pour a 40 out for my dudes Gillum, O’Rourke (3-point spread), Janz, and Abrams (~2 point spread). Good showing all.
The Dems picked up 34 seats in the House, clinching the majority. Ocasio-Cortez, 29, won 78% of her district, and is the youngest woman ever elected to Congress. Suburban areas that swung Romney to Clinton and Obama to Trump (mostly suburban whites) in 2012-2016 turned out big for the Dems and produced a few center-leaning Bolts from the Blue (Max Rose etc). Progressive candidates overperformed their expectations; the neo-libs fell somewhat short (fuck yeah, fuck you!). This paves a path towards electoral strategy in 2020 and cements Sanders’ status as frontrunner for the presidency, as one of the few realistic candidate prospects, and the only one with name-brand recognition. And the lack of legislative power due to no Senate control opens the field to pie-in-the-sky resolutions that progressives excel at writing.
Republicans picked up 3 Senate seats; Dems won 21 Senate races, versus 9 on the R side. Dems held in Trump-voting states (e.g. Manchin in WV). Nelson (D-Fl) lost his seat, unfortunately. This is bad news if a third SCOTUS pick comes around before 2020 (hold onto yer assholes). The legislative agenda is stymied so long as Dems hold one chamber of Congress, though.
The Govie races are decent, too. Scott Walker got the boot (maybe now the wall). Pickups in R-leaning states (Kansas, Nevada, Michigan) feed the cause. Dems picked up nine governorships overall. Abrams’s election is contestable; Kemp still has some answers to provide for his conduct during the Georgia races - he’s overseen the election and the count. A rebuke from a higher power is possible down the road. Redistricting will aid the 2020 campaign - a strategy the Republicans have abused for some time, and which requires rectification. Fuck you, assholes!
Unfortunately, LA voted down Measure B. The measure would have allowed the city to establish a municipal bank - suitable for managing infrastructure projects without vomiting away ludicrous sums in interest payments to corporate banking. The North Dakotan municipal bank is a suitable example of such a scheme, and has served the state well.
Florida voted up a state-constitutional amendment giving felons the right to vote (and a whole bunch of ill-conceived limits on tax hikes). This is a key left victory; voters have historically been wiped from voting rolls in progressive-heavy districts; this is a direct rebuke of voter suppression tactics and will seriously affect the outcome of the 2020 election.
The House victory is huge. Dems now have a big stick to beat Trump with. Ways and Means can grab his tax returns; memos will be released (fuck you, Nunes!). The 60 or so subpoenas of the administration Gowdy and the Rs have shot down will go forward. Schiff is gonna do some wrecking. Obstructionism, folks - if it worked during Obama I sure fucking hope it’s gonna work now. Can’t wait to watch Trump negotiate with the Dems when he was willing to shut down his own fucking government.
Oh, hey, also - Jeff Sessions resigned. Thank fuck. The only Confederate monument Trump was willing to take down. Hope he talks to Mueller. Too bad there’s no chance of him being reincarnated back-in-time so he can die a painful death as a Confederate on the battlefield. Hey, Jeff - eat your own dick, you heartless, honourless bastard.
And now, the real deal spiel. We still have Schumer and Pelosi to contend with. They will be the first to be disposed of when I come to power. Neoliberalism ought to sit in a corner and die a quiet painful death. They fucked up 2016 and 2014 before that and 2012 before that and everything since Blair said “We’re Thatcherites” before that. Bill Clinton goes to the guillotine of irrelevance in my book. We’re not out of the woods yet. Centrist, compromising, spineless, assholes, the kinds who don’t live by the bible they preach from are the real problem here. The John Kerries of the world, mooring their yachts where they don’t have to pay tax while telling the middle (which doesn’t really exist in the US) and lower classes to bear just a bit more of the burden oughta be publicly outed and routed - these people are assholes. Soul-sucking shitty assholes. Give them the fucking boot in 2020; run primary challenges and take these people to task. Or else we will not survive to 2024.
I don’t mean to make the Dems winning out as a good thing. Let me reiterate - they are damn near the fucking worst. At least they aren’t Republicans. And I for one await the sweet, sweet day when they’re all dropped out of a helicopter. Someday we’ll have meaningful governance, I trust. I hope to live to see the day. Or else we’re all dead.
