It seems as if even the most ambitious polls projecting a Democratic turn in the Congress and Senate had not priced in last nights results.
A Republican incumbent governor in Texas – yes, that Texas – was defeated.
Kansas is sending a Democratic senator to Washington for the first time since, I believe, 1932.
There is a race in Mississippi that, as of right now, is too close to call.
For even the most optimistic, this must be surprising.
Here is what I am feeling and thinking.
This is has been a very long eleven years of politics in our country. It all started in the summer of 2015 when Trump came down the golden escalator and announced he was running for president.
The first few years of his presidency were law-fare and impeachments and a new member of his cabinet every few weeks. Then came the Covid-19 pandemic. Whatever cultural shifts that had started with Trump’s election were thrust into the sunlight.
In some sense, living through that year or two of the Covid pandemic felt normal; just the next level of abstraction up from the new baseline of Trump/MAGA and Facebook and Cancel Culture and #MeToo and Black Lives Matter and the disappearance of any ground that people were standing on.
Looking back on that time now, it looks like the country lost its mind. I mean really going insane. Elon Musk complains of the Woke Mind Virus (h/t Richard Dawkins mind virus), but A) I think that’s somewhat a think and B) I think it was highly bipartisan in its effect and distribution. People seemed rabid – they were so mad and the information and ideas (memes, again h/t Richard Dawkins) that filled their heads were turning them into a goo that could only think in chants and slogans. Again, both sides.
What happened to me during this? I certainly was blind to its effect on me, but I tried very hard to be aware of the fact that I hadn’t seemed to lose my mind in the same way. Neither did Sadie. How can I substantiate this claim? I would say that I didn’t lose the impulse I have to reject the phrasology of the day, to speak in this goo-inspired language of either side, or do something like buy merch for political candidates or ideologies. If I did anything well, it’s that I don’t think I gave in to the ideologies. And why didn’t I? Largely, I think I don’t want to lose my optionality in what I think and what I chose to do about a thing or an issue. I think this both saved me during this time and has proven to also be a weak spot for me as well. You know, because You Can’t Just Sit On The Fence All Day.
Anyways, then Trump 2.0 comes in 2024. Historic, so-called, “mandate.” And it probably was. The demographic reality behind that presidential election was wild.
And then he just fumbled it. Completely. But, this isn’t new to pattern of Trump and it shouldn’t be surprising, I don’t think. This is the guy who convinced your Evangelical Grandma that he’s a good guy when he lived as a mockery to the values that would break her heart if you did even once – like gamble at a casino, much less own them.
So, not too surprising that he just basically sat on his hands and did absolutely nothing with the House, the Senate, and the Supreme Court! Not only did he do nothing with those things, he instead chose to try and become this new kind of conquerer by way of Venezuela and Iran. And then obviously, immigration and tariffs – geez.
I know I’m just writing down things that happened, and I’m not really coloring them in any way, but the very fact that they happened at all – considering how popular his election in 2024 was in the coalition he built – IS the interesting part.
Why did he do these things? Here’s what I think – my Meta Theory.
I think one of the fundamental flaws of our democratic system is that it is nearly impossible for those we elect – especially in the Hyperreality of our Meme Cycle and Inattention Spans – to take a Long View. There is no Long View.
There is only winning or losing right now. And I think Trump embodies this more than any one else. He is hyper present, a liquid that passes through this issue and that sound bite and those vibes, and he has zero will to do hard things that take time.
Could this be true? He had the entire legislative force of the most powerful country in the world behind him and he chose to rule by decree, doing what he wanted through Executive Order.
His imagination wouldn’t even know where to begin to run wild with “Guys, this is crazy. I just built a coalition of people which include hispanics even though I basically ran on deporting looooottts of people which would effect many of the same people who voted for me. So, knowing how crazy that is. What should we do to take advantage of this insane thing that just happened?”
Even if I didn’t agree with whatever he came up with, wouldn’t it at least be interesting to be looking back right now, two years later, to see that he’d actually DONE something with it? Something durable?
But he build his house on sand. It’s actually all a beach, so of course he build it on sand.
So that’s what I think happened the last two years. He just thought it was cool to win, and win the way he did, and he has no fundamental imagination to do anything with that victory. He’s the dog that caught his tail. But his tail was his navel and he just peered into and loved what he saw so much that he forgot what time it was – for two whole years.
And this is what makes last night so interesting and where we go from here…
Democrats ALSO just won a historic mandate, receiving votes from LOTS of republicans, maybe even MAGA trumpers, who are giving them a chance. Or at least just raging against the Trump machine finally.
So, what are they gonna do it? I go back to one of my favorite lines from The Shins, which is exactly what they should not do:
“You wanna jump and dance,
But you sat on your hands,
And lost your only chance.”
So, don’t screw the pooch. Do something!
Let your imagination run world.
Be effective.
Do something durable.
Last night felt like the preface to the next chapter, or next part, of the book.
The last eleven years have been politically nuts.
Let’s hope it was worth it and this isn’t going to be another, weirder, chapter like it.