What Happened Last Night?
The current results of Tuesday’s midterm elections were underwhelming, to say the least. I think ‘disappointment’ is a fair assessment of the general sentiment amongst conservatives, who were expecting a Red Tsunami. While there is good news and reason for optimism, there is also reason to succumb to the contrary feeling of malaise or pessimism. But I believe we were set up for disappointment, and our sense of despair is largely — although not entirely — rooted in unrealistic expectations we had going into Tuesday.
For example, polling indicated that Lee Zeldin, the Republican gubernatorial candidate in New York, had a very realistic shot at defeating Democrat Kathy Hochul. Various polls showed Zeldin slashing Hochul’s lead of 17 points to 4 points in the course of a month or so. But on Tuesday, Hochul won election with 52.9% of the vote to Zeldin’s 47.1%; a fairly comfortable win. This was devastating if you believed the Democrat stronghold of New York might flip red.
But consider that just four years ago, in 2018, New York elected the Democrat Governor Andrew Cuomo with 59.6% of the vote. In the 2018 election, the Republican candidate Marc Molinaro only received 36.2%. New York didn’t elect Zeldin, but he did perform seven percentage points better than the Republican candidate just four years before.
Cuomo got 3.6 million votes in 2018. Hochul got under 3 million in 2022. Molinaro got 2.2 million votes in 2018. Zeldin got over 2.65 million in 2022. At least in New York, the pendulum did begin to swing Republican.
Understandably, many Americans are desperate for immediate change, myself included. Our country is certainly desperate. Democrats are right, democracy is at stake; only it is the Democratic Party, which is the threat. While we demand immediate change and the restoration of America, the Democratic Party has been working for the past 70-some odd years to dismantle America. Did we really think we’d undo the institutionalized corruption and decades-in-the-making damage overnight?
Democrats have infiltrated the public education system, academia, board rooms and corporations, and our federal bureaucracies. They control Hollywood and have had monopolies in network news and even social media. They successfully shut down most of the country over COVID because they weaponized every aforementioned Democrat controlled organization to suppress and discredit truth, and overwhelm the American citizenry with propaganda; propaganda that was used to empower themselves.
The results in Pennsylvania were a gut punch. John Fetterman, who was a bad candidate before his stroke, showed America that he was an unelectable candidate, during his singular debate with Mehmet Oz. Not only was Fetterman a radical and liar, but he lacked the basic mental faculties to process information and articulate anything even remotely resembling a coherent thought. Fetterman was declared the victor on Tuesday night with roughly 2.5 million votes; beating Oz by more than 100,000 votes. How is this possible?
500,000 votes had already been cast in Pennsylvania before the debate, two weeks before the election — thanks to early voting. How many of those half a million Pennsylvanians voted for Fetterman but might have voted for Oz, had they voted after watching Fetterman’s frightening performance on the debate stage? We’ll never know.
Project Veritas released undercover footage of rampant ‘electioneering’ in Philadelphia; an illegal practice, which includes the display of campaign posters or signs, distribution of campaign materials, or solicitation of votes for or against any person or political party or position at polling locations. Democrat activists were positioned inside and outside polling locations throughout Philadelphia, instructing undercover Project Veritas voters to vote for Democrats. The Democrats cheated.
But is this a surprise? Democrats have mastered the art of election theft — sometimes legally by changing rules and other times in violation of the law. They play dirty, we don’t, and they win.
The Democrat base isn’t energized and is likely to sit the election out? California solved this endemic problem. Send unsolicited mail in ballots to every registered voter — dead or alive — and then permit ballot harvesting. You don’t plan on voting? Well a Democrat activist will knock on your door and tell you to just fill out the ballot while they wait and then will deliver that ballot for you. Problem solved. It’s not even a crime because democrats made it legal.
Democrats are better organized, better financed, and willing to do whatever it takes to win. How do you win an election in Pennsylvania when Democrats break the rules and Republicans play by them? When Democrats change the rules to give them an advantage? When Democrats outspend Republicans 2 or 3 or 4 to 1? Meanwhile Mitch McConnell and RINOs oppose Republican candidates, withhold money, and sabotage their own Party’s chances for victory.
But Florida’s results were a beacon of hope. The dark blue Miami-Dade County went red. DeSantis, Rubio, and other Republicans sailed to victory. The only red tsunami happened in Florida. But this was expected. The pandemic drove countless Republicans, never-Democrats, and rehabilitated Democrats to seek refuge and freedom in Florida. The American A-team, much like the A-team of immigrants pre-welfare and open borders, improved Florida and reinforced its status as a beacon of freedom and hope in America.
The Red Tsunami didn’t happen. This should serve as a reality check for all of us. But it wasn’t a Democrat rout either. It didn’t meet our expectations for victory or the democrats expectations for defeat.
The Democrat Stacy Abrams lost her second bid for Governor of Georgia. Beto O’Rourke was rejected by Texans for the third time.
In Arizona, Kari Lake didn’t rout her Democrat opponent Katie Hobbs. The results aren’t in, but it looks like Lake may very well lose. This too is a gut punch.
Arizona and New York aren’t as conservative as we believed. Florida is more conservative than anyone could have imagined, especially Miami-Dade County.
The real upset is that there weren’t many upsets. The goal was to retake the house and senate, which may very likely still be achieved. The midterm elections weren’t about repairing America. They were about preventing further damage to America. I’m not downplaying the significance of winning back Congress. I’m only saying that without the executive branch, we can’t pass legislation or implement policies to reverse the damage and restore America. The midterms were a tourniquet to stop and slow the bleeding.
My takeaway from last night is this: we have a lot of work to do. But we must resist playing the blame game and must confront reality. Here is the reality:
America is more conservative today than it was yesterday (or two years ago.) America is also just as divided, if not more. We have serious issues with our election integrity still. In states where we have the authority to make them more secure, we make them more secure. Where we can we must eliminate the mechanisms Democrats rely upon to gain an advantage. In states where we have no control, we must adapt and embrace the tactics of the left.
Finally, many Americans have apparently not suffered enough under the Democratic Party. It’s still not bad enough for many. They have yet to hit rock bottom. These voters don’t understand what is happening, why, or who is responsible. They want to learn the hard way, not the smart way.
That Fetterman was elected to the Senate is shocking. That any Democrat was elected is frankly outrageous — to me, because I know who they are, what they have done, and what they intend to do.
But for now, blue states mostly stayed blue and red states mostly stayed red. But Democrats lost more ground than we did. Their important blue fiefdoms are a little less blue while our red sanctuaries are a shade redder.
The results weren’t what we’d hoped. They were disappointing. But we didn’t lose and it isn’t over. It took Jimmy Carter to get Ronald Reagan. America’s best days are still ahead and unfortunately millions of Americans need to continue to suffer the consequences of their ignorance before they’re ready to wake up.
In the meantime, we must continue marching forward with urgency. Let’s learn what we can, improve where needed, and fight everyday to restore America. Every single day must be approached like elections. I’m disappointed but at least I now know how much work must be done — where we are, where we need to be, and what I must do to help get us there.