Republican Wave just a Ripple

Trump Gives America an Early Christmas Present

Let's face it, these mid-term elections fooled everybody, including me. Some counts are still ongoing today (Nov. 12) but the big red sweep just didn't happen. Many blame Trump and the continuation of the Big Lie. I agree with that but hopefully it goes deeper.

We hear it daily now - that perhaps DJT is fast becoming just an image in a rear view mirror - you know the ones - that appear larger than they really are. We can only hope. The tantrums, name calling, and blaming of everybody else has ramped up once again but it appears that many American voters on both sides have had enough. He has lost too many times for his party and many of its members are recognizing it. His MEGA base never will. They really don't follow politics, policies, or platforms. They only follow Donald.

It has been written here more than once that I think the great American experiment with democracy is failing and might even crash with more clashes of violence like January 6th. That could still happen and those who claim to be religious or people of faith can only pray that it doesn't. 

Many of those people of faith are the same ones prepared to use their assault rifles against anyone they don't like. They have even threatened to torture individuals in lowly positions like school boards and election counters. But maybe - a great big MAYBE - the overall country has had enough of the school yard antics displayed by their elected and publicly funded leaders. 

A telling point will be when Steve Bannon gets back to stoking his hatred. For now though this election provides some optimism. Those who are trying to save face by saying that it is nuts for Democrats to celebrate losing anything  just don't get it. Actually they probably do - they are just loath to acknowledge reality.

You absolutely know that sore losers in normally red districts are going to holler that the fix is in again. It has already started. This time however, there were lots of observers of both parties in key counting stations. 

Gerrymandering is still alive and well - see The 12 Most Gerrymandered Districts In America (ranker.com). or These maps show how Republicans are blatantly rigging elections | US voting rights | The Guardian. Despite this voters smacked Trump's tactics down. What remains to be seen is whether certain states now try to overturn results by hook or by crook.

Hopefully Lady Liberty is wearing a slight smile way up there where we can't really see it. Biden certainly is and probably DeSantis. I am no fan of Ron but would take him over The Donald any day. We can only hope that many of the more traditionally minded Republicans feel the same.

C'mon Liz Cheney. Start that new party. You will surely do better than the Tea Party did. At least it will split the Red vote and once that happens many of the GOP's best will jump on board. The country needs it. 

A lot of Americans who still love their country feel that they just received an early present. Open it early and celebrate.

#thebrewsterblock

Will the American mid-terms be Aftershocks or a Tsunami?

Hate will win the mid-term U.S. Elections

It is tragic but American elections have degraded to the point that the party that generates the most hate will win - both these mid-terms and in 2024. Imagine that! This is supposedly the "model" of a true democracy. It was - as long as white Anglo-Saxons had all the money and power while visible minorities remained just that and kept their mouths shut.

I have always leaned towards small "c" conservative values but they seem to be disappearing - globally. As an outsider looking in along with the rest of the world I do think the Democrats have moved a little too far left but not to the degree that the Republicans - even the non-MAGA ones - have moved in droves to the extreme right.

I just saw a headline that made me shake my head. Apparently Laura Ingraham on FOX (sorry but I can't say "NEWS" - it is not. See LAURA INGRAHAM: Last night was 'embarrassing' for the president | Fox News). It contains this: "Bottom line, I can't think of anything more irresponsible than a president who tells the world that America is a democracy only if his party wins." Are you seeing where I am going yet?

There is more drivel but this is apparently her personal opinion which she is trying to get you to absorb. Welcome to free speech and a free press. Under Trump it will probably disappear. That's the first salient point. The main problem with her verbal meanderings is that the leader of the party she and her network love to love stated openly before hundreds of millions of people that the only way he could possibly lose is if the 2020 elections were rigged! And he started this rant long before the election.

Did the Yankees claim the series was rigged because they could not lose unless it was?

As most intelligent people now know, this was complete bullshit. Even its architect Steve Bannon admitted this. There is not much new that I have not already said but this is really pathetic: if these elections give the GOP a majority in the House and/or the Senate it will only be because many of those who make up that majority sold their souls to the Devil. They lied through their teeth and they are still doing so. Most of us know it. If Trump returns to power THAT will be the reason.

The REALLY sad part? The only office that The Donald should be occupying would be enclosed by concrete and iron bars. Paint it white if it will make him feel better. Much as I like Biden as a person, it is probably true that he is a little long in the tooth to fulfill another four years,

The best solution in my opinion? Trump should be locked up as much for his private dealings as his Presidential ones. One of the reasons? You couldn't tell them apart. Biden should go because another four years even if there isn't another January 6th will be four more years of infighting while world politics and wars carry on. His ideals deserve respect but the world has changed - radically.

Then what? The only thing that gives me some hope for the future is youth - not all of it but SOME. OUR issues in many cases are gone unless radical parents passed on their extreme views to their kids. Race is often transparent. Blacks are with whites; browns with blacks; browns with whites; yellow with red; red with olive - you get the picture, and they are OK with it!

We are leaving a horrible, horrible world to our kids and many of them know it. I hope they can reform political systems across the world when we are gone. They will have to or the planet will no longer be a special third rock from the sun - just another sphere of dust.

Whichever side you want to vote for, do yourselves a favour. If the representative is spewing hate, don't vote for them.

#thebrewsterblock

American Politics Compared to Lemmings

Are Too Many American Voters Becoming Lemmings?

Many people have heard about a small rodent known as a Lemming which is believed to hurl itself from cliffs in huge numbers. The jury is out on whether this is really true as you will see in the following references:
https://www.thenakedscientists.com/articles/interviews/myth-truth-about-lemmings

https://www.ripleys.com/weird-news/or-not-lemmings

If they do it is more in the form of a stampede - often looking for food. They can swim but are not great judges of aquatic distances. Many drown. With huge numbers behind them they could be pushed off the cliff or simply have no way back. In one of the above references there were accusations that in a Disney documentary the producers were actually pushing some of them off a precipice for the desired effect.

What is happening in America today is very similar. Many people who just can't seem to see the light about election lies are following the masses and not thinking for themselves. People like Steve Bannon and Donald Trump are doing the pushing. They have no plans to go over the edge themselves.

Today is the day we all heard about an attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband in their home. It was an intruder looking for Nancy who was not there. It is reported that her husband will recover fully. If police had not arrived promptly, what would have happened? If the attackers had gotten their hands on Mike Pence on January 6th with a gallows outside, what would have happened?

If the violence being seen and often encouraged in America today continues, every election will become a cliff. Humans are supposed to be intelligent enough not to jump. Apparently many are not.

Look what happened to Osama bin Laden. His pursuit spanned Presidential terms of both Republicans and Democrats and eventually it succeeded - because of cooperation for a greater good.

Surely the most renowned model of a democracy in the world is worth saving. The Liberty Bell now has many, many cracks but all of them can be repaired without melting down the bell itself. Violence is often a quick route to short term gains but in the end everybody pays.

The way things are going one day soon you will see in the media - if the extremists have not destroyed all forms but their own (sound familiar?) - the rest of the world will rightly decline to acknowledge election results in America and rightly so. The fix is in and just like the last time, it ain't colored blue.

#thebrewsterblock