Disappointing but expected is how I would describe the results of last week’s off-year elections. It would have been nice for the Republicans to flip the governor’s seat in New Jersey and retain the governorship of Virginia, but the odds were against us. These Democratic victories in Democratic strongholds were to be expected and are not necessarily a portent for next year’s midterm elections.
Some Republicans have been panicking, fearing that Trump’s appeal is beginning to wane. This reaction is premature and counterproductive. As I have said, the election results were what might be expected. Still, there are lessons to be learned. The Republicans have to learn to get people to the polls. The Democrats have perfected the art of shipping their people to the election sites. The Republicans only manage this when Trump is on the ballot. Trump won’t be on the ballot again. The Republicans must somehow maintain the same degree of enthusiasm after Trump is gone.
That won’t be easy. Most of the people who vote Republican want to be left alone. The large number of people who have crossed over from the Democrats have done so because the Democrats have finally gone too far in interfering with their lives. By contrast, the remaining Democrats, rich and poor, are wards of the government. One way or another, they depend on the government. Politics in the form of wokeness is their religion. They are motivated to vote in a way normal people are not.
We also need to address the issue of fraud. There were the usual reports of blue state election irregularities. This could be evidence of fraud or simply Republicans being sore losers. The problem is that there is no way to know. Because the Democrats in the blue states refuse to enact any ballot integrity measures, there is no way to be confident of the results in these states. Until we require voter ID, same-day voting, at the polling sites, with necessary and uncommon exceptions, in all fifty states, there will always be some question about the legitimacy of the results.
There were some disturbing results in last week’s elections. The victory of New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani does not bode well for the future either of the city or the country. Just twenty-four years after the Islamic terrorist attack on New York City, the people of that city elected an Islamic terrorist. Mamdani isn’t simply a man who happens to be a Muslim. He is a man who supports terrorist groups like Hamas. He is an anti-Semite who will be leading the city with the largest population of Jews outside of Israel. I feel as if we fought the War on Terror, and the terrorists won.
Even worse, Mamdani is a Communist. He is the sort of extreme Socialist who proposes policies such as high taxes on the wealthy, city-run grocery stores, free bus service, and rent control. These policies have not been successful anywhere else they have been tried. There is no reason to believe they will be successful in New York. Mamdani has also demonstrated a hostility to law enforcement. New Yorkers will end up poorer and more endangered by his policies.
Even more disturbing is the election of Jay Jones as Attorney General of Virginia. I would have thought that sending texts expressing a desire to murder a political opponent and his children would be some sort of deal breaker, but apparently not, at least not for the Democrats. As far as I know, not a single Democrat condemned Mr. Jones for his hate-filled texts. No Democrat urged him to withdraw his candidacy. And, the Democratic voters did not have a problem with electing a psychopath to office.
These election results are bad news for Republicans, but worse, I think, for Democrats. It is increasingly clear that the worst elements of the Democratic coalition are gaining ascendancy. The rising generation of Democrats is more extreme, more leftist, more socialist, and less willing to follow political norms than their predecessors. They are more open about their hatred of America, more willing to support America’s enemies at home and abroad, and more willing to engage in violent action. This is no longer the Democratic Party of Franklin Roosevelt or John Kennedy. It is not even the Democratic Party of Bill Clinton and Al Gore. The contemporary Democratic Party has become a combination of a criminal organization, a socialist revolutionary cell, and an Islamic jihadist group. It is as if the Mafia, the Bolshevik Party, and al-Qaeda had come together to form a political party dedicated to bringing down America.
This is not good. One might hope and expect that a party that becomes more extreme will find it increasingly difficult to win elections. Continual losses will pull that party back towards the center, or at least towards sanity. We cannot expect that in the contemporary Democratic Party. The young leaders have not shown any interest in moving back towards the center. They are safe enough in their blue zones and see no need to compromise their principles. The danger is that an extremist, charismatic, and willing to conceal his views, will be elected to national office. We have had enough trouble from one such chameleon, Barack Obama. We certainly do not need another.
David's Commonplace Book 