The Dems will be picking up seats in the House this fall. This we know. It’s what the out-party typically does. But this time, for obvious Trump-and-policy-related reasons, even more so. Hopefully, at least two dozen seats will be turned. Momentum from Alabama, Virginia and Pennsylvania signal serious movement. Chances are better by the day for the House to turn blue. And the Senate, while more problematic on the numbers, should be in play too.
But there is also this stark reality. Recall how we all got here in the first place. An unhinged, unprepared, faux-populist, billionaire celebrity-scoundrel pandered to America’s lowest common denominator. With that approach and that appeal, all it took was for enough of the majority, non-Trump channelers to do–or undo–their part.
Post-Obama minority turnout dropped off, some more liberal Democratic factions couldn’t rally for the notably-flawed Clinton candidacy and a certain, embarrassingly uninformed and smoldering segment proved vulnerable to Russian bots. That Trump was an existential threat was, unconscionably, not a persuasive enough reason to vote for Clinton, who, even if lacking likeability, was manifestly qualified to lead this country and represent America to the rest of the world.
Momentum notwithstanding, turnout, however, can’t be assumed, and turnout, as we well know, is what it’s about, especially in off-year elections. If the Democratic Party can maintain the sense of outrage, urgency and moral insurrection it has been stoking, then the Dems will take back Congress and ultimately oust Trump–as well as many of those establishment Republicans who have treasonously chosen career over country.
David Jolly, the former GOP congressman from Pinellas County, pointed out the stark reality faced by Republicans in November. “Politics is about timing,” he underscored. “Four years ago I was elected in a district Obama won twice. … But watching Pennsylvania, this is not the year to re-enter politics.” And that’s from a high-profile, decidedly anti-Trump Republican.
It’s there to be had–recapturing the essence of the America we surely still are and a government representative of something other than white populism, xenophobia, protectionist economics, climate-change denials and improvisational foreign policy. We are surely still that America. Surely.