First up on the Democrats’ agenda: revenge
I said “first up,” but it’s perhaps second and third and fourth up, too. It’s what a great many voters want, and the Democrats will do their best to deliver it.
Something similar was true with the Biden victory in 2020, and J6 was used to justify it. Don’t forget that it was reasonable to think that, instead of being elected president in 2024, Trump would be wearing an orange jumpsuit by that time.
But I think the potential for damage is worse now and probably far worse. Back then – even though the Democrats also had the presidency – their Senate margin was small enough that moderates such as Sinema and Manchin were still able to stop the drive for permanent power. I think some people forget that back then Congress tried (and narrowly failed) to pass the same things people on the right are worried about now: packing the Court, nationalizing relaxed rules for voting, statehood for DC and Puerto Rico.
But now, nothing stands in their way except Trump, and the idea is that he’ll be gone in two years at most and a Democrat president will be giving the green light to those measures.
At this point, much of the electorate has become even more vicious and filled with hatred – witness the reaction to Charlie Kirk’s murder as well as that of Brian Thompson and several others who had aroused the ire of the leftist social media crew and therefore deserved to die. Their deaths were openly celebrated by the left and even by many “ordinary” Democrats.
I’ve written before (can’t find it at the moment) that the Trump near-assassination and the Kirk assassination were bookends of a sort. Trump’s close call seemed to start a good cycle for him and the right that culminated in his 2024 election. But Kirk’s death started a different and much darker cycle that persists to this day, a time in which violence and hatred on the left flourish and are flaunted and celebrated and rewarded electorally, and the right is riven by discord and to a certain extent even by Jew-hatred (that latter sentiment is legion on the left).
All of that has led to these election results, and the Democrats’ plan is to fully vent their spleen and gain permanent power rather than lose it in 2028 or ever again. The “burn it down” folks on the right don’t seem to mind.
There’s also – as I wrote in this recent post – the phenomenon of Trump fatigue, which I feel is widespread and even affects many of his previous supporters:
As for the right, why does it appear that a great many people are turning on Trump? After all, much of what he’s done in his second term has been effective, and the Democrats seem so very very much worse.
Some of it is objection to certain policies like the Iran war (in which very very few Americans have been killed or hurt), and of course the problem with “affordability.” But I believe a fair amount of it is from what I’ll call Trump fatigue. What was once fresh and new is neither anymore.
Think about it – Trump first was elected ten years ago, and if all goes well there are two more years to go. That’s twelve years. Yes, Biden was president for four years in between. But Trump was nevertheless a huge presence and even an obsession during those four years. The pause has actually lengthened the amount of time Trump has dominated the scene. People are fickle.
Apparently much of the vote was driven not just by general anger but by anger and frustration at something very specific which the Democrats recognized early on and relentlessly hammered home their message on it: lack of “affordability.” For now let’s leave aside the question of just how much people are truly suffering economically and assume that they are suffering and that it hits younger people harder. I can understand that, if that’s your perception and your experience, you might be angry at the GOP for not fixing things. But why would you think that Democrats would? Or is rhetoric enough?
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: this election reminds me of the 2024 election in Britain in which the populace threw the ineffectual Tories out and installed the left. How’s that working out?
The question was asked in an earlier post about why the Democrats want Pete Hegseth’s head on a pike.
Here’s a comprehensive and very plausible answer from…DataRepublican:
https://x.com/DataRepublican/status/2046425132814713144
H/T Instapundit.
[Emphasis mine: Barry M.]
I think we can safely call all this a “Slotkinwalk”.
Some genuinely want revenge and will take action to exact it.
And others want graft.
And others want men in women’s sports and puberty blockers for minors.
And others want DEI.
And others want USAID funded.
And others want Islam to gain political power in the U.S.
And others want gun rights restricted.
And, and, and…
Even if they don’t intend this, and many do, the result will be a “flood the zone,” death by a thousand cuts attack on the administration.
It’s the Lernaen Hydra in the Hercules myth.
Saul Alinsky rule #10: “The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain constant pressure upon the opposition.”
Sun Tzu: “The whole secret lies in confusing the enemy, so that he cannot fathom our real intent.”
AAG Harmeet Dhillon (stepping down):
https://x.com/AAGDhillon/status/2118416422397505721
Many the thanks for a faithful service to the nation.
Perhaps she senses her legal services are going to be much in demand hereafter, given the “Revenge” in the air? Just a guess.
Not sure it’s revenge, exactly.
More like seething, murderous, self-righteous outrage.
I mean, how would YOU feel if someone stepped up to forcibly prevent you from entering the promised—transformed—land (of Marxist America) when you believed yourself to be SO CLOSE TO ENTERING; IOW, someone who forcibly prevented you from implementing your carefully laid plan to destroy the country, something that you convinced yourself was truly a slam dunk?
Here’s Melanie Phillips…unbound:
“Not waving but drowning;
“Momentum in America is with the red-green alliance because centrists lack a moral and intellectual spine. A great evil has arisen in the world, and it’s now captured the political heart of America….”—
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/435744
One hopes she’s, um, overreacting….
Dhillion will be disbarred and imprisoned. Trump and his family will be imprisoned. Rubio, Hegseth and eventually the people on this blog are going to prison. Musk they intend to kill.
My newly-elected Democrat Congressman says he is tired of all the hate and wants to work constructively with all sides in Congress. I will be watching his votes and writing to ask him if he really means that. I suspect he will join the other Dem sheep.
Sen. Thune should put the Senate in a real recess in December so Trump can finish appointments. Thune, having no backbone or principles, probably won’t.