I wrote earlier about the strange phenomenon of extreme right wing parties in Germany that have been associated with xenophobia and anti-Semitism actively wooing the Jewish community and having some success, to the consternation of the major Jewish organizations in that country, surprised by the willingness to support a party that is overtly against their own community.
It turns out that we have similar strange bedfellows in the US. Seth Grossman won the Republican primary for the second congressional district in New Jersey. Grossman, who is Jewish, had made statements that “diversity is a bunch of crap” and had shared articles from white nationalist sites on his Facebook page. This was too much even for the Republican party who ran away from him. Grossman ran as a strong pro-Trump candidate but lost 52.3%-45.9% to Democrat Jeff Van Drew last Tuesday. This was considered a solidly Republican seat that had long been held by a Republican Frank LoBiondo who was retiring after having served since 1994.
Grossman blamed his loss on the fact that he had to spend so much time defending himself from charges of being a racist. It is truly a mystery how people got that impression.
Currently, the Democrats have won 227 seats in the 435 chamber House of Representatives, a gain of 32 from their previous total of 195. Republicans have just 198, a loss of 42 from the last Congress. There are still 10 undecided seats. When you take into account the state of the economy with its low unemployment and high business profits and booming stock market, some analysts are saying that this can be considered the worst defeat for an incumbent party in US history.
Thanks, Trump!
Stock market ain’t so booming at the moment.
On one level, yes, it’s down to Trump that the Reps did so badly. Don’t kid yourself that he cares, or even considers that a personal defeat, though. Trump does not represent the Republicans, he represents himself. He used their flag to run under, but he demonstrably doesn’t give a monkey’s about them or how they’re seen. It is ALL about him, him, him.
If anything, losing control of the House helps Trump. Nobody, now, will be able to ask him why nothing he promised is being delivered, because the answer will be obviously that the Dems are blocking him. He gets to carry on having rallies and shouting at journalists and generally playing at being President, but no longer has to bother even trying to get anything done (if he ever did), and as a bonus gets to spend all his time complaining that the checks and balances are stopping him from doing his job.
I know you enjoy being a contrarian bell end, but this is pretty stupid even by that standard.
Yeah, echoing DonDueed @ #1, what “booming stock market” is this?
@Holms, No. 3
Sadly, in this case, sonofrojblake is precisely correct. This is exactly how Trump has already started to play the shift.
Here, as I see it, is the problem for the Democrats. Like the 2008-2010 (and to a much lesser extent the 2010-2018) Republicans, all they can do is play defense. Yes, they can investigate Trump and maybe there’s hope there, but I don’t think so.
In the meantime, they have zero chance of passing any meaningful legislation because Mitch McConnell won’t let any bill get past the Senate. All they can do is vote down any bill—building the border wall, &c.—the president wants.
Talk of impeachment is just silly since there is also zero chance of at least 34 Republicans voting guilty if the House forces an impeachment trial. Remember, the impeachment of Bill Clinton resulted in an approval rating of 71 percent for the president after the Senate failed to not only get the 3/4ths vote needed to remove him, but the Senate couldn’t even get the majority of Republicans to vote for removal.
Then there’s the problem of a President Mike Pence. As bad as Trump is, Pence would be worse because he knows how Washington works.
We will have a do-nothing Congress—except for those bills that financially benefit their handlers (as Mano has remarked upon innumerable times) which will get hardy bi-partisan support—for the next two, quite possibly six, years.
@Dunc, No. 4
The key words in DonDueed’s comment are “at the moment.” Like global warming, don’t confuse changes in weather with change in climate. Those whose wealth depend upon the ebb and flow of the stock markets are very happy and doing quite well, thank you very much. Sure, the little guy might take it in the shorts, but the Masters of the Universe are laughing all the way to the piers where they dock their multi-million dollar yachts.
Trump has been saying the Democrats were keeping him from doing things all along. In this respect he’s the boy who cried wolf. These annoying little factual interludes won’t stop his supporters from voting for him again because the only ones left are true believers. They live in a fantasy world where he isn’t a contract man and he really cares about them. And they’re very reluctant to leave, especially if someone else is paying the price for their willful ignorance.
Blah. Contract = con
DonDueed @#1 and Dunc @#4,
Since Trump took office, the S&P stock index has gone from about 2,300 to about 2,700 now. It is true that it was on an upward trend even before Trump office but it is still a major gain.
Mano -- yeah, but it’s basically flat over the whole of 2018 (it started the year at 2695), and is currently lower than it was at the end of January. It may have been booming in 2017, but it’s not booming any more.
It is terrifying to me that almost 46% of the population in an educated, urban and suburban state voted for someone verging on a Nazi?