FIRST THE POLITICAL POINTS - THEN AS I SEE IT ALL!

By Edwin Cooney

Hope and disappointment are a part of most election nights. I’d hoped for a “blue wave” and got merely a “blue babbling brook.” It’s far, far better than 2010, 2014, or 2016, but Donnie Johnny deserved a much, much deeper dunking than he got! As for we Americans, more about that later.

With only one side of Congress in their hands, Democrats can and will save the Affordable Care act — “Obamacare.” Only the Supreme Court of the United States has the power to declare it unconstitutional and the newest member of the Trump administration, Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker, disparages the high court’s power to do that. Control of the House means the Democrats appoint the chairs of all committees who have the power to set their agendas. All of the good or bad things that can come out of the above reality depend upon how well these eager beaver Democrats can cooperate with each other and do their jobs. Should there be a prolonged dispute over ideology in the 116^th Congress as there has been in the last several GOP Congresses, the Democrats won’t fare any better than have the Republicans. Their first snarl will be whether or not they should or can elect Nancy Pelosi Speaker of the House of Representatives. (I think they should!)

As for the United States Senate, although no objective observer regardless of where his or her heart is, can deny that this expansion of Republican power bodes well for the Trump administration. It would appear that any conservative candidate for the Supreme Court of the United States, even if he or she has violated any law (especially if the existence of that law frustrates or angers the president), will be easily confirmed. Even more gratifying to President Trump must be the fact that Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski will not have the power to overturn close votes in this Congress as they do in the closing session of this, the 115th Congress.

Another possibly significant factor in last Tuesday’s results is twofold. First, the solid GOP grip on Midwest governorships has been broken. Laura Kelly in Kansas, Tony Evers in Wisconsin, Gretchen Whitmer in Michigan and J. B. Pritzker of Illinois certainly indicate that a lot of Americans had other priorities other than the existence of caravans of destruction populated by illegal immigrants.

Second, while there is little, if any, indication that President Trump is in serious trouble come 2020, not all of the trends are in his favor. Although he holds onto a loyal rural constituency, his hold on most of the key states that gave him his electoral college majority, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Kansas and even Florida, is definitely tenuous.

However hopeful or discouraging midterm elections may be, seldom are they a clue to the upcoming presidential election. For instance, the Republicans gained 47 seats in the House of Representatives in the 1966 election, but Richard Nixon was only barely elected over Hubert Humphrey in 1968. Bill Clinton in 1994 was overwhelmed by Newt Gingrich’s “Contract With America,” but “Slick Willie” was easily re-elected in 1996. Then, there was the fate of Barack Obama in 2010 as compared to his fate in 2012. What are most encouraging are the trends that appear to be occurring.

First, President Trump’s constituency is old and not getting any younger. Second, millennial voters are voting overwhelmingly Democratic. Third, the movement of highly educated white women away from the Republicans is most gratifying. What’s especially significant is that where two years ago Mr. Trump won the majority of the white women vote, the Democrats picked it up last Tuesday. There are now approximately 100 women in the House and Senate — a remarkable increase over just a few years ago. Those trends definitely auger well for the future. Now we come to what doesn’t auger as well for the future.

Americans are now and always have been vulnerable to fear, and it’s my experience that the GOP are masters of fear. I can only remember the Democrats being guilty of using fear twice in my lifetime. The first was after Sputnik when they sought to take political advantage of the people’s fear of Soviet Russia’s intentions to the degree that they minimized President Eisenhower’s reassurances as to our national security. The second time was how they reveled in their reaction to the Goldwater candidacy in 1964 with the famous “Daisies ad.” Republicans on the other hand have for years banked on scaring the public.

As a Californian, it seemed to me that between 1982 and 1998, every time the Democrats got ahead in a gubernatorial race, the GOP would remind Californians that the Democratic candidate opposed capital punishment. The message was “elect a Democrat and a killer will soon pay you a visit.” Fair enough, I suppose. After all, politics are politics, but it is and always has been exceedingly misleading — even if you don’t ask me! Then, invariably there are issues such as furloughed prisoners who’ll endanger the public’s safety (1988), weapons of mass destruction (2002 and 2004), and finally, “there’s a “fake” American, but a fully dedicated black Muslim running for president” (2008-2012).

“Fear is power,” according to President Trump. “Scare ‘em and you’ve got ‘em,” seems to be the mantra of the Republican Party more than anything else. Most observers seem to agree that in the wake of last Tuesday’s election, the Republican Party has totally become President Donald J. Trump’s party. Every asset which might conceivably belong to the party, ideas, agendas, principles (conservatism included), are now the personal property of President Trump. Whether your name be Limbaugh, Savage, Ingraham, or even Hannity, you may borrow conservatism, but remember, Donald Trump owns it.

I find the apparent fact that so many Americans can be frightened by the idea of this “caravan” so silly that both a memory and an idea come to mind.

The memory is part of a poem that was popular during my childhood. I can’t recall if it was from “Little Orphan Annie” or if it came from somewhere else. The ending went like this “…the goblins are gonna get you if you don’t watch out!” What’s so incredible is that those who supposedly make up the “land of the free and the home of the brave” really and truly fall for such utter nonsense.

First, does it make sense that an agent sent to destroy America would be expected to endure a 6 or 8 week hike suffering heat, cold, hunger and malnutrition when there are ways to get that agent here in ease and comfort? Second, is President Trump really ready to go to war with Mexico with all that implies to protect us from this caravan? In order to do so, he’d have to fire on Mexican territory. If there was a war with Mexico, would he expect there would be no loss of life on our side of the border? How stupid does our president really believe we are?!

As I see it, this whole anti-American caravan idea is a much bigger hoax than anything the Democrats have thought up to hang on President Trump! Trump, of course, is really tough, as tough as his supporters believe they are. What’s even more incredible is how tough people think they are when they’re really and truly merely scared to death!

Final question — does anyone who knowingly and willfully scares you to his or her personal advantage, really respect you?

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,

EDWIN COONEY