The US Mid-Term Elections 2022

[Stavros]

And yet, Andrew Buncombe in The Independent thinks Trump is the winner after all-

Voices: Trump was actually the biggest winner in the midterm elections — and this is why (yahoo.com)

[filghy2]

Will DeSantis take the initiative and declare himself a candidate for 2024, and if so when?

I think he'll try to stay on the fence as long as he can to see what happens to Trump's support among Republican voters. Unless that falls a lot he will probably sit it out. De Santis is only 44, so he can afford to wait for an easier path in 2028.

The problem for the party is that they know Trump will be prepared to sabotage any other nominee. He is already talking about having dirt on De Santis. The real source of his power now is not that he can help Republicans achieve their goals; it's that he can blow the party up if he doesn't get his way.

[broncofan]

It wasn't that Biden and the Democrats were slow to recognize that inflation was a big problem, its that they refused to acknowledge that it was a problem. For the better part of year, they as a well as liberal pundits in the media tried to diminish or downplay the impact of inflation. It was only until the last month or so did the those running for office try to pivot the conversation towards the economy.

I'm not saying there isn't an answer but I don't know a lot about macroeconomics. If he recognized that inflation was a problem would he have been able to ameliorate it? I know interest rates can be raised, but what else do you think he should have done? I'm not asking this as a gotcha because I anticipate there is an answer and he could have handled it better.

During that same period of time Republican Justices overturned Roe v. Wade, have passed a bunch of homophobic laws, and are spreading conspiracy theories about Paul Pelosi being attacked while refusing to condemn it.

Yes, the average person has a lot to lose from inflation. Wages might not increase at the rate of cost of living increases. People with modest savings might find the purchasing power of their savings is reduced.

But I'm just not sure how a person can vote for Lauren Boebert or Marjorie Taylor Greene or Dr. Oz or even Marco Rubio who some call a moderate but is online engaging in soft election denial. I have some sense why they do but I actually think it's culture war/racism. It may sound simplistic but if you look at what Republican figures talk about online it's culture war crankery 24/7. Cancel culture, pronouns, dozens of genders, communism, black lives matter, globalists, and innuendo about lgbt people harming children. When have any of their elected leaders ever focused on a problem that is harming broad sections of society and tried to ameliorate it? They will rally in support of bakers who don't want to serve gay people, call abortionists genocidal monsters, and preemptively claim that Democrats are stealing elections without regard to the consequences of saying that.

Republicans pundits will imply that civil rights books are inappropriate for children to read while defending actual hateful propaganda. The things they want canceled are any attempt to reckon with civil rights issues and the history of racism in American. What they don't want canceled (through private action): hate speech, health conspiracy theories, and election denial. If anyone wants to see how serious they are we can play a game. I can link to tweets from right-wing pundits who have gone viral and someone else can link to left-wing American pundits that have gone viral. Republicans haven't been about policies for a long time.

[broncofan]

I think he'll try to stay on the fence as long as he can to see what happens to Trump's support among Republican voters. Unless that falls a lot he will probably sit it out. De Santis is only 44, so he can afford to wait for an easier path in 2028.

The problem for the party is that they know Trump will be prepared to sabotage any other nominee. He is already talking about having dirt on De Santis. The real source of his power now is not that he can help Republicans achieve their goals; it's that he can blow the party up if he doesn't get his way.

Trump didn't become President by being risk-averse but this seems like a dangerous strategy. If he sabotages Republicans and they lose, he will not have anyone to block attempts to prosecute him for crimes he committed. If he doesn't sabotage Republicans and he loses but they (Desantis or some other rival) win, it's likely they engage in some obstructionism for him. If he doesn't sabotage Republicans and they lose, they may not be in a great position to defend him, but he might still have enough good will that they would try, and their attempts even as a minority party have sometimes been fruitful.

I think Trump blowing up the Republican party, if it's more than just a bluff, might be a direct ticket to prison for him.

[filghy2]

I'm not saying there isn't an answer but I don't know a lot about macroeconomics. If he recognized that inflation was a problem would he have been able to ameliorate it? I know interest rates can be raised, but what else do you think he should have done? I'm not asking this as a gotcha because I anticipate there is an answer and he could have handled it better.

The Federal Reserve - the independent experts responsible for controlling inflation - did not start raising the interest rate above zero until March this year. Obviously, they were caught by surprise as well.

It takes a long time to get inflation down, so there's little that could have been done in a time frame of less than a year. I'm not sure whether price controls are constitutional, but if they'd done that there would have been queues at gas stations instead.

I think the only clear mistake they made was to overcook the stimulus package last year, which Larry Summers warned about at the time. It's kind of understandable why they did it after Obama's popularity was damaged by the slow recovery after 2008, but it turned out to be fighting the last war.

[filghy2]

I think Trump blowing up the Republican party, if it's more than just a bluff, might be a direct ticket to prison for him.

He will at least try to use the implied threat to scare off any challenges. I find it hard to see a scenario in which Trump accepts defeat graciously, or is persuaded to pull out of the contest. That would be contrary to everything we've seen of him: the delusions about his own popularity and abilities; the compulsion to be the centre of attention; the fear of being seen as a loser; the desire for revenge on anyone who crosses him.

[Stavros]

He will at least try to use the implied threat to scare off any challenges. I find it hard to see a scenario in which Trump accepts defeat graciously, or is persuaded to pull out of the contest. That would be contrary to everything we've seen of him: the delusions about his own popularity and abilities; the compulsion to be the centre of attention; the fear of being seen as a loser; the desire for revenge on anyone who crosses him.

He also needs his lawyers to delay litigation as much as possible so that he can hide behind public office to prevent the Courts from exposing his business operations. It seems incredible, because it is, that for more than 30 years he had no idea his CFO was scamming and stealing from him, unless it turns out that Trump really is a dunce at business, and spent most of his time in the office reading articles in magazines about Donald Trump, as his niece has claimed in her book.

This so far is the most hilarious quote I have seen from dismayed Republicans-

"On Pray Vote Stand, Michelle Bachmann said the results simply don’t make sense given how much praying and repenting the right did."
Fox News Is Having a Meltdown Over the Election Results | The New Republic

Does anyone know what happens to the House Committee on January 6th? If the Republicans have a majority -and at the moment that is not certain- can they just shut it down?

[KnightHawk 2.0]

He also needs his lawyers to delay litigation as much as possible so that he can hide behind public office to prevent the Courts from exposing his business operations. It seems incredible, because it is, that for more than 30 years he had no idea his CFO was scamming and stealing from him, unless it turns out that Trump really is a dunce at business, and spent most of his time in the office reading articles in magazines about Donald Trump, as his niece has claimed in her book.

This so far is the most hilarious quote I have seen from dismayed Republicans-

"[FONT="]On Pray Vote Stand, Michelle Bachmann [/FONT]said[FONT="] the results simply don’t make sense given how much praying and repenting the right did."
[/FONT]Fox News Is Having a Meltdown Over the Election Results | The New Republic

Does anyone know what happens to the House Committee on January 6th? If the Republicans have a majority -and at the moment that is not certain- can they just shut it down?

If the Republicans end up winning the majority in the House Of Representatives,they will more than likely shutdown the January 6 Committee and make things more difficult for President Joe Biden by launching investigations into him and his administration.

[Stavros]

This link suggests that the Supreme Court, by enabling the gerrymandering of Congressional districts has in effect awarded the Republican Party seats in the House it might not have won, with the assessment that in a tight race, these new districts may give the GOP control of the House.

The Supreme Court’s Hands Are All Over The 2022 Midterm Election Results (yahoo.com)

[Stavros]

The gift that keeps on giving, that nobody wants to unwrap...

"“They stole the Electron from Blake Masters."
Donald Trump Makes A Mockery Of His Election Freakout With Doozy Of A Typo | HuffPost UK Politics (huffingtonpost.co.uk)

"Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene was widely mocked on Thursday morning after tweeting that the United States’ enemies are “quacking in their boots”."
Marjorie Taylor Greene mocked for embarrassing duck-related Twitter typo | The Independent