President Trump: The NEW one and only politics thread

Once again, candidate quality matters. Going back to 2010, Republicans lost races in Delaware, Nevada, Missouri, Indiana, North Dakota and, now, Alabama that they should have won. That would have given them 55+ seats. A Romney/Ryan clone probably wins all those seats.

Instead, the Tea Party/"FAKE NEWS!" wing of the Republicans continues to hold their primaries hostage by voting for loonies who have little change to win in a general election. If Moore would have won, I could see the Republicans losing tons of seats next year.

With last night's loss, the moderate Republicans (Flake/Collins/McCain) just picked up a little more power for the next year.

As for 2018, the Democrats still have to play a LOT of defense in red states, notably Missouri, Indiana and North Dakota. Perhaps they hold Missouri but I can't see the other two.

Unless... the economy tanks. And that's what the Democrats, again, have to quietly root for. On Election Night 2016, the Dow was at 18,000. Now it's at 24,500. They need to find something other than "we hate Trump".

 

Good thing Democrats didn't write-in a different Republican candidate to try to beat Roy Moore.

There is no need for anybody on either side to spin this one. A child molester didn't get elected to the U.S. Senate. That's an unalloyed good for democracy, America, and most important of all, Roy Moore's accusers. He got away with it for a very long time. Last night he stopped getting away with it.

 

National Review’s Kevin Williamson, writing before yesterday’s results, seems to have been on the same page with @The Big Ragu ...

 

You’re not. And don’t tell @tapintoamerica, but he (assuming gender here) isn’t, either.

 

The Dow was at 8,000 when Obama took office. The idea that Republicans manage the economy better (or that people believe they do) might have had political currency back in 1977, but certainly not with anyone paying attention now. The Republicans are going to need to explain why they enacted a tax plan that screws middle-class people and dramatically increases the debt-GDP ratio, and Ryan’s solution for the debt increase caused by those tax cuts will be to cut social security. Pass the popcorn. This is Kansas all over again.

And if we’re really lucky, Steve Bannon will run some more candidates from the stupid wing.

Knives Out For Steve Bannon After Democrat Wins Senate Seat In Alabama | HuffPost

 

Bammers: Would Doug Jones have beaten Luther Strange? Interesting to reflect on how Gov. Boobgrabber affected this race. It all kinda comes back to Bentley, doesn’t it?

 

That's a hell of a try there. Even for you.

 

Yes and no. Do remember that Dems also took control of Congress in January 2007, when it was 12,800. Where the Republicans are stepping in it is on these tax cuts that few people want. It just means the states will have to pick up the cost.

 

A child molester who Trumpy doesn't believe is a child molester.

 

This is a very small concern in the grand scheme, but my father and best friend would both see their jobs go away if the House bill became law. So selfishly, yeah, I’m rooting against it.

Having said that, you know what I do. Any change to the tax code short of Paul Ryan’s postcard fantasy is good for my job security.