There was no red wave. There was no red tide. There was no red trickle.
There was a fizzle.
The 2022 midterm election fundamentals would have suggested a ringing Republican victory: an unpopular president of the opposing party, deep public unhappiness with the state of the economy, unified Democratic control in Congress and radical social policy out of step with most Americans. Polls showed Republicans cutting deeply into Democratic constituencies including Hispanic and black voting blocs.
Yet as of Wednesday morning, Republicans, who were widely expected to win historic margins in the House of Representatives and to take back the United States Senate, are coming up short nearly everywhere. They will likely take back the House, but by a slim margin after an extraordinarily tepid showing that may land them with a majority of just north of 220 seats; they are unlikely to take back the Senate, given that the deciding vote will likely come via a runoff in a Georgia Senate race featuring the highly vulnerable and troubled candidacy of Herschel Walker.
So, what happened?
What happened is that in many districts and states all over the country, Republicans picked bad candidates. Believing that the fundamentals were all that was necessary to sweep them to victory, Republican leadership failed to intervene in these primaries to the extent necessary to ensure durable general election candidates. They stood aside largely out of fear of former President Donald Trump; Trump himself personally intervened in a variety of cases in the primaries, endorsing candidates almost solely on the basis of whether they were sufficiently sycophantic regarding the election of 2020.
Those candidates then lost.
And then Trump ripped them. Take, for example, Don Bolduc in New Hampshire. New Hampshire is a toss-up state; late polls suggested that Bolduc, despite his myriad oddities and strong support for Trump’s 2020 election fraud claims, might win the race. Instead, he lost by double digits. And Trump promptly took to Truth Social to let the world know that Bolduc deserved it: “Don Bolduc was a very nice guy, but he lost tonight when he disavowed, after his big primary win, his longstanding stance on Election Fraud in the 2020 Presidential Primary. Had he stayed strong and true, he would have own easily. Lessons Learned!!!” He also took the time to issue a statement celebrating a Democrat winning the Colorado Senate seat, ripping Republican Joe O’Dea, who had refused to countenance Trump’s election 2020 obsession: “Joe O’Dea lost BIG! MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
The Republican Party had one job in the 2022 election cycle: to provide some semblance of responsible leadership. Where they didn’t, they lost.
And where they did, they won.
In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis, who reopened the state during COVID-19, ensured children could go to school unmasked, kept the economy open, handled Hurricane Ian and fought off the predations of wokesters and corporate Left-wingers, won an overwhelming victory: he grew his 30,000-vote, 0.4% 2018 victory margin to 1.5 million votes and nearly 20 points, and took the entire Florida GOP along for the ride. Republicans picked up four House seats in the state; Marco Rubio defeated Val Demings in the Senate by over 16 points, and won the Hispanic vote outright, taking even historically blue Miami-Dade County.
Meanwhile, Trump was taking potshots at “Ron DeSanctimonious.”
In Georgia, Gov. Brian Kemp handily defeated Democratic darling Stacey Abrams, despite Trump’s personal attempts to defeat Kemp in his primary — again, due to Kemp’s failure to illegally flip the state to Trump in the 2020 election. Kemp is trusted by Georgians; he won.
There is a silver lining here for Republicans. Democrats, who should have been taught a lesson by voters, were saved by Republican incompetence and pusillanimity; that means they’ll keep doubling down. President Joe Biden is, barring actual incapacity, the prohibitive 2024 Democratic nominee. And the fundamentals will continue to move against Democrats as they pursue a woker and woker agenda.
This means Republicans will get another bite at the apple — but only if they get serious. The time for frivolity is over. The laws of political gravity apply. Nominate good, sober candidates capable of governing and earning the trust of Americans. Pick your culture war battles and hit them hard. Make it hard to vote for Democrats and easy to vote for you.
This isn’t tough stuff. But if Republican leadership is unwilling to pursue the obvious, the shipwreck of 2022 will be only the beginning.
Ben Shapiro, 38, is a graduate of UCLA and Harvard Law School, host of “The Ben Shapiro Show,” and co-founder of Daily Wire+. He is a three-time New York Times bestselling author; his latest book is “The Authoritarian Moment: How The Left Weaponized America’s Institutions Against Dissent.” To find out more about Ben Shapiro and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
Frankly we need a new generation of success proven leadership. Trump’s policies worked large but his ego just keeps getting in the way. His theats to personally attack DeDantis if he runs makes him look small, and DeSantis more and more is looking like the Candiate with all the best of Trump’s winning talents and qualities with none of the distracting egomaniacal detrimental distractions. that turn many off. Trump makes a great John The Baptist, making straight in the desert a highway for the true Consdervative Messiah, the flawless one who comes after.
As For McConnell, his Chinese Connections are suspicious, and he seems at times to be stuck to the establishment like a Siamese twin to his brother.We need youthful stron leaders leaders who deliver victories, not just mopey notley business as usual. When Pelosi goes and the Dems regain their workable sanity in reinvigorated leadership, will We Conservatives still be stuck with the same old guard that only guards their own self interest?
” Since a politician never believes what he says, he is quite surprised to be taken at his word.” Charles De Gaulle
” The Republican Party had one job in the 2022 election cycle: to provide some semblance of responsible leadership. Where they didn’t, they lost…” Taken from above comments.
I agree. Trump MAY Have been what we needed in 2016.. BUT his EGO is making it harder and harder for me to like him now days.
I don’t blame Trump for everything and Shapiro is not my favorite but when he’s right, he’s right. Several things coming from Trump really bothered me. Of course, I already knew he has to be in the spotlight at all times and when he isn’t he will do or say something to make sure he is in the spotlight even if it loses an election.
Two things that really bothered me was Trump teasing his 2024 run repeatedly in the last week of this election.
The second probably didn’t affect the election but it aggravated me. It was the Saturday before the election
Trump Coins New Opponent Nickname: ‘Ron DeSanctimonious’
https://www.newsmax.com/politics/ron-desantis-donald-trump-gop/2022/11/05/id/1095041/
DeSantis isn’t sanctimonious. He doesn’t run his mouth uselessly. He acts. He accomplishes. He wants many of the same things Trump wants but he does it without the circus. He does it without making personal enemies for no reason.
It’s time to move forward.
The words “I’m Sorry, Its all my fault,,,will never come out of his mouth. Everyone makes mistakes, and when those who do admit it, it shows a common humanity that real people can bond with.
AND for god sake don. BEFORE YOU Even THINK of running again, WORK OUT who the hell to trust, and who to NOT trust.
IMO that was his BIGGEST failure in 2016.. HE TRUSTED too many of the wrong people.
Case in point, Pennsylvania. We had much stronger candidates than the Trump endorsed ones for Governor and Senator. Bill McSwain was a proven Federal prosecutor, who would have made mincemeat out of Shapiro in the governor’s race. Trump ridiculed him for not making the 2020 election the centerpiece of his primary campaign. Instead, we got Doug Mastriano, who ran a stealth campaign, got hammered with unflattering ads (QAnon, ties to Gab) from his opponents, and doesn’t talk to the media. For the Senate race, Dave McCormack would have easily beaten Fetterman – he’s a PA native, West Point grad, and successful business executive. Trump decided to slap the pro-China label on him, and endorsed Oz instead. All summer long, we were treated to TV ads about how Oz had 9 houses, tortured dogs in lab experiments, hawked drugs that didn’t work, and was in it for himself, not for PA.
Our state Republican committee is a joke. They need to get their head out of the clouds, and start putting together a ground game to win in 2024! Someone needs to vigorously encourage Trump to stay out of the 2024 race, for the good of the party and the country.
“…The Republican Party had one job in the 2022 election cycle: to provide some semblance of responsible leadership. Where they didn’t, they lost….” Taken from above article
LETS hope the PARTY ITself, has someone with the balls to tell Don “STOP BUTTING IN. You’re no longer wanted OR needed!”
Well, someone has to be at fault. Might as well be the one who is always at fault or told he is the problem. It has to be Trump or those that be, will not be, HAPPY. Has to be someone’s fault. Reminds me of the commercial, “Give it to Mikey, He’ll eat anything”.
OBAMA IS THE GREAT DIVIDER.
and its still in full swing today.
I moved to Pennsylvania a year ago and cannot believe that anyone voted for John Fetterman. He is a 53yo who with his chin beard, tattoos, shorts, hoodies looks like a 19yo skateboarder; He is constantly shown standing in front of a factory but he is not the common man he projects. His parents supported him and his family until he became the state’s Lt. Governor in 2019 and he bought his personal residence from his sister for $1. Anyone who saw his debate slaughter knows that he is totally unfit for this or any job.
I honestly think its the dolts in Philly, that put him there.. NO one else in the state seemed to want him. From what poll graphs i saw..
un dated and un signed ballots were allowed because his team filed a law suit.
THEN what’ss the point in STATE LAW SAYING “Ballots MUST BE DATED AND SIGNED to be counted”??