One remarkable fact abut the midterms this year is that it was the first time in 88 years that an incumbent President didn’t lose a single Senate seat in a midterm election. You have to go back to 1934 to find the last time this happened — when FDR was in the White House and it was halfway through his first term.
It is also intriguing that this anomaly occurred despite Biden’s low approval ratings, and while one of the normal triggers of voter rebellion— inflation — was high. So the conditions were hardly ideal, and most of the pre-election polls indicated that the Democrats would almost certainly lose control of the Senate.
Instead, they held on and even increased their margin by one seat, although Kyrsten Sinema’s odd announcement today that she will switch to independent status may complicate matters on that front.
Meanwhile, one of the main factors in the Democratic success was the discomfort growing number of voters on all sides feel about Donald Trump. Voters in the middle and the right may not like Biden very much and they may be worried about inflation, but they don’t want to give up their democratic system of government.
And way too many Republican candidates continued to mouth Trump’s baseless allegations that the 2020 election was stolen, when it is patently obvious to any reasonable person that it was not. Trump further made everything worse for himself by forecasting that if he somehow makes it back into office, he intends to rule in a strongman-style, not unlike Putin and the other dictators he admires.
Too many liberals are fond of dismissing the conservatives as idiots, but the overwhelming majority of them do notbelieve in fascism. They have been misled, manipulated and propagandized by conspiracists and there is as yet no end of that in sight.
But one of the bulwarks we will need to continue to depend on to strengthen and preserve our democracy going forward is the innate common sense and patriotism of moderates and conservatives all over the land. That is our best hope.
LINKS:
House passes bill to protect same-sex marriage in landmark vote sending it to Biden (CNN)
Prominent Gay Republicans Helped Smooth the Way for Marriage Bill (NYT)
Sinema switches to independent, shaking up the Senate (Politico)
How the Brittney Griner prisoner swap with Russia was done (BBC)
Brittney Griner’s release and the strategic value of good diplomacy (The Hill)
Biden had a ‘painful’ decision to make to secure Griner’s release. He made it. (Politico)
Anti-Trump Republicans Grow Louder: 'He's Less Relevant All the Time' (NYT)
Kremlin lashes out at Time over Person of the Year; Putin admits war is taking longer than expected (USA Today)
War has tamed Ukraine’s oligarchs, creating space for democratic change (WP)
China buys Russian oil at multi-month low discounts, brushes off price cap (Reuters)
VIDEO: Russian Shelling Kills Multiple People in East Ukraine, Official Says
(Telegram)
Ukraine Says Western Allies Shouldn’t Fear Russia Falling Apart (WSJ)
Iran hangs protester in first known execution related to mass demonstrations (CNN)
Peru’s President Tried to Dissolve Congress. By Day’s End, He Was Arrested. (NYT)
UK has failed to resettle Afghans facing torture and death despite promise (Guardian)
Taliban official: 27 people lashed in public in Afghanistan (AP)
German authorities expect further arrests and raids in the coming days in connection with a far-right group that prosecutors say were preparing a violent overthrow of the state to install a former member of a German royal family as national leader. (Reuters)
Supreme Court Seems Split Over Case That Could Transform Federal Elections (NYT)
Musk lashes out at SF mayor over investigation into Twitter’s makeshift bedrooms for employees (The Hill)
Classified Documents Found in Trump Search of Storage Site (NYT)
President Joe Biden renewed his calls for a ban on assault weapons at the National Vigil for All Victims of Gun Violence — nearly 10 years after the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre. "Together, we made some important progress … but it’s still not enough," he said. [HuffPost]
Federal Officials Trade Stock in Companies Their Agencies Oversee (WSJ)
FDA authorizes Covid omicron vaccines for children as young as 6 months old (CNBC)
As many Chinese embraced new freedoms after the country dropped key parts of its tough zero-COVID regime, there was mounting concern that the virus could soon run wild. Domestic ticket sales for tourist and leisure spots have soared, while some people took to social media to reveal they had tested positive for the virus - something that had previously carried heavy stigma. (Reuters)
Buildings use nearly half the energy generated in the U.S., and produce more than a third of the country’s climate-changing pollution. Yet the federal government plays little role in setting the national building codes that determine whether new construction uses fossil fuels. Now, the White House is aiming to set “a new gold standard for new construction all across America." [HuffPost]
‘Don’t Say Gay’ law sponsor charged with pandemic aid fraud in Florida (The Hill)
Amateur fossil hunters find 19-foot-tall, 100 million-year-old skeleton (CNN)
No snowflakes are the same. These stunning close-up photos are proof. (WP)
Meghan Markle recalled the first time she met Prince William and Kate in the new Netflix series, aptly titled “Harry & Meghan,” released today. Meghan said the pair came over for dinner – and it turned out they were not huggers. “I was a hugger, always a big hugger, and I didn’t realize that’s really jarring for a lot of Brits," she said. Other revelations from the series: Harry and Meghan met over Instagram, the Duchess of Sussex's mom was mistaken as her nanny growing up, and the couple’s 2017 BBC engagement interview was an "orchestrated reality show." [HuffPost]
These are the words, movies and people that Americans searched for on Google in 2022 (NPR)
Japanese outfielder Yoshida reaches deal with Red Sox in Major League Baseball (NHK)
Elon Musk Worried He Won’t Have Enough Twitter Employees Left To Fire On Christmas Eve (The Onion)
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