Its been a week since the midterms and these are my thoughts. I am not quite the average American if you've perused other offerings here. When Trump was elected there were 3 candidates: Trump, Clinton (a woman and knew politics ) and an Independent. Clinton was not liked by many and the conventional wisdom was that a vote for the Independent would take away from Trump. Trump had held no office but projected himself as a successful business and TV personality. Knowing that Christian Evangelicals were a huge possible voting block he astutely wooed them and they came around even though Trump was known for many transgressions.
Trump was elected President and shortly experienced a deserved bad press. He had a bad reputation with women, then he fired several very capable men in his inner circle, scandals from his multitude of business dealings emerged, but as he was President they were side lined. Next he made nice with Putin and the North Korean dictator, choosing to believe Putin over our own heads of intelligence. Over and over he was excused for behaviors and actions that another in the same position would not be tolerated. America experienced the Covid pandemic and he misjudged its severity and a million died because of his malfeasance. He divided the country and encouraged the worst elements to emerge. The worship of sheer power was the excuse to keep him in power. American education and science were denigrated. The ideals of a great country because of its veneration of justice and compassion for the poor were often replaced by their opposite.
There was always the hope that most American citizens would somehow see that we were slowly encouraging a style of fascist governance. It all exploded when Biden was elected President. Trump had primed a segment of the Republicans with the notion that if he lost then the election was stolen. That notion was promoted before the election and then prosecuted through the courts where it was destroyed even by Republican judges. There followed the attempted coup at the Capitol on January 6, a day of infamy when armed and angry people entered the halls of Congress determined to force a reversal.
As hearings and findings demonstrated how deeply the American ideal had been compromised the ship of State began to right itself. Usually the party in power suffers significantly in the interims. A red tide was anticipated. Then Russia invaded Ukraine and America weighed its finest values and behaviors and recognized that a great error had been encouraged and condoned. They saw true bravery and responded with military and moral help against a brutal invasion.
Politics is often ugly as its practitioners jockey for power. However, there are basic guardrails that if breached may cause real damage for the perpetrators. Because Americans are aficionados of sports and sportsmanship, there are rules of the game. It appears that the voters have stemmed the red tide and the values practiced and espoused by those in the recent past. May the vision of our best selves carry the day and may those who have been so egregiously agreed to be misled be returned to the wisdom that guided them in their daily endeavors into a manageable future.
