Well folks, it was supposed to be a gigantic red wave with Republicans rolling over the House of Representatives and given a good shot at winning the Senate. If only Donald Trump had kept quiet and remained holed up at Mar-a-Lago.
But alas, that was not meant to be. Trump encouraged and endorsed a bunch of crappy Republican candidates who were willing to sell their souls to embrace his Big Lie about the 2020 election. And then, to put some frosting on that cake, he kept teasing that he'd soon be announcing a new run for the presidency.
"You will be soooo happy," he kept telling dwindling crowds of people.
But then it was time for the voters to say their piece. And by the time the smoke was even beginning to clear, it was evident that most of Trump's candidates were losers, that the Senate may be headed for continued Democratic control, and even the Republicans' hopes for taking over the House might be fading.
Today, The Washington Post wrote this:
Democrats have been projected as the winners in 191 House districts, while 211 have gone to the Republicans. The magic number for a majority is 218, so Republicans are obviously much closer.
But those raw numbers are misleading: Most of the yet-to-be-decided districts are out West — read: Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon and Washington — where the vote counting is slower, and most lean blue. That region has upward of 10 clearly blue seats that don’t have enough votes in to be called, but are very unlikely to flip. And several others lean blue.
On the eve of the election, Trump made this statement in an interview about GOP candidates, verified by Snopes:
"I think if they win, I should get all the credit, and if they lose, I should not be blamed at all."
Typical Trump. If the news favors him, it's all good. If not, it's "fake news."
Most likely, here's what he'll be saying about his candidates if the Democrats hold on:
"You guys are nothing but a bunch of losers. With my endorsement, you should have won. That you lost, you only have yourself to blame." Or something like that.
Well, Rupert Murdoch's media empire of The New York Post, the Wall Street Journal, and Fox News apparently has had enough of Trump.
Said the Wall Street Journal editorial board: "...a perfect record of electoral defeat...he has led Republicans into one political fiasco after another."
And, wrote the New York Post: "Don (who couldn't build a wall) had a great fall -- can all the GOP's men put the party back together again?"
Twitter is afire with post-election attacks on Trump. Some examples:
"Trumpty Dumpty sat on his wall and tried his best to kill us all. But all his corruption, grifting and crime will hopefully lead to him doing some time."
And this one:
"Congratulations, Republican Party. You destroyed yourself for this guy."
Then there are a number of Tweeters
who are declaring that Trump is now "toast."
Of course, Trump isn't taking all of this ridicule lying down. No sir!
Here's what he posted:
"For those many people that are being fed the fake narrative from the corrupt media that I am Angry about the Midterms, don't believe it. I am not at all angry, did a great job (I wasn't the one running!), and am very busy looking into the future. Remember, I am a "Stable Genius."
Yep, that's what the stable genius wrote.
All of these election fiascoes have Republican leaders and Trump's own advisers telling him to hold off on his plans of announcing his presidential run, saying that could screw up the Dec. 6 runoff in Georgia between Sen. Rafael Warnock and his ridiculous GOP challenger, Herschel Walker. Whether they will prevail is anybody's guess.
But waiting in the wings is Attorney General Merrick Garland with an indictment of the former, twice impeached president. According to "The Hill," GOP aides and strategists expect Garland to pursue an indictment of Trump within 60 to 90 days of the election, predicting the window for prosecuting him will close once the 2024 presidential campaign gains momentum.
So if Trump is not pissed now, just wait. The worst could be yet to come.
And, while Trump had a really bad election night, his nemesis in Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis, killed it, rolling over former Gov. Charlie Crist. That prompted this tweet from Fox News:
"Ron DeSantis is the new Republican Party leader."
Hard to imagine Trump's reaction to that.