The performance by the Republican Party during this mid-term election may go down as one of the worst in recent history. With the Democrats holding the White House, the Senate and the House, and inflation raging, this should have been low hanging fruit for the Republican Party. And they thought so too hence the overused reference to a red wave. Rule of thumb: don't predict an election one year out and don't count your chickens before they are hatched. As I write this the Democrats kept the Senate, have still not officially lost the House, and if they do, the margin will be a small handful of seats; very small. This is classic over promising and under delivering.
The litany of everything the Republicans did wrong is long. First, they just assumed they would be the natural alternative for the Biden led Democrats. Then they failed to offer enough great ideas and produce a comprehensive plan to entice voters. And by now, we all know that some of the candidates were too out there and were just not acceptable to the masses.
But there is more, and it is disturbing. The big winner in these mid-terms was abortion. Despite the recent defeat of Roe v. Wade, the desired result of baby murder is well entrenched. Hearts and minds have not been changed and there is much work to do for America to realize the true horror of abortion. The Dem's capitalized on this and pre-election polling grossly underestimated the issue. Of course, this is incredibly sad that, as a nation, we readily embrace sin, and we have a political party so willing to do the same. I believe the Republicans never saw this as a threat and the threat bit them. Now I'm not advocating that Republicans need to pivot to a pro-abortion stance, no, heaven forbid. But you have to know the issues and you have to take the political pulse of the land. They did too little too late to shift the emphasis to the real-life tough issues that have our nation in the bad shape it is in. Even those who voted blue admitted they generally do not like the direction the nation is going but they saw no alternative hope in the Republican Party.
The big loser on election night has to be Donald Trump. His endorsements mostly did poorly and his performance on the campaign trail was awful. He always wants the emphasis on him, the 2020 election and bizarre statements and name-calling. Despite a presidency that policy-wise was pretty strong, he has morphed into a political liability for the Republican Party. I know a lot of people won't agree with me on this but by all accounts, this seems to be true. At some point Donald Trump needs to evaluate his role in this election and his future as a political king maker.
Maybe in a day or two we will know if the Republicans took the House or not, although it seems pretty anti-climactic now. I do agree with those who criticize the current voting process. These excessive delays in vote counting and the unintended consequences of wholesale mail balloting must be addressed and corrected.
For what it's worth, this is my take. By far I'm most upset by the abortion issue. It's hard for me, and many others, to comprehend the desire for killing babies. Only with God's help and our cooperation with His will with this change. It's not laws that need to be changed, it's hearts and minds and courageous leadership.
The Republican Party has no real leadership. Someone needs to stand up to Trump and take the reins. The policies don't need to be changed, just the leadership.
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