On the Ides of November: “Beware the Ides of March”, said a soothsayer named Spurinna to Julius Caesar. Today’s soothsayers might warn the GOP to beware of the ides of August, September, October and November. What seemed like an irreversible GOP rout in the November elections is now clouded with Democratic good fortune.
The bad vibes started with the Supreme Court decision on abortion. Rather than quietly enjoy the fruits of many years of political efforts to gain control of SCOTUS and bring religious zealots a victory, the anti-abortionists are seeking to impose draconian restrictions on women. Doesn’t matter to us, said the new arbiters of American behavior, if you’re raped, victim of incest, your life is in danger or the baby is so damaged it has no chance of any quality of life. Turns out that women aren’t too keen on being characters in “A Handmaidens Tale”. Even Republican women. And the nation began to absorb the reality of what the future looked like in a MAGA world.
Next, for some reason that mystifies the nation, West Virginia’s Joe Manchin and Arizona’s Kyrsten Sinema decided they no longer wanted the Democrats to lose the 2022 midterms. Wala, a bunch of deader-than-a-doornail Democratic legislative proposals became law behind a united Democratic Caucus. Popular government actions. Gone was the specter of a Democratic President and Congressional majority that couldn’t get anything done. There was crafty Mitch McConnell, the successful architect of the longest running obstruction game in Senate history, holding his you-know-what in his hands. The people began to realize that gridlock could be overcome.
Then the image of Merrick B. Garland as a weak and ineffective Attorney General shattered. His FBI had the gall to raid the former President’s home and recover documents that carried the highest level of government secret classifications. How DARE he! In the MAGA world, the FBI and police are bulwarks against “others”. Not fine upstanding white former Presidents with sticky fingers. Either Donald gets to play with the most sensitive secret papers, or the nation must be brought down. The calls for violence against the FBI and a war in the streets made people realize that the MAGA-controlled future would be violent and maybe equality under the law did need protection.
As we inch toward the November elections the polls show an America that is not so certain that it wants to give MAGA world control of Congress. And the extremism continues. Kill all the IRS agents if their funded to go after wealthy tax cheats but deny low-income victims of student loansharking a relatively small measure of relief. The people wonder, whose side is MAGA on?
These events have generated an uncomfortable feeling about the MAGA direction and emboldened its opposition. The President has gone on the offence, labeling the MAGA ideals as “semi-fascist”. This has sent MAGA world into a tizzy. The President didn’t dare call them out before this. And because of all of the above, the people are considering if “the shoe fits”. Deep-Red Kansas told MAGA to go away with a stunning rejection of extremist abortion legislation. Major MAGA politicians are scrubbing their websites and denying past statements in a scramble to stay atop a weakening political right-wing wave. All of a sudden, GOP appeals to big donors beg for money to save their Congressional takeover hopes. Victims of overreach and a Democratic Party that got a few things going its way.
All is not lost for MAGA world, nor is all won for the Dem’s. The nation faces ten grueling campaign weeks. Literally billions will be spent to bend voters’ minds and both dull and accentuate the realities that MAGA has revealed. With that much political time, anything is possible. Including overreach and blundering by the Dem’s. But for a moment, America has a much clearer view of the dangers our democracy faces. And the soothsayer said, beware….
igh 8-31-2022 If you like these commentaries, join my blog for free at: https://ikegittlen.substack.com/ and share. Let’s see what we can build together.