I haven’t felt this kind of joy and relief, and shall I venture to say, optimism for a long time. Talk about seizing the moment! What happened on election night was beyond belief. It wasn’t just that the Democrats won races that weren’t on their radar 6 months ago, but the voting differential was 13 points favoring Democrats. Not only did James Talarico win in Texas, but he won by more than 10 points! The first Latina governor of Texas? Well, shoot, I’ll be damned. I’m so inspired that I’m thinking of buying myself a 20 gallon hat, some pointy shit-kickin cowboy boots and learn how to do the Texas two-step.
Jon Ossoff won his seat in Georgia by 20 points, so did Roy Cooper in North Carolina. Keisha Lance Bottoms is the first Black woman to become a governor in our history. (Shout out to Stacy Abrahams who trail blazed the path and built the coalition to win.) We beat Darlene Graham in Soth Carolina and I hope he is writhing in his grave. And there is a strong case that we will win Mississippi. there hasn’t been a black Senator from Mississippi since 1875!
Bye, bye Susan Collins. No more phony bullshit from you. No more of your faux concerns. The only concern you have now is to fade into the beautiful Maine woods and eat lobster. Maybe plan a breakfast with Brett Kavanaugh who you supported and voted to overturn Roe V Wade.
An openly gay senator, Chris Pappas, won in New Hampshire. A Democratic senator from Kansas? That hasn’t happened since 1932! To quote Dorothy when she finds herself over the rainbow: “Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.”
A man born with Spina Bifida, who was a two time paralympic gold medalist, is now the senator of Iowa? The first Muslim to ever be elected to the senate?
It’s worth getting more granular about what happened in Texas to elucidate what an historic shellacking the Republicans took. Democrats swept Texas, winning all of the top statewide offices. They also flipped the Texas House of Representatives. Democrats won four of the five districts that Republicans had redrawn to favor them, Ken Paxton’s home base, Collin County, which was once considered so solidly red that it was called “Paxton country,” turned solidly blue. Republicans have always depended on rural Texas to keep them in power. But this year, every single rural county shifted to the left and 13 flipped from red to blue. There was a shift of 42% by Hispanics voting for Democrats. In the Texas Senate race, men aged 18 to 44 swung nearly 50 points.
With all the race-baiting and hate, the people chose decency and diversity. The people fought back and stomped on the White Supremacists choke hold that Republicans were trying to strangle us with. Finally, The cult of The Don has been exorcised. The party of hate was hated on by the people. The party of grievance got its comeuppance; no longer were people willing to allow this putrid stench to define us. The party who invested obscene amounts of money, particularly Elon Musk, was resoundingly rejected. Anger at the oligarchical class was palpable.
What finally broke the damn to create such a momentous moment? The clear and most obvious culprit was as James Carville famously said: “The economy, stupid.” Inflation, high prices for food and gas created by foolish tariffs and an unnecessary war.
The American people, who voted for The Don in 2024 because of his commitment to be tough on immigration were horrified by the cruelty and terror tactics of I.C.E. It turns out that ripping away parents from their children and killing citizens is not what people signed up for.
The decision of The Don to join Israel in going to war in Iran betrayed his promise to not have our countries in unnecessary wars.
The revolt against AI and the building of data centers, which were championed by Republicans, galvanized people as well. The voters did not care much for these filthy rich bullies pushing their agendas on them. Of the 41 ballot initiatives across different counties across America, 40 out of 41 voted against building data centers.
All of the above issues can explain what happened, but I think there was something much deeper involved. Americans finally figured out that the person running their country was a bald-faced liar who had no real interest in the reality of their lives. They finally rejected his message of hate and grievance. They finally realized that The Don was destroying their country and threatening their democracy. They finally were disgusted and outraged by his bold in your face corruption, enriching himself and his family and friends while they were struggling to put food on the table. They finally saw that the Emperor had no clothes, and when they saw what he really was, they revolted. It took longer than I would have hoped for, but we are here at last.
Back in 2015, I wrote a piece called “Why America Needs Donald Trump.” Of course, back then, it was difficult to imagine the degree of damage he would do, but as it unfolded over the years, it all made sense. This is what malignant narcissists do. Everything is about them; they want to dominate and surround themselves with loyal followers. They enjoy destroying things-for them it’s like food for the soul. The thesis of that 2025 piece, was that maybe what America needed to finally break through to a place where equality matters, where White Supremacy could be marginalized, where corporations are held accountable, and where America could truly embrace its wonderful diversity, was Donald Trump. We needed someone who would, by virtue of his vileness, which led to spewing hate and grievance, fear-mongering and cruelty, force us to dig deeper and realize they didn’t want to live in that world. He took us to the brink of authoritarianism and we said, “No! We want democracy, we are tired of the division, we are tired of being told that when things smell like shit that there is something wrong with our sense of smell because it is actually roses we are smelling. Enough is enough is enough!”.
Suddenly, some Republicans are having their come-to-Jesus moment, but some still cling to this man. 80% of Republicans still feel okay about The Don. The Republicans are not upset about what The Don has wrought, they are just upset that lost so badly. J.D. Vance blames the Iran war as does The Don. They still take no issue or responsibility for all the pain they caused, not just here but around the world. Rather than looking at themselves in the mirror and say we bought into something awful and we are sorry we led America down this path, there still holding on to their immoral positions-they still support ICE, they still support ending aid to poor countries, they still do not give a shit about the American people. They had many opportunities to take a stand but they were cowards. In their fear of being targeted by The Don they sold their souls and lost their humanity. J.D. is the worst of all. The man who once called The Don “America’s Hitler” actually chided Republicans who were appalled by Vivek Ramaswamy’s heinous ad that maligned Amy Actom who was the victim of sexual abuse. J.D. say goodbye to your dreams of being president.
What was The Don’s initial response to this irrefutable rejection of him? If he were on the ballot The Republicans “would have won IN A LANDSLIDE!” The man learned nothing. He just blames what happens on everyone else. The irony of course, was that The Don went on the campaign begging people to vote as if he were on the ballot. He made the election about himself. His grandiosity led the way as only he could “fix it.” Well, guess what Don, you broke it and you couldn’t fix it. Now we are stuck with having to dig our way out of a deep hole that you enjoyed creating.
The day after the election The Don decided to ignore what happened and champion his ballroom. “Now envision chandeliers all over.” “Did you guys see the helipad from up top, how beautiful that is?” he asked.“The marble is really magnificent marble. It’s a vein that people have been after for 50 years, and the owner of the quarry didn’t want to sell it, but he liked me.”
Doug Burgum, the Interior Secretary who was the event stepped forward and said, “Today, of course, is a day of celebration, and it’s a day of gratitude.” “Watch the beam go up,” The Don said. Everything you need to know about the man is in his response to election day, people are hungry, they are sick of the corruption, they are sick of his projects-his reflecting pool, his arch, his golden oval office, they are sick of the cruelty, the inequality, but to The Don it’s all about his legacy and the gold and the marble, the gold and the marble. There is a delusional quality to it all. In order to deal what happened he needed to goo to his happy place where he fancies himself the great builder.
The Democrats have a tremendous opportunity to change the narrative that has been controlled by this venal, amoral man. They can show how government can work. They can hold these criminals accountable. They can pass laws to create better guardrails so this won’t happen again; they can do things to help with the economy and healthcare costs. But The Don will fight them all the way. The appointment of Stephen Miller, the Darth Vader of the administration responsible for the cruelty of ICE, to Chief of Staff, is a clear statement that The Don is doubling down. Rather than see this as a rebuke, he is excited about the battles and vetoes ahead. He is still a menace and his unpredictability, his diminishing cognitive capacities, his desire for revenge and power are still a force to reckon with. The Democrats need to make sure that they are communicating about everything they are doing to help Americans when he obstructs them. They need to continue to tie all his cronies to the masthead of his cruelty and make sure people know who is responsible for their pain; they need to be real and tell people what is possible in the short term and what their long term vision is that can be enacted when they win the presidency in 2028. The election was an incredible victory but the war is nowhere over; we have to keep reminding the people that the enemy in this war is The Don and his enablers. We need to show them that they are the real terrorists and threat. The people have given us the power to do it. We can’t blow it.
