… the scenario I suggested on 22 January, 2021, seems to be playing out as scripted.
I suspect that the Democrats will have a brief but spectacular run at messing up the economy or getting us into some nasty foreign entanglement. In a burst of overreach not unlike the passing of Obamacare (“We have to pass the bill in order to find out what’s in it.”), they will quickly find themselves in a-bridge-too-far land. It’s inevitable because they simply cannot follow the wisdom in Oscar Wilde’s bon mot: “One should always play fairly when one has the winning cards.” They cheat even when they don’t have to.
The next couple of years are going to be brutal. The following two won’t be much better.
Earlier this year, I wrote this—
As the Democrats have been failing in most of their overreach for the last year-and-a-half and as the effects of the Xiden Administration’s incompetence compound, it’s becoming more likely that the Republicans will take control of at least one of the houses of Congress in the next election. If that happens, I don’t expect the Democrats to take their L and leave quietly. In that case, the last two months of 2022 will be very, very ugly.
It seems to me that the Democrats quickly realized that they would be turned out by the midterm elections. They’ve been willing to ruin the economy with facially corrupt legislation in order to transfer as much wealth as possible to themselves and their supporters. The “Inflation Reduction Act” was their big haul.
Abortion, racism, and January 6 are the issues the Democrats would like to campaign on, but it’s inflation, illegal immigration, energy, and education that the voters seem to care about. The Democrats and the public seem to be on opposite sides of those issues. Whether the election is a red ripple or a tsunami, control of Congress is likely to change.
But will things get better?
The next two years will be interesting.
I have to say, that was quite a good call. I was never a Trump fan personally, but the #Resist anti-Trump fanatics also made predictions in 2016, and they were all diastrously, comically wrong.
I think a lot of why they cheat is because the other side doesn’t enforce enough consequences. If the right had been able to organize better to enforce norms and rules, we’d have something like Peace through Strength where both sides fear over-reaching. But because of disorganized weakness in the face of leftist aggression, the cheating will get worse, and eventually escalate into (more) organized state-sanctioned violence.
I think they’ll get totally lawless, brazen, and unhinged after the midterms losses. Maybe that’s what your’e implying. I’d probably rather they pull a Clinton and pass the new Congress’s agenda. Given the White House’s strong preference for blatantly illegal and unconstitutional measures, the opponents of the left are going to have to find new strength and organization to stand up to it.