If you listen to the mainstream media or even some in the Virginia Republican Party, voters in the state rejected President Donald Trump and his agenda when they put Democratic Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam over the top in Tuesday’s election. Despite the fact that Republican candidate Ed Gillespie went out of his way to distance himself from All Things Trump until the closing weeks of the campaign – and, even then, embraced certain aspects of the cultural agenda without actually embracing the president – the liberal media was eager to paint this as a failure of Trumpism. Or, as some of them put it: This was a test of “Trumpism without Trump.”
It would be exceedingly interesting to play back the tape the other way and see what the story would be if Gillespie had pulled out a win. Would the pundits be saying it was an affirmation of Trump’s power over the American electorate? Or would they be saying that Gillespie only won because he managed to separate himself from the administration?
The point is, you can’t trust anything the liberal media has to say about Tuesday night’s results because they have a transparent agenda that colors everything they cover. They want desperately to give their viewers a story that says the president’s lack of popularity is destroying the GOP, that the “Resistance” made its voice heard at the voting booth, etc, etc. And maybe it’s true. Maybe it is. But it’s too early to tell, and there are a lot of mitigating factors, not the least of which was Gillespie’s refusal to campaign with or even mention the name of President Donald Trump.
That didn’t go unnoticed by the man himself, naturally. In a tweet shortly after the results were announced, Trump wrote: “Ed Gillespie worked hard but did not embrace me or what I stand for. Don’t forget, Republicans won 4 out of 4 House seats, and with the economy doing record numbers, we will continue to win, even bigger than before!”
Of course, you have to take that with a grain of salt as well. What Trump says is true on the surface, but there’s no denying that Tuesday night was a very, very bad night for the Republican Party. If turnout figures look anything like this next year, the Democrats are liable to make Washington their personal playpen for the next two years.
At the end of the day, Democrats are predictably making too much out of their not-unexpected victories and Republicans are unfortunately not making enough out of them. It will not be wise to underestimate the left’s chances in the midterms, because a Democrat wave election would mean disaster for the final two years of Trump’s presidency. You can’t make America great again if you’re facing a wall of obstructionist Democrats. It’s time for this administration – and this party – to get serious, learn the lessons of this week’s debacle, and gear up for a fight to the finish next November.
Oh, and it wouldn’t hurt to pass a bill or two along the way!
Comments are closed.