I do not much care for “The Star Spangled Banner”. I find it a somewhat hack song that has been used to fetishize one particular symbol the United States. Still, in light of the remarkable outcome of Tuesday’s midterm election, I feel it’s perfectly appropriate to quote that song’s line:
Oh say, does that Star Spangled Banner yet wave, o’re the land of the free and the home of the brave?
If the results posted by the Associated Press in the early hours of Wednesday hold true, it seems that, indeed that star spangled banner does yet wave. The Democrats were expected to take control of the House of Representatives — that came to pass. There was far less certainty the ‘blue wave’ would also reach the Senate. Even if it did, it was highly unlikely the opposition would pass the 51 seats required to blunt the vice president’s tie-breaking vote. At 0111, with only six uncalled races, it seems that impossibility came to pass: North Carolina, South Carolina and even Kansas and Iowa sent Dems to upper chamber. If this were not enough, the Democratic Party managed to harpoon what was probably the closest thing to their white whale in over a decade: a senator from the great state of Texas will feature a (D) after their name.
The word ‘mandate’ is often used after elections, but it’s been some time since the word really reflected the apparent reality on the ground. What we have seen is certainly a mandate, although it’s unclear if this tectonic shift in the US Congress is the result of widespread adoption of progressive ideas or if it is simply a repudiation of Donald Trump’s increasingly despotic and reckless behaviour. If we were to parse the data, I think we’d find a mixture of Democrats who will be arriving in Washington in about 10 weeks — I don’t know that any of them could be called truly radical, unless Abdul El-Sayed manages to hold onto his lead in Michigan (one of the six still uncalled races). Perhaps that’s for the best as it shows that a wider range of voters are fed up with Trump’s strangulation of government and the GOP’s blind allegiance.
But let us not forget there is still many weeks before the changeover takes place. I suspect we will see the regime use the lame duck session to push through as many judges and other nominees as possible. I also imagine the regime will reach new and dizzying heights in its corruption, self-dealing and conflicts of interest in anticipation of a less sycophantic Congress come January. I also expect Trump will take the opportunity to intensify the conflict with Iran and probably step up his pograms against undocumented migrants as well. The GOP will also, I’ll bet, soon find out just how vindictive their idol can be as he turns on the party that enabled him and blames them for losing. In other words, this next two months will hardly be a time for celebration, but rather a time for even greater vigilance in the face of a would-be emperor now with nothing to lose.
There is also the question of whether the election will, in fact, be our last one. Donald Trump has a long record of undermining or ignoring standard protocols, legal rulings and common decency, so it’s not too much of a stretch to imagine him simply declaring the results invalid and completing the descent into authoritarianism. Is this unlikely? Perhaps, but just a few hours ago most people would have never imagined Texas Democrats being elected to the US Senate and the governorship. There is still time for a barrier island to be erected that blocks the ‘blue wave’ from even reaching Washington.
