Today marks the first seven days since the midterm elections, and I have had time to reflect on what happened just one week ago. Truly, it has not been as easy as it once was when I was just a tad bit younger, but I have made it through the mess of last week and been able to start analyzing the results.
The results are not pretty.
Now, I did not just wake up today and start to ponder what went wrong; I did have a jump start from an analyst whom I have read for many years, giving me a good kick in the rear yesterday.
Here is a sample of what I wrote...
They'll need 13 more to meet the threshold. Republicans should give Democrats those votes.
The first thing I did was do the math in my head, and they are close to what Mr. Finley said. Yet his claim of poisoning the Republican brand if Trump remains in office for the next two years is quite nonsensical to me, and that Trump should be impeached is silly.
Then-President Richard Nixon resigned in 1974, before the full House had voted on impeachment. However, before the new Congress is even sworn in, we are being told that 13 Republican senators, without even hearing what Donald Trump has done, should go along with Democrats and convict a duly elected president?
I would love to see what President Trump did to deserve impeachment, other than winning the 2024 election outright and depriving Kamala Harris of the White House.
Seriously, I would love to see it.
So, other than what I just mused about above, the Democrats look like they have won at least 255 seats in the House and at least 54 seats in the Senate to take full control of Congress.
Here in Michigan, they kept control of the governorship and the secretary of state and attorney general offices.
If I were younger, I would use a phrase from wayyyy back in the day and simply say...
Bummer.
So let's say that I was shocked, absolutely SHOCKED, when someone who is a Democrat, just over a week ago, came out in support of a Republican, which got lots of media play in the press. Unfortunately, the Democrat still won the race, which is why last week still stings a bit.
Of course, I'm talking about Democrat Rep. Haley Stevens supporting Republican Mike Rogers, who lost to the eventual winner Abdul El-Sayed.
And then, former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi threw a bit of a lifeline to Stevens.
Kinda.
Let's go to the tale of the tape.
From the Detroit News:
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday, Nov. 10, that she opposes any push to expel outgoing Michigan Democratic U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens after she flipped her Senate endorsement from her former primary rival Abdul El-Sayed to Republican Mike Rogers just before last week's midterm elections.
"We have about three more or two more weeks of being in the Congress, so I don’t think we should start making judgments about anybody in the caucus at this point," Pelosi told reporters on Capitol Hill.
Well, how about that. I actually agree with San Fran Nan on this.
"I was disappointed in that. I conveyed that to her," Pelosi added in reference to Stevens endorsing Rogers two days before Election Day. "I want to be helpful to her in terms of how she deals with this. But I’m not supporting kicking her out."
When I woke up this morning, I'm pretty damn sure I didn't have this on my BINGO card.
Yet, Nancy is right.
From my recollection, Democrats always play more like a team as opposed to Republicans. That is fine as long as you are comfortable with the heat and hate that will be thrown at you afterwards, like Haley is getting now.
Stevens had to have known that Democrats would make dartboards of her noggin when she came out to endorse Rogers, but it did not matter in the end, and politically she is dead in the long term.
Nancy actually showed her some grace on the way out the door, and I wonder what their conversation was like about this topic. Could not even have been pretty, but...
I guess I will have to wait for the movie to come out after the book it is based on and go from there.
I know this for sure: I did not have myself in any shape or form agreeing with Nancy Pelosi as her time in Congress winds down, yet here we are.
Miracles never cease.