Donald Trump Built This

He was the prime mover of the GOP’s faceplant.

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Mehmet Oz stands with his family on Election Night. (Photo by Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images.)

Hey,

I got a late start on this and I’m sleep-deprived and a little hungover. So I’m just gonna vent for a bit.

It’s funny—a lot of people are asking me if I feel vindicated because of last night’s results. I’d be lying if I didn’t say, “Yeah, a little.”

As Tony Montana said to Alberto the Shadow after he shot him in the face, “You stupid f—, look at you now.”

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  1. Nedelsky

    I know I'm reading this way late, but I just really enjoyed this analysis, especially the "You stupid f---, look at you now” part. Chef's kiss!

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  2. Glenn M Fydenkevez

    People are amazed that 2/3rds of the country can believe we are on the "wrong track" and still vote for democrats, and it is baffling to a degree. But you can fix "wrong track" with a course correction even if it means going back a few miles. There's a popular saying that claims, "you can't fix stupid". I think Americans are coming to believe "you can't fix Trumpism". They hate fiscal responsibility, it's true. But they know it has a cure (belt tightening). They hate wokeism but they know the antidote (common sense). They hate over weight, middle aged drag queens in thong panties at public libraries taking tips from toddlers (David French's impassioned but misguided defense of that particular perversion couched as a "blessing" not withstanding) but they can keep their kids away from such events. Yet, they see Trump as an incurable malady or at least one that might metastasize and become terminal. It's like a homeowner that's told that the foundation of their house is weakening and, if not addressed, the structure will collapse...and...by-the-way, it's also on fire. You can't blame the guy for putting out the fire before he addresses the foundation.
    Voters simply have prioritized purging Trump over purging creeping leftism.

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    1. Edward Moffett

      I think there is a typo in your post.

      I believe you meant "They hate fiscal [ir]responsibility" rather than "They hate fiscal responsibility".

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      1. GMF

        Yes, Thanks.

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  3. Chaseholston

    Fantastic

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  4. Mctaglieri

    Trump is only the short-term example of extremism in this country. The underlying reason for the problem is the American primary system. In generations past, candidates were chosen by party leaders in the legendary "smoke-filled rooms." The kind of horse-trading that went on there was often done after a few primaries, such as John Kennedy's primary win in West Virginia. Primaries were done to show that a potential candidate was popular among certain factions of voters that party leaders were concerned about.

    Candidate selection by party leaders ensured that there would be buy-ins from the major factions in the party. And it resulted in nominees (and ultimately in politicians) who were mainstream and willing to work with the other party.

    By contrast, the change in the early '70s to candidate selection ENTIRELY through primaries and caucuses guarantees that the extremes of both parties will always control the selection. They're the ones who vote in primaries. This results in extremist politicians who don't dare to cooperate with the other party, lest they be primaried and defeated by someone even more extreme.

    So we need to modify the primary system and go back to (suitably smoke free) "smoke-filled rooms," where party leaders have a major voice in candidate selection.

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    1. Edward Moffett

      I think "ranked-choice voting" is a better option than "smoke-filled rooms".

      Also, there are at least a few other problems than the primary system that cause division and extremism.

      As one example, the vote for Speaker of the House is a roll call vote and any Representative who dares to cross party lines is dealt with harshly by his own party. This process gives out-sized influence to relatively small and extreme groups, such as the Republican Freedom Caucus and the Democratic Progressive Caucus. If the vote were secret, bipartisanship and a more moderate path might be possible.

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      1. Mctaglieri

        Sorry, but I disagree. Ranked-choice voting is a major improvement on what we have now, but the problem with primaries is that the extremes of both parties tend to vote in them and more centrist voters tend not to. So they will alway maximize the influence of extremists in both parties, however you count the votes. There's no way to know now, but I suspect that even with ranked-choice voting Trump would have won in 2016. Also, I participated in ranked-choice voting for the recent mayoral election in New York City, and it's not as neat as you imagine. Many candidates were telling their bases, "If you REALLY want me, don't vote for anybody else." And that's what many voters did.

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  5. Ebgibbs

    What about antifa? Seriously, what about it? I'm still not sure that's anything but a bogeyman construct by the right. Where is this "antifa" people talk about? Is there an actual membership? Do they have meetings? January 6 happened and within 12 hours there were posts in my newsfeed about how it was all antifa. Were all those antifa arrests covered up? I ask because I follow those trials and pleas with some interest, and that's not the impression I had of antifa.

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    1. FF

      By "antifa" I believe most people mean the race rioters that burned all the major cities to the ground just two summers ago. As for the Jan.6 conspiracies, yeah they're dumb. But two wrongs don't make a right.

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      1. Ebgibbs

        All the major cities? Like Portland? Because I think they missed most of it. Are you agreeing that there is no actual organized amorphous group that calls itself "antifa"?

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  6. Mike.Amundson.76

    Any undecided independents made a quick left turn as soon Don made noise about a forthcoming “announcement”. The guy just can’t shut up about himself.

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  7. Richbarb3

    Would you all be able to make a list of Trump supported candidates who won and who lost? It would be good to indicate which ones were running unopposed and which ones were an incumbent in a fairly safe seat. I need something like this to try to convince the Trump fan-boys here in the Ozarks that he is a loser, not a winner.

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    1. Mlenny150

      Yes, this analysis could be used to reveal the foolishness of Trump’s victory lap on his endorsements. Endorsing a Republican candidate in the deep south, who is either running unopposed, or against a Democrat in a district that has been won by Republicans for decades is not a victory Trump should get credit for. Nor should Trump be blamed for his endorsement of a Republican candidate in Massachusetts. But, had this candidate won there’s no doubt he would have taken credit for it. His cherry picking of candidates was probably no different than someone looking at the spread for college football games; picking only those teams that showed a spread of at least two touchdowns, but only predicting a win for those games , but not a win with the point spread.

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  8. Gmadds

    Jonah, thank you for being a wonderful resource that helps me maintain my political sanity. So sorry for your loss of your mom. Mike

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  9. Paviroti

    Perhaps Jonah you should consider that the reason you got your election prediction wrong is that you are really no different from the journos you snob down on. Everyone likes to drink their own Kool Aid

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  10. Biebighauser

    Don’t overlook Georgia. Led by Gov. Kemp, Georgia Republicans won every statewide office except for Herschel, and he was an unusual circumstance.

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