2022 is shaping up to be the wildest midterm ever, at least in my recollection. I was among the first group of boomers to vote in the 1972 election, because I had turned 18. That was the very first election 18-year-olds could vote in and I felt so proud.
In the ensuring years I have never seen anything like 2020, it goes without saying, because nobody has. And as nuts as 2020 was, I think 2022 may possibly do it one better.
Why? Because the stolen election drivel from 2020 is still being preached. That, coupled with the fact that the polls are predicting a dead heat in many key races is raising the temperature. Plus, if you haven’t heard this already, Donald Trump has teased that tonight’s the night. He’s planning to announce, other people are trying to talk him out of it.
This is Red Mirage 101, particularly for states that don't count abs/early first. https://t.co/4a4BVwNjKd
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) November 8, 2022
There you have it. That’s the windup to Stolen Election 2.0. Is this how America is going to function from now on?
As to Trump, he’s teased the hell out of announcing his candidacy and tonight’s Ohio rally might be it. Washington Post:
Trump told people close to him Monday that he might announce his candidacy at a rally scheduled for Monday night in Ohio, according to three people familiar with the discussions who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe confidential conversations, prompting a chain of phone calls from party leaders who have tried for months to keep him from announcing until after the midterms. Some of his advisers began communicating to others Monday that efforts needed to be made to talk him out of announcing, two of these people said, while other advisers were egging him on to jump in. […]
Party leaders fear he would gin up Democratic turnout, particularly in razor-thin Senate races where the control of the chamber is in the balance. […]
Part of Trump’s urgency comes from wanting to get ahead of a potential indictment, the logic being that a declared candidacy makes a prosecution look more political. He is under investigation in two federal probes: one into the efforts to block certification of the 2020 electoral college results and another into the mishandling of classified documents brought to Mar-a-Lago. The Justice Department’s customary freeze on overt steps that could be seen as influencing an election expires when the polls close Tuesday.
Trump also faces an ongoing investigation from a prosecutor in Atlanta into his pressure on Georgia officials to override the state’s popular vote for president in 2020.
Republicans said they feared his announcement could backfire by motivating Democratic turnout on Election Day. […]
One Republican strategist, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to talk candidly, said: “It just boggles the mind why he would hand that to Democrats at this late hour. Making the conversation about himself and risking losses across the map that otherwise might have been wins would be a bad way to two-step into a presidential race.”
I hope he does announce. I think it will backfire. And he very well might. This way he gets to steal the spotlight and I think that the lure of that is so dazzling that it will eclipse all other considerations.
Oh, I hope I hope I hope.
