Tucker: Elections turn on issues that affect the country
The midterms were never going to be fought over Russia or Kavanaugh. This year, the three big issues are immigration, the economy and nationalism.
Whether Tuesday’s midterm elections bring a blue wave, a red tsunami or just a meager splash of color in either direction, don’t expect the toxic tone dividing Democrats and Republicans in our nation’s capital to change anytime soon. Bitter partisan feuds will dominate Congress no matter which party controls the House and which controls the Senate in January.
Democrats will feel vindicated if they can flip the House from Republican to Democratic control. And the Democrats will feel ecstatic if their candidates prove the pollsters and pundits wrong and manage to become the majority party in the Senate in a surprise upset. Remember, if the “experts” were always right in their predictions, President Hillary Clinton would be sitting in the Oval Office.
Throughout the long election campaign, Democrats have failed to advance a united party position on key issues, proving themselves unable to lay out practical ideas to move the country forward that capture the public imagination.
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Democrats seem united on only one thing: resistance to President Trump. If the president says he supports something, Democrats are automatically against it, even if they previously supported at least some aspects of the current Trump position. That’s particularly evident on immigration issues, where Democrats who voted for border security measures years ago now denounce those same measures as cruel and bigoted.
It’s not easy to resist America’s strong economic performance under the Trump administration. Yet the Democrats do. Economic growth at a 4.1 percent annualized rate – resist. Unemployment at a 49-year low – resist. Lowest unemployment on record for African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans and Asian-Americans – resist. Taxes lower so people can keep more of their own money – resist.
This election is about who we want running things in Washington. The proven leadership and success of the team of President Trump and a Republican-controlled House and Senate? Or the Democrats on Capitol Hill who are moving ever leftward, determined to raise taxes, boost government spending, and support a flood of regulations that would drown the economic boom created by GOP policies.
If Democrats win and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., takes control of the gavel and becomes speaker of the House, she and her regime will make the next two yers about obstruction and – make no mistake – the impeachment of President Trump.
A top Democratic priority if their party gets control of at least one house of Congress would be launching endless investigations of President Trump and his administration. This would cost taxpayers an enormous amount of money, while slowing the efforts of the president and his administration to focus on solving the nation’s problems.
Even if you’re not all that enthused about a particular Republican on the ballot, this time the election is so much bigger than any one candidate. Republicans need every vote they can get to hang onto to their majorities in the House and Senate so they keep the progress of the last two years going.
If Democrats win and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., takes control of the gavel and becomes speaker of the House, she and her regime will make the next two years about obstruction and – make no mistake – the impeachment of President Trump.
It you believe the conventional wisdom that Republicans are likely to keep their Senate majority after Tuesday’s elections, Republicans will retain the ability to confirm Trump’s appointees to vacancies in federal courts, including the Supreme Court – cementing a healthy part of the president’s legacy. It won’t be without resistance, of course.
However, if the Democrats win the House they’ll feel most voters support their resistance toward President Trump and their belief that he must be stopped by any means necessary.
On the investigation front, word is that Democrats are already planning – should they control the House – to reopen the House Intelligence Committee investigation into whether Trump or his presidential campaign colluded with Russia to win the 2016 presidential election. This comes even though the committee already found there was no evidence of collusion.
Let the fishing expeditions begin.
If Democrats manage to get majority control of the House we can look forward to more epic meltdowns, highly produced and on full display in the public arena. They will make it their business to destroy and disrupt, while creating anarchy to stop the president and thwart the will of the people.
There will likely be more demonstrations in the halls of Congress. You’ll see attempts to physically stall the legislative process by Democrats with sit-ins on the House floor. Republican members will continue getting chased down and harassed in elevators, restaurants, airports and anywhere else they may find themselves.
It will be a standoff between the will of the people versus the will of the radical left.
The tone of partisan warfare in Washington won’t change until everyone is willing to change it, including cheerleaders in the media for the anti-Trump resistance.
Right now nobody except those far removed from the elite pockets of Hollywood, the media, and the Washington Beltway seems to care much about the bitter tone that dominates Washington.
The fact is, these fringe liberals and their friends in the media won’t allow the tone in this country to change because they’re far too invested in getting rid of President Trump. They will oppose him with everything they’ve got.
Those are the words Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer used in July when talking about his opposition to the Supreme Court nomination of now-Justice Brett Kavanaugh: “I will oppose him with everything I’ve got.” He sure did.
The last time the American people and our elected representatives were truly united was right after September 11, 2001 terrorists attacks. In the midst of heartbreak and tragedy, our country came together. We weren’t red or blue – we were all red, white and blue.
The tone in our country won’t change with your vote on Tuesday, but the direction of our country very well could.
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