The U.S Midterms — My Take
…From an outsider
I am about to call it a night at 8 in the morning after being up all night watching the results of the US midterms. I have a few observations, after a night of results that just made me go “meh”.
Dem Identity?
A lot of pundits have criticized the GOP for embracing Trumpism, instead of distancing themselves from it. De Santis ran a racist campaign, Cruz ran on the basis of being Trump’s lapdog, and not surprisingly, these two won. The reason for that is they had an identity, as bad as Trumpism is, it’s still an identity, and the base of that identity helped lift them to victory.
But my God Democrats, what are you supposed to be? For the second time since the last election, I see a Democratic party with no identity. Gillum and Beto were thrust into the spotlight because they were young and had charisma. That may have worked for Obama, but there needs to be more substance to them, or at least, the entire Democratic party needed to have run on the same agenda of young candidates.
Another thing, screaming out “we need more women” just makes you lack identity even more. I’m not trying to sound sexist, I’m actually happy that over 100 women were elected to Congress tonight, but “we need more women” is not an ideology, it’s not something that people can identify with, like Trumpism.
Democrats need to figure themselves out, embrace an ideology instead of chanting random phrases of “yeah he’s young” and “yeah more women”! The results of the Texas Senate race is not so eye opening. While Beto dominated the minority voters, Cruz had the white votes. And when will the Democrats learn that they can easily get minority votes, it’s the white votes that costs them most of the time.
Silver Lining
Not only did Republicans retain control of the Senate, but they actually gained more seats! Quite frankly, that is embarrassing for Dems. But at least they regained the House, so they can provide some sort of buffer now for the Trump administration.
Beto 2020?
Despite his defeat, I still saw people on Twitter already calling for Beto to be the front-runner for the Dems in the 2020 presidential race. I say…NO! Dems need to stop fantasizing that they will get another Obama. In this Trump era, that is very difficult. Trumpism is strong as much as it is ugly, and taking a chance to defeat it with a young candidate who just lost to Ted freakin’ Cruz, is not the right way to go. The fight against Trumpism needs to be led by an experienced old head, who people already know what they are about and what they stand for, like Biden or even Pelosi. Because like I showed with the Texas results, part of defeating Trumpism is that you need to get Trumpists (is that a word?) on your side.
Conclusion
Dems, you need to abandon the hollow thinking of “we need women” and “we need young people”. Hell, I’m all for it, I would love to see a US Congress filled with women and young candidates. But running on that point alone is not going to get you anywhere. Embrace an ideology instead, something tangible that people can cling to, no matter if the candidate is young or old, man or woman. The only thing I learned about Gillum and Beto prior to the election is that they are young and charismatic…thats it! If Dems continue with that thinking, of focusing on the age or sex of the candidate, then they will keep facing disappointments.
