Now 10 days free from the most consequential elections of our lifetimes, two things are crystal clear:
First, there most certainly was a Blue Wave. Second, it would not have happened if our women hadn’t roiled the ice-cold waters that now flood the GOP’s sinking vessel.
From literally Day One of the Trump Tragedy, the women in this country grabbed America’s helm. Instead of steering away from danger they fiercely turned directly into it. There would be no running away, but there would be a big, damn fight. The very day after Trump’s pathetically attended inauguration, millions of women with supportive men and children in their wake, flooded our streets and started showing all of us how battles are fought and won.
This was no time for the faint of the heart, but it most certainly was the time to show some.
After the Tragedy, our women immediately began running for office everywhere to relieve the feeble and corrupt of their creaky watch. They manned the phones and led our rallies. They canvassed our neighborhoods and flooded the halls of Congress. They made themselves big and their causes bigger. They emphatically sent the very direct message that the future is now, boys. Be part of the solution or get the hell out of the way.
As if this writing, Democrats are on course to win upwards of 40 seats in Congress. There are seven new Democratic governors and a swath of dark blue creasing many of our state assemblies. All manner of left-leaning ballot initiatives furiously passed in all kinds of furious places. They are still on the ground fighting in Georgia and Florida where only a soulless fool would believe there weren’t efforts to suppress the vote. Win or lose, those important battles will never be over, because thanks to our Democratic women, we are done taking all this shit. Count every vote … and every time.
All of the crooked gerrymandering and voter-suppression tactics should bring a tear to any real American’s eye. For now, though, they only make the Democrats’ victories that much more resonate. Dems started the game down six points and as of this moment have demolished Republicans by a whopping 5.6 million votes in the Congressional races. That’s roughly the populations of Maine, Delaware, South Dakota, North Dakota, Alaska, Vermont and Wyoming combined.
Districts with the most college-educated women have so far flipped an incredible 16 seats on their own. Women in our urban areas were their usual stalwart selves and voted in huge numbers and overwhelmingly for Democrats. And there were victories in the rural areas as well. California’s Central Valley, for instance, finds itself singing the Blues like never before. All this energy congealed to lay a thorough, incredibly necessary ass-kicking on the Republicans.
And if you are saying, yeah, yeah, what about the Senate, I am saying to you pipe down and take a look at the tilted playing field the Democrats had to navigate this time ’round. That they might break even astounds. The Democrats were defending an astonishing 26 of the 35 seats up for grabs. This was otherwise known as a once-in-100-years opportunity for the Republicans to really pile it on. Instead they were stopped dead in their wobbly tracks by our far-better half who said, “Not happening on our watch.”
The Baldwins, Sinemas and Rosens came crashing through when it counted most. That the McCaskills and Heitkamps lost speaks to the hard work that still needs to be done in this country. There is not a thing Republican voters in those backward states should be proud of. When Rush Limbaugh is rallying your vote, you need to look hard at what you really are, Missouri. Once you accept it, you can change it.
Before I go, I want to type out a full-throated paragraph or two about what’s ahead and duck in another plug for one of the greatest and most consequential Democrats in history: Nancy Pelosi.
When, not if, this tower of power becomes Speaker again, America will be that much better for it. There has never been a person better suited for these dangerous, turbulent times than this political giant. If you go along with the dictum, “Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” then sit back and watch Pelosi lift up our party and deftly smash it over the thick, white heads in Trump’s GOP. There isn’t a person who has better command of the levers of power and how and when to pull them than this wily Democrat. The day is coming soon when Robert Mueller drops his bomb on America’s table. It’ll take an old pro’s cool, steady hand to make sure it is detonated properly and white-hot justice is served instead of a lot of smoke. Pelosi was made for this moment.
But if you would still rather kick and scream for new leadership, ask yourself one question: Why-in-the-hell do you think these awful Trump Republicans hate Pelosi so much …?
So onward ho, America. Thanks to our women we won the most important political battle of our lives: The Battle To Stay In The War. If you are in fit, fighting form and ready to march on and win some more, well, I say #MeToo …
