The Blue Wave Is Coming

By Dustin Rowles | Politics | April 5, 2018 |

By Dustin Rowles | Politics | April 5, 2018 |

On Tuesday, a candidate for the state Supreme Court in Wisconson backed by Democrats handily defeated a candidate backed by Republicans. It was a 12-point margin of victory in a state-wide race in a state where Trump narrowly defeated Hillary Clinton in 2016. This came only four months after a Democratic state senator beat her Republican opponent by 11 points in a district where Trump won by 17 points. It also comes a month after Conor Lamb flipped a Pennsylvania district to Democrats where Trump won by 20 points. Democrats have also flipped 39 state legislature seats in formerly red districts. Democrats beat Roy Moore in deep-red Alabama, and pulled off easy victories in New Jersey and Virginia governor’s races.

Meanwhile, Democrat Beto O’Rourke is breaking fundraising records in his race against Senator Ted Cruz, and Randy Bryce has raised nearly $5 million in his race against House Speaker Paul Ryan, who lives in a district where Trump won by 10 but that Obama won by 3 in 2008. Paul Ryan has not yet announced whether he will actually seek re-election. Elsewhere, a Democrat is actually leading in the polls in a Mississippi U.S. Senate race (he will not win, but the numbers are nevertheless reassuring in a state where a squirrel could win if it was a Republican). Polls also show the Democrat with a slight edge of his Republican opponent for a U.S. Senate seat in Tennesee.

And then there is this, which is another sign of enthusiasm on the left: Rachel Maddow surpassed Sean Hannity to become the highest-rated cable-news anchor in March, beating Hannity both in overall viewers and in the 25-54 demo. Similarly, ratings in March for Fox News primetime fell 18 percent, while it is up 8 percent over on MSNBC.

Add that enthusiasm to what is happening with Trump right now. He’s governing from his gut, and no one — not even Trump’s closest friends — knows what he’s going to do next. He’s got us mired in a trade war with China that is now costing him votes in farm country (China slapped tariffs on soybeans, and 8 of the top 10 soybean-producing states are states where Trump won).

Meanwhile, Trump senselessly ordered that National Guard troops be sent to the border, despite the fact that fewer people are crossing the border (Trump accomplished one thing: He made America much less attractive to immigrants). Amassing troops along the border may stoke the base, but it’s also dangerous. America’s relationship with Mexico is fragile — in a country that was once one of our closest allies, the Mexico Senate voted yesterday to call upon their President to stop cooperating with Trump. Meanwhile, there’s a race for President going on in Mexico right now, and the guy winning? Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, a leftist who is hostile to America. And why is he winning? Because he’s hostile to America.

And according to the NYTimes, if Mexico responds to the presence of American troops on the Mexican border by adding their own troops to the border, “the situation could deteriorate quickly.”

Anyway, Trump is due for a few more P.R. disasters, and the guy may ultimately shoot himself in the foot by enacting policies on the two issues with which he stokes his base the most — trade and immigration — that ultimately backfire on him.

The blue wave is coming.