Blue Ballots

I’ve been backed up, aching, and swollen with a prolonged case of blue ballots for years. No one wants to feel the release of a pent-up blue surge that sprays across an election map more than I do. While things seem promising enough to expect a climax that looks like a Diet Coked-up Steve Kornacki being fired out of a T-shirt cannon, I’m not willing to make any predictions. I’ve spent too many election nights, alienated from my fellow Americans, and moaning in the fetal position. Yes, yes, I know that the polls keep looking better and better for Dems. We’ve been told for weeks that the MAGA faithful have been eyeing the exits. I’ve seen Trump’s approval slip with each bizarre rally monologue, the latest ones oddly fixated on the posteriors of both women and men (yes, he’s an Ass Man in addition to being an Ass, Man). And it doesn’t scream confidence that Trump has already announced plans to issue pardons to Elon Musk and others, or that he’s come up with a self-declared moniker: Mr. Veto. And it seems like a bad, self-defeating sign that Trump’s final midterm pitch is being held in front of the Reflecting Pool — even DNC headquarters would have been a better choice of venue. But I’m worried. I’m worried because the American voter has let us down in the past. I’m worried about what Trump will try to do before and during the election, and I’m especially worried about the Jan 6-style malfeasance and subversion that the known insurrectionist and his band of sycophantic, dictator-tot, co-conspirators will pull after the election. But if ever there were a person and a party that deserved to be covered in the shame of an oppositional tsunami, it’s these guys. Come on, America. If you don’t blow it, I finally can.

+ Peter Wehner channels my concerns, and my hope, in the Atlantic (Gift Article): The MAGA Reckoning Arrives. “The election, and especially the reelection, of Donald Trump caused me, for the first time in my life, to question the fundamental decency of America. I could not understand how anyone, especially my co-religionists, could look at such a squalid figure and vote for him, let alone support him enthusiastically. How could they defend his indecency time after time after time? Doesn’t partisanship have limits? Don’t honor and integrity matter? Isn’t Trump’s peculiar form of madness an obvious disqualifier? For tens of millions of Americans—more than 77 million in 2024 alone—the answer has been no. That stain is now a permanent part of the American story. But the story isn’t over. We can move beyond this grotesque chapter to something better, though the path won’t be smooth. Even if Democrats sweep the midterms, Trump will still be president, and his closing act will likely involve trying to tear the country apart. We can’t allow him to do that. We need to get to the other side of this era with our institutions, our bonds to one another, and our commitment to justice and the rule of law intact, and then begin the work of reclaiming American ideals. A wipeout of the party of Trump on Tuesday would be an awfully helpful step in that direction.”