So: Trump lost the presidential election. The GOP had already lost the House in 2018, amidst a blue wave that was clearly anti-Trump. And now, the Democrats have gained** a net of 3 seats in, and effective control of, the Senate.
Yeah, the GOP had a good time under Trump. The “conservative” judges in the federal court system will leave a legacy that bends the arc away from justice. Trump has used his office as a profit center that has enriched himself and his family. Federal agencies have been hallowed out from the loss of people with competency and scruples. The DOJ has become a joke. Trumps egregious acts, including impeachable offenses, have gone unpunished. And on and on.
So yes, Republicans had their fun. But after 4 years, the people have rendered their verdict on Trump and Trumpism. When Trump took office in 2016, Republicans controlled the presidency, the House, and the Senate. Now, they have lost all three. It is a total loss.
A famous book asked, what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet lose his immortal soul? The Republicans gained the whole world, and profited from it. But the soul of America would not stand idly by.
Donald Trump lost his 2020 election by 7 million votes. This was not merely a repudiation, it was a beating. Just days after Trump tried a Ukrainian phone call-type shakedown of the Georgia Secretary of State, the GOP lost both** Senate elections in the state.
Trump’s quixotic attempt to overturn the election has prevented what should be a period of Republican Party soul searching. After four years in power, the Trump Republicans have been stripped of their power, yet none of them are talking about this total loss. None of them.
Rather than come to grips with their loss, and show sorrow for having lost their way under Trump, GOPers continue to stroke Trump’s ego and bow to his graven image. The GOP has thus doomed itself to a political wilderness, at least for this political cycle. If they choose to ignore the obvious lesson that Trump is a false idol, then so be it.
But all the same, the Democrats must stay focused. The people are fickle. The lesson for them is that people will and do worship false idols. Trumpism has been rejected by most Americans, but not by all. And it may be that the election is more a rejection of Trumpism than an endorsement of the Democrats. Trumps has opened a door to Democratic victory, but the path to future, sustained success is, to me, poorly lit, and filled with unseen and unseeable hazards.
Trump has engineered an epic fail. Perhaps the GOP will learn no lessons from this, but Democrats can’t take this victory for granted. It still remains for Democrats to find their own path to long-term victory. Trumpism has lost this cycle, but it is no guarantee of Democratic success in 2 years. While the GOP denies its failures, the Dems need to think hard about how to avoid the same fate down the road.
** I acknowledge that at the time of this post, the Ossoff raced has not yet been called, although Ossoff is leading.