For months Fox News has been harping about a midterm “red wave,” but let’s be real. What they were secretly hoping for was a Democratic bloodbath, and what they got was a paper cut.
Admittedly, there was some success for the GOP: incumbent Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, incumbent Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, and incumbent Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis all kept their seats. But the rabid MAGA sycophant candidates—those the network defended and promoted constantly—went in like lions and came out like lambs.
Although Republicans may reclaim the power of the House, which is really status quo, if the Democrats continue to hold the Senate, which looks likely, it would short-circuit all the nonsense about impeaching President Joe Biden and the other list of ridiculous threats and retaliations against the party.
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Let’s begin with Fox News’ biggest disappointment of the night, because that’s a fun one to highlight.
Dr. Mehmet Oz was allowed to grace American TV screens with his presence on Fox 54 whole-ass times. And he still didn’t win. Of course, now they’re putting that loss on former President Donald Trump.
Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman flipped a much-needed seat in the Senate for the Democrats.
“I’m just so proud of the race that we ran,” Fetterman said Wednesday morning during his acceptance speech. “This campaign has always been about fighting for everyone who’s ever been knocked down that never got back up.”
“This race is for the future of every community, all across Pennsylvania, for every small town or person that ever felt left behind, for every job that was ever been lost, for every [factory] that was ever closed, for every person that works hard but never got ahead—I’m proud of what we ran on,” he added.
Meanwhile, Fox News’ Steve Doocy was on-air Tuesday night admitting that “the big red wave that was predicted has not happened yet,” and that “abortion and democracy were foremost in people’s minds,” while “inflation” was what voters talked about during the runups to the midterms. Duh, Doocy!
Fox was talking about inflation (and crime), while the Democrats had their fingers on the pulse of the nation—a nation that overwhelmingly believes Americans have a right to choose their own health care options, to choose when or if they have children, and without that, democracy could be lost.
Will Fox News own its own failures? Unlikely. They’ve continued to push the falsehoods of an out-of-control crime wave, the threat of inflation, and a president with low approval ratings. But they did push those things, and it didn’t work. Now Fox News' Marc Thiessen says the Republican Party needs a “really deep introspection look in the mirror right now because this is an absolute disaster." Really? You think?
Americans aren’t really on board for a bunch of racists, conspiracy theorist knuckleheads storming the U.S. Capitol? Right you are.
New Yorkers made a definitive choice in incumbent Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul over her Republican opponent Lee Zeldin, an extremist Trump supporter.
According to the New York Daily News, prior to the 2020 presidential election officially being called for Biden, Zeldin texted Mark Meadows to start the whole stolen election narrative that gave us this Big Lie bullshit. Zeldin also voted to reject the certification of the electors from Arizona and Pennsylvania after the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Stolen valor boy J. R. Majewski, a Republican running for an Ohio House seat, fell as flat as his fake claims of heroism while fighting in Afghanistan.
In 2020, Majewski, who was at the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 insurrection, proudly served Trump by dedicating his entire lawn to the 45th president with a 19,000-square-foot “Trump 2020” mural. He later altered the mural to change the zeros to the letter Q, per Business Insider.
His loss means Democratic incumbent Marcy Kaptur—an old-guard Democrat in a long-held blue enclave—goes on to continue serving her district and the state of Ohio. Good riddance to what’s his name.
Then there’s Lauren Boebert of Colorado. Her district, CO-03, hasn’t been called yet, but looks like it should be a “Bye, Felicia” moment.
Another significant loss for Team Trump in the Centennial State was handed quickly to Boebert’s “red wave” colleague, Joe O’Dea, who was running against Colorado’s very popular Democratic incumbent Gov. Jared Polis. The race was called just minutes after the polls closed, very much in Polis’ favor.
Herschel “the myth maker” Walker and Democratic Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock are likely to face off again in December, as that race was too close to call and is likely headed to a runoff election. (In Georgia, a candidate must secure at least 50% of the vote to avoid a second round of voting.)
Arizona’s Trump-endorsed, low-rent TV anchor Kari Lake and Democrat Secretary of State Katie Hobbs are locked for now. According to CBS News, Hobbs is holding onto a slim lead of about 11,700 votes with 69% of precincts counted.
Which brings us back to Gov. Ron DeSantis, the gleaming hope for the Republican Party, the mini-Trump with presidential ambitions and a penchant for fascism. Now Fox is calling him their boy of the future. And as Fox lifts him up, they’re slowly tearing down Trump. Out with the old and in with the new American racist, antisemitic, xenophobic asshole.
Whatever Fox News and the right-wing propaganda machine tells us happened on Nov. 8, we do know this: The Republicans do not have the numbers they believe they have. This was not a blowout, and it was not a red wave. It was an incremental shift at best, and it wasn’t even uniform. We can reclaim some of these losses and gain new ground in 2024 as long as we don’t fall into the trap of believing the GOP’s lies about its own potential.
