Posted on 11/08/2018 4:08:38 PM PST by Kaslin
It was almost unsettling to wake up the morning after the election and realize it turned out pretty much as we expected. There were, of course, some individual surprises, but nothing on the seismic shock scale of 2016.
For months, it had been expected that Democrats would win a modest House majority, and they did. The popular vote margin for the Democrats was just about right where the ScottRasmussen.com Generic Congressional Ballot projected it to be (and also about the same as the RealClearPolitics average of all election polls).
In the Senate, it had long been recognized that the Republicans were likely to gain a few seats, and they did. In the campaign's final days, there were five or six very close races where either candidate could win. But while Democrats could have won any of those individual races, the GOP was favored to win most of them. That's just what happened.
So now that we got the election we expected, where do we go from here?
The conventional wisdom suggests gridlock is coming. In that view, there's no way a Nancy Pelosi-led House will forge significant bipartisan deals with a Mitch McConnell-led Senate and President Donald Trump.
The likelihood of gridlock is very high, but I'm not sure how much it matters. Over the past two years, the Republican-led House also struggled to reach agreement with the Senate and the president. Other than the tax cut and repeal of the Obamacare mandate, little was accomplished in the legislative arena.
But the lack of legislation does not mean a lack of impact. The Trump Administration did take some modest steps to reduce the regulatory burden. That accomplishment seems especially significant because it followed decades of enormous regulatory growth.
The deregulatory effort is almost certain to continue. Among other things, there will be an ongoing effort to give Americans a greater degree of control over the health insurance they purchase. Lower-cost insurance that doesn't cover every imaginable procedure may be frowned upon by bureaucrats in Washington, but they are welcomed by millions who have to buy their own insurance.
Additionally, with an increased Senate majority, the president will find it easier to confirm judges who are skeptical of an all-powerful federal government. That's especially true because the Republican Senate victories in 2018 make them early favorites to retain control of the Senate in 2020. If there is another Supreme Court nomination in the coming years, the confirmation will be a lot smoother with a bigger Republican majority.
For their part, the Democrats are likely to launch many investigations of the president. But they will feel an ongoing tension between a progressive base demanding impeachment and more moderate Democrats fearful of offending centrist voters. That tension will carry over to issues like health care, where progressives dream of banning private insurance companies and forcing all Americans into a government-run health care system. The moderates recognize that such a plan is not popular with the rest of the country.
So, over the next two years, we're likely to experience gridlock. But that doesn't mean a lack of action. Instead, we'll see deregulation and judicial appointments from Republicans. And Democrats will try to resolve their party's inner tension before the 2020 presidential election
What’s unsettling will be watching the House not fund the wall, the military, etc.
Not over in AZ,FL,GA. Dems are cheating as we speak.
Buy more ammo...
Now what? Ballot Fixing is now in full production.
That’s what.
Well Scott, some criminal Dems are still counting chads trying to steal seats in the Senate. So your title is premature.
But note, they’re not counting any more House seats.
Now it is game time...the RATs vs the slow Elephants.
Nothing short of military tribunals, treason trials and mass hangings on the national mall can save us now.
POTUS already has overflowing funding for the military through to Sept 2020 (end of fiscal year 2019).
And he can use those funds for the Wall using a national security pretext. He has said so himself. He waited first for the Midterms to be over.
I recommend a massive investigation of voter fraud. Start putting every little middle school bastard and illegal alien who voted in jail.
In 2020 pollsters will be wrong about Trump but correct in 2022 for post redistricting of House?
Now what? The fun begins. And if you arent sure about that I would refer you to Trumps recent interactions with the press and the canning of Sessions. Hes past the getting used to it phase and the why is my own party hurting my agenda phase. He is beginning (in earnest) the kick a$$ and take names phase. And the name taking is optional.
The election is not over.. The Democrats are still counting.. and cheating.. and stealing votes as we speak! Florida and Arizona!
After they finish stealing Florida and Arizona, it will officially be a blue wave.
Did Rasmussen foresee the monumental cheating done by the Left post election?
I don't understand.
The final tally will show Dems winning the FL governor and senate, GA governor and AZ senator. It’s only a matter of time.
I don’t get it either.. It’s the same shady players cheating AGAIN.. and the Republicans do nothing about it?! FURIOUS!
Patriots are reminded that the Founding States had drafted the federal Constitution to deliberately limit cripple the federal governments powers, particularly with respect to 10th Amendment-protected state sovereignty.
In other words, the founders drafted the Constitution to deliberately gridlock Congress, particularly where domestic policy is concerned. So the gridlocked Congress of the post-2018 midterm elections is arguably a step in the right direction to restoring state sovereignty.
In fact, the following terms dont necessarily have the same meaning imo.
A gridlocked Congress
A gridlocked Congress under Pres. Trump
Patriots still need to support Pres. Trump in making his reduced taxes as permanent as possible by working with the states to repeal the 16th and ill-conceived 17th Amendments.
They won’t get away with it this time.
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