At RealClearPolitics Scott Rasmussen notes that although the parallels between the 2010 midterms and the 2018 midterms are striking, there’s also a significant difference. In 2010 the Democrats’ signature legislation, the Affordable Care Act, was unpopular and providing unpleasant surprises for many Americans. The Republicans’ signature legislation, tax reform, is likely to grow in popularity over the course of the year and is providing pleasant surprises for many Americans.
I think that Democrats are likely to gain seats in the House (that’s what history tells us). Will they gain enough seats to take control of the House? Will they gain seats in the Senate? Will they lose seats in the Senate? I have no idea and have lost any ability to predict.
The ACA was simply legislation that passed in 2010. It was sheer rage about its existence that drove Republicans to the polls. Nothing about its consequences.
With Democrats I don’t see sheer rage. I see something else. Money is money, but Trump’s tax cuts appear like the last gasps of a dying machine. There’s a hole in the numbers that will not be made up by growth. Outside of the Fox bubble, people are not total morons. They remember those glorious years leading up to 2008. They understood that Trump was onto something about economic growth/the Dow Jones being a far-off maybe non-existent god in their lives. Without diminishing the value of money, it’s hard not to see these tax cuts as being simply chintzy tasteless little pay-offs. And the GOP is now so grubby and coarse–they’re the type of people who give gifts and make you feel uncomfortable when you take them.
Obama was called arrogant for many good reasons, but he was cool enough to know that you don’t call a tax cut ‘a pleasant little surprise’…because, you know the little people couldn’t even figure this out until they looked at their pay stubs. It’s condescending, patronizing, and in bad taste. Those are Rassmussen’s words, and not yours, and he’s showing exactly how the GOP is going to connect.
To me, that’s going to be what drives Democrats to the polls and what keeps decent Republicans at home. Oh, and the fact that, in polite language, Trump is balls deep in the mouth of every Republican, and the worse it gets for him, the more they will swallow.
“Balls deep”? Example of “Obama cool”?
As the vitriol meter goes up, Gray, you know the more desperate they are. Modulo and his ilk haven’t had a good year. Absolutely nothing they have predicted has occurred. Don’t expect a change. The FBI informant testified yesterday before Congressional aids about U1. It wasn’t pretty for BO or HRC. Or WJC. Russian cash payoffs ignored by State, the FBI and DoJ can do that.