Lesson not learned

| 12:01 pm EDT July 25, 2023
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As the 2020 election drew closer, Republicans were in political heaven. Our guy will win, they thought. Trump did it before. Surely he can do it again. And before you knew it, election day was upon us! Trump lost.

Republicans were in a state of denial. They simply couldn’t believe it. And then, their candidate refused to leave office and caused an insurrection. The GOP waved it off. Not our problem. And then came the Georgia Special elections. The GOP was gleeful! We will win, they thought. How could we not? It’s GEORGIA. Georgia is a RED state.

They lost. How could this happen? Whatever is the world coming to? As time went on, the midterms were upon us. Red wave! Oh, how yearningly they yelled it! They yelled it everywhere. All over the country, leaves rippled from victorious Republican cries that said THEY HAD THE POLLS ON THEIR SIDE! They won! They’d won, and election day wasn’t even here.

Election day came and went. Republicans lost again. No red wave, more like a red speck, perhaps of Donnie’s ketchup. What happened? Why didn’t we win? They looked around at their constituency.

Women! They were there, right? Well — no. Women had deserted the group, discussed by their insane mindset in taking their freedoms from them. So — no women. But surely the young voters were with them, right? Right? Well — no, actually. Young voters were quickly growing up. And this was a smart generation, a diverse generation who had their finger on the pulse of politics. Our young generation went for Democrats.

OK. But surely — surely — we’ll get the teachers! After all, we’re doing so much for schools, like banning critical race theory and books. Surely teachers will vote for us. The GOP lost the teacher vote. What about older voters? We’ve always had them. Surely THEY are in our corner.

Well – not quite. Yes, there are some older voters who favored the GOP. But an incredible thing was happening. Many of them were voting Democratic. And let’s not forget black and brown people whom the GOP had failed to do any outreach with. And, of course, we can’t forget the LGBTQ community.

Over and over, each dominant block of voters, fell away — from the GOP and into the blue of the Democratic party. At the end of the day, Republicans stood bereft. Where are our voters? And they looked around. And saw a smattering of older white Christians. And some white men. And that’s all.

Certainly not enough to win a mandate. Certainly not enough to win an election, even in Georgia, where Warnock beat Walker, resulting in two Democratic senators from what was once a very red state.

And the GOP looked around again. Was there a lesson learned in all this? Well, the GOP thought, let’s talk about a national abortion ban. And the moral of this story is? A lesson not learned — they hadn’t learned a thing.