Three big things you can expect to happen after the midterm elections
With barely a week to go before the most important midterm elections in American history, we still don’t know precisely how the voting will go. The polls suggest the Democrats will likely take the House, but will face an uphill battle to take the Senate, and in any case, elections are decided by voters who show up, not by polls. In the meantime, here are some big things you can expect to happen after the elections.
Robert Mueller’s big move: It’s not difficult to figure out that Mueller is waiting to see how the midterms shake out before making his big move against Donald Trump. If the Democrats take the House, Mueller’s job will become a whole lot easier. If the Republicans somehow keep the House, Mueller will have to resort to more unilateral, and riskier, moves to get to Trump. The big question: will Mueller move immediately after the election, or will he wait until after the House changes over in early January?
Resignations: Every administration and cabinet has some degree of turnover as time goes on. Donald Trump’s unstable regime has seen far more turnover than usual. The midterms and subsequent transition period will be the trigger point for numerous long-time-coming departures. Various major news outlets have reported that everyone from James Mattis to Jeff Sessions to Sarah Huckabee Sanders to John Kelly are on their way out. The question isn’t whether there will be resignations, but how many there will be. Keep in mind that people in these jobs usually “resign” even if they’re fired.
Spin: No matter how the midterms play out, you can expect Donald Trump to try to spin it in his favor – in delusional fashion if necessary. If the Democrats take the House and Republicans keep the Senate, that’ll put Trump in a terrible position, but he’ll still try to spin it as evidence of his own popularity. Trump’s consistent focus on pretending to be beloved, instead of focusing on a strategy for trying to survive his worsening criminal scandals, may be the best weapon the Resistance has.
