Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin, Michigan Senator-Elect Elissa Slotkin, and North Carolina Governor-Elect Josh Stein
The glass half empty side of the 2024 election: Yeah, pretty much everything. It’s going to fucking suck for a while. All the possibilities foreclosed upon, a demented old tyrant completely unfit for office returning to power with a blank check to do whatever he wants, and the fact that it could have been prevented if the ticket-splitters who backed Dems Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin, Michigan Congresswoman now Senator-Elect Elissa Slotkin, and North Carolina Attorney General now-Governor-Elect Josh Stein had also cast their votes for Vice President Kamala Harris when you assume the likely, though not totally certain yet, event that Nevada Senator Jacky Rosen and Arizona Congressman Ruben Gallego will prevail in their respective races out west.
The glass half full side of the 2024 election: If there’s one through-line from the 2022 Midterms to 2024 it’s that acting like Trump while not being Trump doesn’t work. Many versions of the following have been written and said here and there: that voters don’t believe Trump is racist (which is fucking stupid, but here we are), but they believe the GOP is. They don’t believe that Trump is anti-abortion (same) but they believe the GOP is. They believe Trump is great for the working class, but they believe the GOP is for the rich. And so on and so forth. He’s a unique figure (goddamned media euphemisms) whose appeal to the lowest common denominator greatly exceeds that of his party and most of its candidates. If that were wrong then Mark Robinson, Mike Rogers, Eric Hovde, plus (likely) Kari Lake and Sam Brown wouldn’t be looking for new jobs. It’s too early to start talking about 2026 but Trump’s proooooobably not going to get any better at endorsing candidates before what will proooooobably be a rough time for Republicans after two years of a second MAGA Reich.
Maybe that’s more like a tenth full. Still more practical than the fucking “long arc” bromides.