A mediocre white man of very much average height and build on Saturday expressed an appropriate level of confidence that he and his cohort will prevail against major tribulations that, also appropriately, self-inflicted by their own mediocrity at leadership and example-setting. Notably the confidence displayed by the mediocre white man came in response to not-especially-tough questions from a mediocre white woman who presented no challenge to the man. Some may feel an impulse to ascribe his affect to what was once colloquially known as “mansplaining” – though in all likelihood the responses would have carried the same words and intonation had identical prompts came from another mediocre white man employed by the television network.

More to the point of what Mediocre Mike said, it was pretty goddamned hilarious how he didn’t really answer the question and it wasn’t really answerable in the first place: Not just because “Binder Barbie” would be calling Joe Manchin a “radical socialist” if he were running for Senate again, but that the headwinds for the GOP are the same whether the incoming Dem candidates are hard left or centrists or outright DINOs. Losing is still losing, but to a mediocre white man who will be just fine either way, no matter what happens in the midterms or Iran he can express all the confidence he wants for victories whose likelihoods are vanishingly remote as the clock ticks toward midnight.