Post-Election Spin Cycle Preview
Five specific pivots to watch for from Democrats and their media mouthpieces
A red wave is coming.
There’s no longer any debate about whether we’re on the precipice of a major GOP victory. The only remaining open question is how big will the wave be.
Personally, I thought 52 was the ceiling in the Senate as recently as early October. Now, I think 52 is the floor. The more likely number is 54, with 55 being possible. If it’s lower than 53, I’ll be surprised.
Meanwhile, I expect the GOP to have at least 235 seats in the House, and 240+ is clearly possible. Republicans will also do well at the state level, and likely pick up a few governorships (possibly even including New York) and something like 120-130 net legislative seats across the nation.
As October became November, the certainty of a Republican landslide became much clearer. This wave will create five critical pivots to new narratives among leftists and their media enablers. Some of these have already begun. Watch for the following in the coming days:
1. Biden goes under the bus the day after the election.
The media outlets that have given President Biden every benefit of the doubt and ignored numerous failures since he became the presumptive 2020 Democratic nominee have suddenly rediscovered the ability to analyze the president critically.
In fact, the same outlets that told us a year-and-a-half ago that rigorous fact-checking of Biden (at least at the same level as Trump) was no longer worth it have suddenly become aware of the current president’s “gaffes.” What’s more, these “gaffes” seem to follow a pattern of half-truths and outright fabrications. Who knew?!?
This is part of a burgeoning effort to discredit Biden by the people who have propped him up, or who have at least tolerated him in the name of progressivism. Expect fact-checking to make a huge comeback—and quickly. This anti-Biden murmur will become a full-throated chorus in the weeks following the election. Suffice it to say that pundits and journalists will stop doing things like redefining “recession” to protect the Biden Administration.
Why? Because they need a scapegoat. Biden, as that most vile of creatures, the old(!) white(!!) man (!!!), is an easy target for leftists who already see his somewhat-moderate credentials as an obstacle to progressive ascendance. Progressives will cite his history of bipartisanship and alleged compromise as proof that he must step aside.
More to the point, progressives and DNC media operatives are terrified by the prospect of a second Trump (or first DeSantis!) Administration. The only hope they see is to replace Biden atop the 2024 ticket by exposing his myriad daily stumbles and possible senility. This goal may not involve Biden stepping down while he’s still in office, but these folks will be looking for a Biden commitment not to run as soon as possible, so that they can have more time to groom a viable candidate.
2. “Election cheating is real when our side loses.”
The same people who condemn any questioning of the 2020 election as “denial” worthy of social ostracism (or criminal sanction) will now pivot to say that Russian hacking or Republican election officials or voter intimidation (including Trump) interfered with the 2022 midterms. Naturally, this is a way of branding massive Democratic losses as “illegitimate.”
Media voices that express such views cannot be trusted under any circumstances. That goes without saying. But it is worth pointing out the nauseating hypocrisy of people who scoff at the very idea that election interference is even possible when Democrats win.
These same people will now quickly and earnestly grasp at the flimsiest straw to provide an explanation as to why Democrats lost—other than the obvious truth that terrible economic burdens, a wildly misguided COVID response, and alarming leftist cultural pushes have alienated most independents and even many Dems.
One example that we’ve already seen is the response to Elon Musk’s very mild endorsement of voting Republican in this cycle.
Leaving aside the ignoramuses who have embarrassed themselves with laughable “First Amendment” takes related to Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, this specific tweet elicited leftist rage and accusations of election interference.
Again, what amounts to a celebrity endorsement (albeit a mild one) is election interference if it occurs in the direction of Republicans. But the hundreds of progressive celebrities who openly support Democrats are simply expressing themselves. Rights for me and not for thee.
Mark your calendars. I fully expect claims of election irregularities to transform from treasonous to patriotic again, starting tomorrow.
3. “Republicans only won because of disinformation.”
A cousin to #2 above. This is the notion that there are only two possible ways someone could ever vote Republican. One, the person is obviously evil. However, from a practical standpoint, Democrats can’t claim millions upon millions of Americans are evil. Even they know that this is a losing strategy. Well, except for Hillary Clinton.
As such, they need a back-up explanation. That’s an easy one: these poor souls who vote Republican are victims of dis- and misinformation!
Many media figures won’t be comfortable going into full election conspiracy mode because they know that articles or clips exist that would expose them as wildly hypocritical. The idea that GOP voters are marks fooled into voting for Republicans is the fallback position.
“We’re different from the January 6th nuts,” they’ll shriek. “We think the vote count was right—we’re just saying that people who voted Republican were tricked!”
Expect a lot of progressive “copium” articles and TV segments that find random Republican voters saying dumb things like “I voted GOP because the Democrats would have forced children to have sex-change operations!” That kind of stuff.
The media folks and John Olivers of the world will claim that these and similar views represent the median Republican voter’s rationale. These voices will simultaneously ignore the real reasons—you know, like the cost of eggs going up by 30 percent in a year, for instance.
“Don’t believe your lying eyes, rubes. You would have voted for the Democrat if only you were as wise and discerning as we elites!” These takes will pour in on Twitter in real time after the polls close, with several weekend essays in a similar vein sure to follow.
And all of that, of course, follows weeks of hectoring activists telling us that democracy itself is on the ballot. A vote for Republicans is a vote for insurrectionists! Or fascism! Or Putin!
4. “It will take days or weeks to know who really won!”
The final flavor of undermining the election by progressives will be this trope that we’ll hear from commentators on every network’s election-night coverage. They’ve gotten their DNC talking points on this front, and they’ll dutifully repeat them.
The weird thing is that these delays don’t happen in every state. Not even in every large state. It doesn’t happen in Florida, for example. Florida learned from the 2000 debacle and figured out how to count votes efficiently and accurately.
Yet, in a state like Pennsylvania, even with more than a month of early voting that allows a sizable percentage of votes to be counted ahead of Election Day, we’re supposed to believe that it’s simply impossible to figure out vote totals within a few hours of polls closing.
In fairness, most of the places where this happens are large, Democrat-run cities. Yes, they have higher populations, but the real problem is that these places tend to install a disproportionate number of “leaders” who are incompetent, corrupt, or both—and those leaders are able to survive because they face little opposition from outside their own party.
Worse, even if the final vote totals wind up being accurate, the delays provide the appearance of impropriety, further undermining already-waning confidence in the democratic process.
5. “This is a good night for Democrats!”
Finally, this heavy dose of spin will come from the more credible Democrat operatives and some of the “objective” media folks. The basic premise here will be that the GOP was always going to have a wave election (never mind the October predictions from these same commentators that Dems would hold the Senate).
The inevitability of this wave means that Democrats “only” being down, say, 52-48 in the Senate is ACKSHUALLY a win! They’ll take a few notes from some of the other claims referenced above and say that, considering the voter intimidation and misinformation and Russian interference and so on that the so-called red wave is just a red drip! A puddle at best! You’ll hear cries of “it wasn’t as bad as 1994 or 2010!” as evidence that Democrats had a good night.
Then, at the state level, they’ll tout Dems picking up trifectas in Maryland and Massachusetts and downplay any upsets in places like New York or Oregon. With Election Day safely behind them, they’ll also now admit that inflation is terrible, only to point out that Democrats did pretty well indeed, considering the economic indicators that were in play—none of which were the fault of Democrats, they’ll say.
Do not believe any of this.
BOTTOM LINE:
Republicans are going to win big tonight, very likely taking both the House and Senate, and making meaningful gains in state legislatures and governorships.
No matter how Democrats or their media mouthpieces spin it, losing control of both houses of Congress is a referendum on Dems’ performance.
Any journalist, commentator, or politician who leans heavily on any of the pivots mentioned above should be ignored or ridiculed.
The reasons for the red wave are simple—bad economy due in large part to foolish Democrat spending bills, an out-of-control border situation, horrible COVID-related policies that went on far too long, and cultural lunacy designed to destroy the foundations of our society.