OK, So Let's Learn Something

The first thing aircraft accident investigators do is sift through the rubble.

One of the few honest things that Barack Obama did as president was to admit that the Democrats got a “shellacking” in the 2010 midterm elections. Their broad victory on Tuesday is, as the destructive president liked to say, a “teachable moment.” What can we learn from it?

There are many reasons why the Republicans lost so thoroughly. Turnout differences, enthusiasm/early voting efforts, more promises of free goodies, messaging, etc. The question is what Republicans can do better. Donald Trump threw himself into this election as if he was again running for office. Never has a sitting president traveled so much or made so many endorsements as President Trump did during this past month. He had a major rally almost every day until the end and would frequently return to the White House after midnight. Scott Pressler and others made serious efforts to sign up new voters and get voters to vote. While Ken Paxton lost Texas, the man he replaced had an R after his name but was effectively useless for Donald Trump and his supporters. Like Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) was into the Chamber of Commerce agenda. For all intents and purposes, he was one more Democrat in his voting behavior if not in his formal affiliation.

Let’s start backward. Who will not learn the right lessons from this election?

1. The Democrats. I have seen many, like The Wall Street Journal, describe the outcome as a repudiation of Donald Trump and his agenda. Yet, most Americans are still 80-20 on the issues he has put forward. The Democrats don’t realize that Americans always do the same thing: they vote according to how they feel right now. When I came to Israel, for years it was ping-pong: Likud prime minister followed by a Labor one followed by another Likud guy, etc. We are so accustomed to Bibi Netanyahu being in office, but in the 1990s and 2000s, that continuity was not the case. You promised peace and got us bombings; get us the next guy. You promised a better economy, and we have high inflation; we’re going back to the lefties. The Democrats have nothing to offer Americans to make their lives better. Sure, they will initiate impeachments and investigations of Cabinet members. They will try to use state power to go around federal rules. But in two years, Americans will not see any progress from the new faces and will go back to the Republicans to some extent — depending on whether they can find normal candidates who can offer good solutions.

2. The Weirdo Right. They think that they have checkmated Israel, AIPAC, and Netanyahu. There is no question that Democrats who think like the loony podcasters got into office. The Moral Midget from Michigan used his Senate victory to bellow (while standing on three phone books) that he would stop all funding for “apartheid and genocide.” Well, that’s an interesting idea. The “apartheid” state of Israel just saw 19 Jew-hating Arabs get elected to the Knesset, and state officials are trying to hide the foreign funding of their success because it would appear racist and unseemly to show that Qatar is paying Israeli Arabs to vote. As to genocide, Israel is killing less than a dozen terrorists a week. By that standard, Chicago is also experiencing a genocide.

3. The RINO crowd. The loss of MAGA candidates will be mistaken as a sign of the return of Paul Ryan/John McCain milquetoast Republicans. We can lose respectfully! We can agree with whatever the Democrats demand and then go out for dinner. They don’t realize that their time has passed. Even if the MAGA-friendly candidates got walloped, there is no desire within the party to return to the Thune-Cornyn loser party. I learned once that in order to move a beehive a few feet, you have to move it far, far away and then, after a while, move it to the place you really want it. To get rid of Cornyn, Trump took a chance on Paxton and lost. We’ll have the freak from Texas for some time, but eventually we’ll get another Ted Cruz as a serious Republican senator. It’s worth the wait rather than having Cornyn around to destroy the nation’s business.

Hating on Israel is apparently a winning election approach. It was not for nothing that Netanyahu pushed and Trump announced the phasing out of military aid from the U.S. to Israel. Apparently, some type of multibillion-dollar joint research program will be made in its place so both sides get the best of each other’s technology. I feel bad for the Lockheed guys losing their jobs because the blue hairs don’t like Jews. And yes, Jews voted heavily for the Democrats — 67 percent is the last number I saw. One has to understand that it is no longer 1948 or 1984. Many Jews see Israel as important in their lives as the Congo. Getting illegals over the border is more important to them than eating kosher food or keeping the Sabbath. It’s not a happy reality, but it is the one that we have for now. Orthodox Jews vote Republican, period. The larger Reform and Conservative groups are into Democratic social destruction and don’t really feel the noose being prepared for them. My father told me of the Jews of Forchheim, Germany, sitting around on Saturday afternoons predicting when Hitler would fall. The wise ones got out in 1933. The ones like my parents got out just before the war. The rest have their names on memorial plaques somewhere.

I am still bullish on America and Americans. Our kids became U.S. citizens by virtue of my being an American who had lived five of the previous eight years in the U.S. before our oldest son was born. Our grandchildren can become Americans, but only by going to a federal office in the U.S. The process, including flights, costs thousands of dollars. I wasn’t sure how to advise my kids on the subject. The U.S. is one of only two countries that taxes expats; every year I file a U.S. return. If our grandkids live here, why should they put additional tax on themselves? But because of the outcome of this election, I have concluded that it is imperative to help stock our side of the battle of ideas. America is unique and precious. She is too special to let go or give over to the lefty lunatics or Muslim conquerors. I will pay for their getting American citizenship, and the first apple pie and ballgame are on me.

Just as the leadership of the Republican National Committee (NRC) basked in the 2024 victory, it should take responsibility for the huge losses and resign. People say that either the U.S. should not have started with Iran or should have finished the job months ago. As to the first, a nuclear bomb on New York would suck. As to the latter, water under the bridge. Donald Trump will use his remaining time as president to do bold things at home and abroad. When he leaves office for one of his golf courses, he will see a strong economy and a powerful country, one respected throughout the world. Iran was a 47-year problem that nobody wanted to address. President Trump was right to attack, and the only thing that the mullahs and other violent Muslims understand is greater violence. The time has come to finish off the IRGC and the theocracy and to position the U.S. economy for decades of continued success. If the U.S. is running on all cylinders in 2028, Republicans will find their way back to victory. People want success, and the Democrats have nothing to offer to make lives better.

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