ED MORRISSEY: There’s One More Word for What Happened Yesterday…

For evidence of this, we can go all the way back to 2018, when the current Republican losing streak started. At that time, Trump was wildly popular with his base but deeply unpopular everywhere else. The midterm losses were not historically large, and perhaps even somewhat limited given the Russia-collusion hysteria whipped up by the Democrats.

But the losses continued in 2019 elections, including in Kentucky where a Trump ally contended for the governor’s office. They continued in 2020, resulting in the loss of Senate control as well as the presidency, although Trump’s allies insisted the elections were illegitimate. All of that took place before the Supreme Court even agreed to hear the Dobbs case and reverse Roe and Casey.

The specter of Dobbs and abortion clearly overshadowed the 2022 midterms, but then again, so did the specter of Trump and the January 6 riot. Trump-endorsed candidates that campaigned on the 2020 election lost winnable Senate races. If it hadn’t been for a revolt against Bidenomics in New York, of all states, Republicans would have fallen short of control of the House in 2022’s midterms as well. The only place where a midterm red wave materialized was in Florida, even with DeSantis backing a heartbeat-based abortion bill.

And now we have last night’s results to add to the list of disappointments. Given the turmoil within the Democrat Party, this might be the most surprising of them yet. Abortion certainly contributed to their unity of purpose yesterday, but so did their use of Trump and the “ultra-MAGA” betes noires they used effectively in 2020, 2022, and will certainly exploit in 2024 if given the chance. Even with polls that say Biden’s losing to Trump, which raises big question about just how predictive those polls will be, those attacks were very effective. Biden’s voters came home with a vengeance last night.

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