America Backs the Blue

Last night, New York City went full communist and I feel fine. And yes, the REM reference is deliberate considering how the Wall Street “smart money” scared up apocalyptic scenarios for a Mamdani mayoralty, scenarios which involved hordes of panic-stricken millionaires fleeing a dystopic Ugandan hellscape or something to that effect. It’s early days in Moscow on the Hudson, but as of yet, the city remains peaceable and intact.

Across the river in my home state of New Jersey, a centrist Democrat won the day. Ditto in Virginia, where Dems swept. Everywhere, it seems, America backed the blue. The results seem clear: people fucking hate this president and his agenda. Good news!

So why am I not inclined to celebrate?

When I look at the individual races, I’m ecstatic. Overall, though, I find myself consternated – the results, I fear, might be a little too good. Had this happened next November during a proper midterm, I think I’d be a lot more chipper. An off-year win, however, leaves me worried the moment is peaking too soon.

Now that Democrats across the nation have expressed their outrage over the administration’s current fascistic trajectory, will they be able to maintain this momentum as we head into the coming year? Or will they, again, grow complacent, believing their message has now been sent and the Washington Republicans will hereafter take heed? If so, it will mean the Dems didn’t learn a goddamned thing. Because I don’t know much, but I do know that MAGA never takes heed.

Wow. Mamdani didn’t waste any time. This is City Hall now.

One thing I think the GOP might attempt between now and next year’s elections is moderate their messaging. Maybe dial down the overt Naziism? Maybe have the president do things other than tear gas Americans and desecrate the White House? It’s too much to ask the man to actually govern, but maybe his handlers can do a better job crafting the illusion of competence? Not sure what that what would look like other than taping his mouth shut.

My fear is that the Republicans will either cover their whole asses with enough of a fig leaf to preserve their electoral chances or double down on their efforts to consolidate power as quickly as possible in order to – and I’m sorry to use the word but every accusation is a confession, no? – rig the elections. Probably both.

The other worry I have, which I’ve stated before, is that if we keep swinging back and forth between the two parties every November, we’re going to remain in this paralytic, hyper-partisan state in which the business of the nation freezes anytime anything more complicated than renaming a post office has to be accomplished. That won’t do. The MAGA movement needs to be fully discredited and forever relegated to Epstein Island.

For that to happen, though, things actually need to get worse.

I know it makes little sense to root for things to get worse in one’s own country but I think that might be the better option, rather than continuing along the increasingly bumpy path on which we’re on. To me, it feels like we’re in “pick your poison” territory. Is it better to have the Trump folks plunge us headlong into their worst with the hope that their final repudiation will lead to a new American century? Or is it better for American power and influence to wane with the hope that the US can become a more inclusive neighbor on the world stage rather than its dominant player?

A few local elections might tell us where the breeze is blowing at the moment but it’s obviously not enough information to start charting the next hundred years. That said, I recognize that we’re in some sort of transitional moment for the nation and the world, one whose contours are being negotiated every time people show up at the polls. That moment seems to have a lot to do with climate change, energy production, immigration, and both quantum computing and artificial intelligence, both of which I’m guessing will undergird whatever shitstorm we’re flying into.

So yes, by all means, break out the champagne. New Yorkers can sip their bubbly while standing on line for potatoes and shoes in their new communist Xanadu. California can celebrate passing their gross redistricting bill, only necessitated by the far more disgusting actions being undertaken in various red states. Virginia and New Jersey can look forward to competent governance by competent women. And for the rest of us, I don’t know.

What I do know is that the media tends to overblow everything. This election is no different, with everybody who can plausibly call themselves a pundit (including, I guess, me although I would never affix that particular appellation to my good name) breaking out their hot takes. I’m trying to resist drawing any conclusions at all from the evening, other than good candidates seem to have won their races. Much of the enthusiasm around those candidates appears to be as much about repudiation of this grotesque MAGA movement as it is full-throated support of whatever local policies they’re championing.

I want to cheer on last night’s wins, and I am, but I also know that we’ve been here before over the last decade. Each time we appear to pull ourselves back from the precipice only to decide a few months later that, no, we prefer collective suicide than the collective good. Will this time be different? I don’t know, but I wouldn’t be a Democrat if I couldn’t extract some bad from this moment of joy. On the other hand, how awesome is it that New York has a mayor with the name “Zohran”? Sounds like an Avenger. May his powers be super - he’ll need them to be.