By Todd Lassa
(Surprise 1/6 panel hearing scheduled for Tuesday -- Details in The Gray Area.)
The Great Democratic Hope for November is that a majority of American voters -- somewhere around 60% favor some manner of abortion rights according to most polls – turn out for the November midterm elections and surprise the Republican Party, which is counting on flipping the Senate and make Mitch McConnell (R-KY) the majority leader again. It has been considered a given that the GOP will flip the House of Representatives and potentially make Rep. Kevin McCarthy its speaker, though he’s far from the certain choice of congressional Republicans lately. McCarthy has fallen from Trump’s favor yet again, this time for allowing hearings of the House Select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol insurrection to commence without any supporters of the ex-president to counter its testimony.
Evidenced by all the outrage over the Supreme Court’s ruling on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization issued Friday to reverse Roe v. Wade, and Justice Clarence Thomas indicating that gay rights, gay marriage and legal contraception are next, the Democratic National Committee expects voter turnout to be so strong as to repudiate the GOP’s midterm expectations.
Some Democrats now believe that with the overturning of Roe they might have a chance to hold on to the party’s House and Senate majorities – perhaps even gain a few seats. If the party can win two more Senate seats, there’s a chance to do what Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Krysten Sinema (D-AZ) are not willing to do: Get rid of the legislative filibuster and allow Biden’s agenda to go beyond last year’s bipartisan infrastructure plan victory.
Of course, this all requires the DNC to, er, have a plan. A plan like working diligently on the long game, as the RNC and the Federalist Society have done together since the Reagan administration to make SCOTUS and the federal bench conservative enough to strike down Roe v. Wade, as well as a 108-year-old conceal-carry law in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen last Thursday. Give the DNC, oh, until 2062 to work this out.
But Democrats, independents and moderate Republicans who turn out in outrage this November will face a much smaller but potentially much stronger group of MAGA hat-wearers.
Just like last week’s revelatory House Select Committee hearings on the January 6 Capitol insurrection, in which we learned a repeat of Watergate’s Saturday Night Massacre nearly happened again on Sunday, January 3, 2021, the Faith & Freedom Coalition convention feels like ages ago. But that convention in Nashville took place just a weekend earlier, with Trump, of course, the headliner. This is the group of conservative Christians who now repudiate Mike Pence -- chosen six years ago to be Trump’s running mate in order to give Trump credibility with the Christian right --because the former vice president refused to stop the January 6 electoral vote count.
The Faith & Freedom Coalition reveres Trump even more than before, if that’s possible, for the greatest victory of his administration; appointing three Supreme Court justices who would assure the overturning of Roe.
There is little doubt that Democrats plus pro-choice independents and moderate Republicans have the numbers to prevail in the midterms. There is also little doubt that pro-Trump Republicans, fortified by this victory, have the will to make sure that majority will lose once again.
(MON 6/27/22)