Tag: David Perdue

Democrats Take the Senate and Manchin Becomes Big Man on Capitol Hill

By Todd Lassa

Democrat Joe Manchin III of West Virginia was trending on Twitter late Tuesday night as the most important Senator, even before urban precinct ballot counts in Georgia’s Senate runoff elections had begun to flip the fortunes of Democratic challengers Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff as cable news networks eagerly awaited results after polls closed. Warnock, pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, and Ossoff decisively beat two Republican incumbents, Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue. 

Manchin is a Democrat who has served deep red West Virginia in the Senate for 10 years and now has the potential to become to his party what Senator Mitt Romney, R-Utah, has been to the GOP, although more so. Sitting in the late centrist-Democrat Robert C. Byrd’s seat, Manchin becomes a true swing vote, likely to defeat along with 50 Republican Senate bills that come from the Bernie Sanders/Elizabeth Warren wing of the Senate as well as those that come up from “The Squad” wing of the House. 

The Democrats’ victories push their party to a 50-50 Senate count, with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris serving as the tie-breaker on votes to give the party an effective majority over Republicans. Lame duck President Trump and GOP leaders tried to paint Democratic control of the House, Senate, and White House as the road to socialist damnation. But Georgia Democrats, led by likely 2022 Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacy Abrams and aided by such groups as Black Votes Matter, turned out about 4.5 million voters total by Tuesday, many of them using mail-in ballots. Meanwhile, President Trump’s unfounded claims of voter fraud in each of the swing states he lost apparently stifled Republican turnout, and his attack specifically on Georgia’s preference for Biden almost certainly prompted many supporters to stay at home.

The Reverend Raphael Warnock says he will remain leader of the Atlanta church once pastored by the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., and becomes the first Black senator from Georgia, the 11th Black senator in the history of the nation and one of three in the 117th Congress, with Democrat Cory Booker of New Jersey, and Republican Tim Scott of South Carolina, as Kamala Harris moves from the Senate to the vice presidency. 

Manchin’s power on Capitol Hill ultimately depends on where the GOP goes from here, what with Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., about to be demoted to minority leader and already distancing himself from the Trump administration while attempting to warn fellow Republican senators against challenging Electoral College votes for President-elect Biden Wednesday. So far, 12 Republican senators have indicated they plan to defy McConnell and challenge the results from their respective states, including lame-duck Senator Loeffler of Georgia.

By Todd Lassa Democrat Joe Manchin III of West Virginia was trending on Twitter late Tuesday night as […]

I am Just Over It

By Michelle Naranjo

I have two different friends of different generations: one millennial and one boomer, and both are consistently two to three days behind the news cycle. The former has a penchant for sending texts with screenshots of the circus that has become the Trump campaign post-election, have typically been passed around Twitter for at least 24 hours, and have already expired like a dad joke. The latter takes to Facebook to announce political news that is often so dated, the accompanying commentary/rant is out of touch with current events.

It shouldn’t bother me as much as it does, but it’s so annoying. They get outraged and amused at stuff I’m way over. And that is because the stream of idiocy feels endless one month after election day.

This brand of annoyance also has become the general reaction to the seemingly never-ending string of failed lawsuits, hearings, and press conferences led by Trump lawyer, Rudy Giuliani. 

President Trump’s Twitter account has become a string of outrage about a rigged election (a false claim, as Twitter is quick to annotate). Followers are leaving the spectacle in droves since the sole focus appears to be on overturning an election that was conducted legally and not on the exploding pandemic. 

In an attempt to get more airtime, Trump traveled to Georgia Saturday night to lead a rally under the auspices of supporting the Republican senate candidates Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue. What actually happened was an appearance by the two candidates drowned out to chants of “four more years” and Trump delivering his usual level of speech that is wearing out the fact-checkers. 

And we learned that he likes cucumbers.

After four years of this presidency and an especially difficult 2020, a general air of exhaustion fills the atmosphere. The people complicit in this, from the Republican politicians refusing to acknowledge Biden won, to the rabid supporters who don’t appear to understand math, let alone how a democratic election works, only reveal deeper and deeper levels of racism, ignorance, and greed. 

And it is annoying. I am way over it all. Trump doesn’t need to concede. He needs to get out of the way and let us all get on with healing and recovery. 

—–
Get out of the way, President Trump.