Bill Tallen

The Irish poet W. B. Yeats wrote over a century ago that “The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity,” in a starkly apocalyptic poem, the same one where he wrote, “Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold. Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world...” It’s a close fit to the mood of our country going into the midterm general election last week. That was fortunately not an apocalyptic event, but judging by the level of hyperventilation, you might think so.

First, some perspective. Midterm elections almost always favor the opposition party — the one that doesn’t hold the presidency. For instance in 1994, two years into Bill Clinton’s presidency, Republicans gained eight seats in the Senate and 54 seats in the House, flipping both houses of Congress and outperforming what the Democrats achieved last week. In 2010, the first midterm after Obama became president, Republicans gained six Senate seats and 64 House seats, again flipping more seats than the Democrats just did. In the 1986 midterm halfway through Ronald Reagan’s second term, Democrats took control of the Senate, gaining eight seats there (compared to seven last week); and gained five more seats in the House, strengthening their majority there. The takeaway is that in all three cases, presidential administrations continued in power despite an opposition Congress and advanced their programs for the remainder of their terms. Obama famously and flippantly shrugged off the loss of both houses of Congress in 2010, saying “I have a phone and a pen.”

Trump has a phone and a pen himself and has funding already in place for all his priorities that could only be rolled back with a veto-proof majority in both houses. He has a booming economy despite war-related oil prices; and has not a lot of quit in him. The socialist Democrats have neither an agenda (other than the fever dreams of far-left revolutionaries and their temporary Islamist allies) nor the power to enact one. They don’t have a veto-proof majority in either house of Congress, or a monopoly on legal talent. Democrats and their Islamist allies will have to resign themselves to obstructionist tactics and resentment served cold. Especially if Congress convenes between now and January to confirm appointments and pass critical legislation. That would shape the battlefield for the next two years. 

There are nonetheless two things that Republicans had best keep in mind. First is the brewing insurrection by the left that has been recently uncovered by their ringleaders’ lack of discipline in letting their plans and discussions be recorded and archived on the internet. They are former  employees of USAID, where they learned how to topple governments; sometimes the incompetence of the governing class is a good thing. 

Second is the lack of unity and clarity on the right, which led directly to the poor outcome in the midterms (and the primary elections that preceded them, as in Wyoming). We had better take to heart Benjamin Franklin’s warning, “If we do not hang together, we shall most assuredly hang separately!” Listen to the left when they shamelessly announce their plans and objectives. Recognize their contempt and bad intentions for our Republic, which they might have a chance of enacting after the next general election less than two years from now, if we do not pull together to stop them.  

One of my memorable experiences from our first year here in Wyoming was attending a Lincoln Day fundraiser in the spring of 2012. It struck us, newcomers from blue-trending New Mexico, as remarkable that the seating mixed all the diverse elements of the Republican Party in at least superficial amity. From old-school party establishment types to the Tea Party and every variation in between, everyone got along pretty well, and the pervading sense was that this was a big-tent gathering of allies who could put differences aside when necessary. I lost my rose-tinted glasses in the parking lot not too long after that, but it was briefly exhilarating. In that third year of Obama’s reign, and in the slow-dawning recognition of what his “fundamental transformation of America” really meant, that unity fell short, and only Trump’s candidacy and successes have kept a principled opposition alive. Can we revive and strengthen it? The alternative is stark.

A ray of sunshine in all this is that with just a little bit of success under their belts, traditional Democrats (there are still a handful), Democratic Socialists, and Islamists are already turning on each other. If we can focus on Trump’s tangible accomplishments, see past his inability to just keep his mouth shut from time to time, and look ahead to the critical election of 2028 when he will step off the stage, we might agree to support him in dealing with the challenges we all face now. Let it be the opposition that dissolves into disunity while we close ranks.