Yesterday I was busy fielding calls and e-mails from friends and followers across the state and a few from outside the state. One text summed it up, “What the heck happened to Georgia?”
I’ll give my nickel’s worth (the penny is out of circulation so there is no more two cents worth.) There are three categories I’ll address: Preparation, Policy, and Personality.
First, preparation. The Democrats organized down to the individual voter. On September 2, I wrote a commentary, “Warning from Webster” where I reported on the Democrat absentee ballot initiative that showed up in tiny Webster county.
Democrats had a highly organized absentee ballot campaign where they sent pre-addressed, prepaid absentee ballot application to everyone on their list of targeted voters. The voter merely needed to sign the application, place it in the envelope and drop it in the mail. The campaign made it easy and early to vote. Democrats went by the letter of the law and got their voters to vote.
Simply put, Democrats showed up in Presidential year numbers. Republicans showed up in off-year numbers. They beat us in the turnout game with their stronger grassroots organization.
Then there is policy and personality. These have to be laid at the feet of Donald Trump.
On the policy front, it was the Iran war which led to higher prices, particularly for gasoline and diesel. In my humble opinion, it was not the war itself but the execution and communication of the war.
One particular aspect of the communication of the war was the cease-fire that Trump implemented and then made indefinite after a short period of bombing. There was bewilderment and befuddlement by Trump supporters.
We entered into a war that Trump said would be over in a couple of weeks, then after fewer than six weeks, we stopped bombing to negotiate. We knew that whatever agreement Iran would give us wasn’t worth the paper it was written on.
The initial cease-fire was two weeks. When we had them on their heels, we stopped. Any cease-fires to negotiate anything with Iran should have been measured in hours, not weeks.
Iran played havoc with shipping. Prices shot up and stayed up. Negotiations predictably failed. The mighty and strong USA looked weak and feckless – because we were weak and feckless. If we were not going into a war to win, then we never should go in at all.
Then there is personality – Donald Trump himself. His prideful and boastful personality angered the left beyond words to describe. There was a boiling rage among some about Donald Trump and in too many cases, he brought it on himself.
So, you take solid preparation by the Democrats, policy, particularly policy on the war, and then the personality of Donald Trump himself, and you have a recipe for disaster which the Democrats handed to the Republicans.
What the heck happened in Georgia? The same thing happened here that happened across the nation. Democrats successfully nationalized state and local races.
Take a simmering anger about the economy, link it with a boiling anger toward Donald Trump himself, stir until mixed well, bake at 375 for one hour and presto, you have a blue tsunami.
Will things change and can they change? I don’t know if President Trump will change or not. He is supposedly open to make deals and getting things done. That remains to be seen.
President Trump made the comment to Fox News that if he had been on the ballot, he would have won. Therein lies the problem. Trump was on the ballot and we got shellacked.
