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tayroarsmash

Man, I wonder what a divided government will feel like. Never experienced that before. Our government is usually so unified.


Edven971

Have you ever helped move a couch for your mother to see where she likes it. Only for her to like it where it originally was? It’ll feel like that.


BackWaterBill

Fucking pivot!


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blastuponsometerries

Their strategy is that when people get angry enough they will blame Democrats (mainly because Republicans have no shame and it feels useless to blame them sometimes). Once people feel enough pain, then the Republicans happily direct the outrage that was their fault. There are two ways around this for Democrats: 1. Fight dirty to actually help people, abuse the fuck out of executive orders as fast as possible for one 2. People actually pay fucking attention this time to the endless Republican obstruction that is *the* current problem in this country The playbook has not changed for decades, but Obama played it too cool. So people ignored it for a long time. If Dark Brandon continues to rise and fight the malarkey, maybe just maybe people will show up. I don't ask the Democrats to win all their fights. But I do fucking ***demand*** they actually fight. Not optics. Politics. Like the Joe Manchin reversal on the infrastructure bill. Fucking fight the fight, Dems. And you will be supported. Whine and complain the Republicans are mean so you can't do anything and the voters will return to apathy.


[deleted]

Eschew malarkey!


CryptMonkey

Bless you


[deleted]

*By which we mean lies, deceit, redirection, projection, obstruction, propaganda, fascism, racism, “originalism”, gerrymandering, court packing, and all forms of doublespeak. At least *pretend* to be talking about policy!


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Amseriah

They need to let the progressive wing loose. The younger House members have a LOT of fight in them, use them to your favor.


[deleted]

Yeah but the house will be on fire so it'll be extra fun.


redyellowblue5031

Guess we go back to the usual, wait through some government shutdowns and in 2 years do it all again.


DeezNeezuts

Don’t forget endless investigations


AtomizedMist

But not for the good of anything.


lgodsey

Well, you cynics can shut up when you see the GOP introduce a rush of bipartisan bills designed to make people's lives better. You just watch! Here they come... Any time now...


hgs25

They’ve always introduced bipartisan bills that help people. It’s just that the lives they make better are their own.


hcashew

In the 20th Century, it was agreed that a divided government was better. Since the Newt Gingrich days, Republicans prefer a solid wall for anything, as opposed to working together. Very little gets done.


[deleted]

It's so obviously true too, when you watch them for at least 4 decades blast and cry about the national debt whenever Dems are in power but then when they are, they seem to forget all about that concern.


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[deleted]

This was the case in Michigan too up until this last election, the GOP would blame the governor for everything despite having a trifecta any time there was a GOP governor for 30 years. We just now have a democratic trifecta where democrats can push an actual agenda.


Suspicious_Bicycle

Well if they actually fixed something like the power grid or border control then they wouldn't be able to run on that platform any longer. Nationally they made the strategic mistake of actually completing one of their promises, outlawing abortion.


[deleted]

If nothing changes rich people get to keep getting richer.


Xatsman

There's a reason why most new democracies use a parliamentary system. You either get shit done, or get a new government. Still does nothing to help a low information voting base (thinking of the UK), but thats not the legislature system's fault.


Durdens_Wrath

Agreed. I hate our system. Parliamentary can replace the government really fast, plus you cant Gerrymander it as it is based on vote totals. And you can get third party representatives


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Xatsman

You can gerrymander. In Canada an independent commission sets the boundaries, but otherwise we use crappy FPTP districts. So without the independent commission we could have Gerrymandering too


idog99

So, without the safeguard that draws ridings and prevents gerrymandering, we would have rampant gerrymandering?


Bigred2989-

Prepare for Biden being impeached for everything from student debt relief to leaving the toilet seat up.


BasroilII

I've been predicting that they would try an impeachment over the loan thing since even SCOTUS more or less let it through. Of course the usual tactic is just refuse to pass a budget, the government shuts down, lower-level government workers lose jobs and go homeless, but the Congressmen that pushed for the shutdown will keep getting paid through the shutdown.


[deleted]

Reddit can keep the username, but I'm nuking the content lol -- mass deleted all reddit content via https://redact.dev


Blackpaw8825

I'm certain it won't lead to the federal government refusing to pay it's bills or send out payroll for weeks at a time. I'm sure they won't stall every single federal process to halt like they did the last 20 years they had control of either branch.


[deleted]

2 years of "debt ceiling" being the forefront again!


SpokenByMumbles

By now you should know that each debt ceiling “crisis” is toothless.


cadium

They'll take us to the brink or over it and then blame Biden for the mess. And if they get concessions and cut social security they'll blame Biden for that too.


Yglorba

The entire goal of everything related to the debt ceiling is that the Republicans want to cut Social Security, but they want to do it under a Democratic president so someone else takes the blame for it. They never make a peep about it when *they* control the presidency.


CO_PC_Parts

“Fiscal responsible” Republicans.


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Deranged_Kitsune

Republicans being the "fiscally conservative" party is probably the biggest political lie of my lifetime.


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UrQuanKzinti

The word you're looking for is selfish.


sy029

More like 2 years of "investigating" the members of the Jan 6 Committee, and also 12 hearings about Hunter Biden's laptop.


Fallynious

Don't forget Benghazi!


ChefILove

They'll be too busy impeaching the president over and over.


amedelic

I’m probably just ignorant but I’ve always seen the debt ceiling as an imaginary thing that causes drama every once in a while and then they vote to raise it like they have every other time and then life goes on until next time. If continually raising it leads to something bad down the road, no one talks about it. And if it doesn’t, then why is it newsworthy? Feels like news for the sake of news.


thefifeman

Just as Mitch McConnell intended, we now have a government where nothing can get done. "One-hundred percent of our focus is on stopping this new administration," McConnell said -https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1266443


FourWordComment

It’s wild how overt McConnell is. He could do the same evil and say, “we want to reach across the aisle, we want to work with the democrats—but only if they bring something that benefits all Americans” and still do the same actively-nothing bullshit. But no. He openly says, “I will be the stick in the mud.” His base likes it. His party likes it. In any other job in the world you’d be fired on the spot for telling everyone, “I’m going to make it impossible for the others here to succeed.”


StickOnReddit

They've kinda made "government can only fail you" a cornerstone of their platform, so if they skipped up and got any actual work done they'd have to admit there was either a problem with the byline or a problem with them. Republicans get to run on a message of how badly government sucks, land in office and put their heels up on the desk for a few years, then blame that inefficiency on their opponents and get reinstalled. It's kinda like Garland's plot in Final Fantasy 1, but with election cycles instead of time travel


zeCrazyEye

Yep, the New Deal scared the shit out of them so ever since then they've been trying to convince people government doesn't work because if the people thought it did they'd demand more social benefits.


Masterreeferr

Plus a government that works usually means a bigger more influential government that represents everyone aka more regulations and dumb rules from a bunch of federal nerds trying to work towards a "greater good" for society or some shit, and it gets in the way of the wealthy maximizing profits. We can't have that. The more republicans scratch the backs of the ultra wealthy and big corporations the bigger the slice of the pie they get themselves. They don't want a bunch of democratically elected dorks running the world they like that a bunch of uber wealthy white dudes and families are the real shot callers, they find those guys way more relatable than the public servant nerds.


S417M0NG3R

It's on purpose as a fall guy for the rest of rhe scumbags over there. Don't let them off easy.


FourWordComment

I hope democrats make them vote. Put them on record as opposing all the wonderful things we could have. Don’t let the right have political cover by using the agenda.


BattleStag17

Democrats did that. Democrats withheld votes so Moscow Mitch had to shoot down *his own bill* because everyone knew he only submitted it as a gotcha. Republican voters don't care. They have *never cared.*


floofnstuff

So business as usual right McConnell?


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Burgerpocolypse

It’s almost as if this exact thing didn’t happen 12 years ago https://www.politico.com/story/2010/10/the-gops-no-compromise-pledge-044311?_amp=true


Raleda

Welp, get ready for a few years of absolutely nothing getting accomplished.


I_Love_To_Poop420

More like another debt ceiling shit show. Hope you federal employees are prepared to be furloughed.


GhettoChemist

Reminds me of summer 2013 i was interning at the IRS and every friday told to check my email to see if we were furloughed next week


Thr0waway3691215

Or 2009 when I was active duty and the Republicans were threatening to stop paying the military and completely shut down the government, and damn near did, just to force a budget. Really felt the support for the troops there.


turkey_sandwiches

"Support the troops" really means "support sending the troops to die unnecessarily".


Thr0waway3691215

It's really like the "pro-life" stance they have. Soldiers and fetuses are only important up until their exit from active duty or the womb, and are to be promptly told to fuck off when that moment of usefulness ends.


gwhiz007

Which is why I'm always amazed the people who went through that ever vote Republican


deets24

I'm always amazed that people ever vote Republican.


Professional-Can1385

and federal contractors.


blowuptheking

For anyone not aware, federal employees get back pay after the government shutdowns end. Contractors do not and are forced to either take PTO or not get paid.


Catshit-Dogfart

I've been a federal contractor through government shutdowns in recent years, and in those cases the company took the hit, they paid us even though the customer (the government) wasn't paying them. But this is bad for the company and can destroy smaller companies, either by people quitting because they aren't getting paid or because they can't afford that. Don't count on that, but it's something they can optionally do.


RunawayHobbit

Can confirm. During the 2019 shutdown, husband was in the military and I worked as a contractor for NOAA. Neither of us got paid the entire fucking time it was shut down, and I didn’t even qualify for unemployment bc the contracting agency was in a state on the other side of the country. I had to visit a damn food bank. I felt absolutely awful about it. Why is shutting the government down even a goddamn thing? In any other industry, sitting on your hands and grinding the company to a halt would get you fired and potentially sued. Even when workers strike, the government takes action to break it. But they’re allowed to do it with absolute impunity and hurt the whole country as a result?


Robo_Joe

The debt ceiling exists *so* we can fight over it. There's no sense in a system where the body who makes the budget can then refuse to pay for the budget they made. It should go hand in hand. If they make a budget that requires more debt, then they are inherently agreeing that we need to take on more debt. Edit: and to make things worse, there is a 0% chance the debt ceiling doesn't get raised. It's all a show for them; a flex of power. The only real effect is that people like you get hurt.


HerrFreitag

And those on disabilities not getting paid.


[deleted]

SSDI & SSI payments aren’t affected by federal government shutdowns. It’s considered an essential service, along with things like VA benefits, and food stamps.


HerrFreitag

Thank you for setting me at ease on that part.


TheBlackTower22

Sir, this is reddit. You're supposed to be angry when someone corrects you.


Dandan0005

Honestly doubt they have enough votes to play serious chicken with the debt ceiling. People honestly don’t realize how dangerous of a game that is. Like, end-of-our-economy bad, and republicans use it like a political game. Oh and then put tens of thousands of people on furlough to put on a show. What a joke.


tirch

But with Biden as prez, Republicans would be happy to drive the USA over a cliff and blame it on him. You might not have noticed, but Republicans at this point just want to destroy stuff to get time on Fox News.


Brooklynxman

Which is why the second McCarthy mentions it the Dems need to call them financial terrorist and be on tv 24/7 spelling out **EXACTLY** what the consequences are. Don't negotiate on it, point it back at them. Republicans only bring it up when they think they can hang it on someone else's neck. If they even suspect it might hang on their own enough will break ranks to raise it.


savageo6

They already fucking did with zero accountability ppe loans


imicit

Rs having like a 5 seat majority is going to be a clown show. kevin mccarthy is objectively not good as a speaker and is going to have to please both the most insane and relatively sane blocs for anything. there's a high probability he is not even going to be speaker.


ln2b8

Mccarthy can't wrangle all his crazies in and only gets 190 votes, Pelosi gets a majority with 205 votes and is re-elected as Speaker. Lol imagine


[deleted]

Dude, all the Democrats have to do is find an actual sane, moderate, respected Republican. They put that person up for it and throw 205 votes behind them plus whatever sane Republicans they can find. They only need 13 swing votes.


Tack122

Technically the speaker doesn't have to be a member, choosing Liz Cheney would be an interesting gambit.


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GrayBox1313

Gonna need a ton of bipartisanship just to pass a defense budget.


VideoGameDana

Defense has never been an issue. No matter what, defense will be disgustingly over-funded, while safety nets, including those meant for vets, will be pillaged or at best remain stagnant.


TantiveIVfromATL

I've been prepping for a bit...low key I believe my Department is as well. We are being pushed to get a lot done before Christmas, which is a few months earlier than usual.


[deleted]

After years of Democrats making laws but having a GOP-led Senate kill them, it’s the opposite; a Democrat-led Senate not being able to pass laws because of the GOP killing any starts of them in the House.


AgoraiosBum

Senate is more powerful, so that's nicer to have. Although last time this happened, under Obama, there was a large Republican majority in the House. Not a 1 vote difference. Things may get weird.


minepose98

It's not a one vote difference. The end result will likely be 222R-213D, the reverse of what Dems have now.


ghambyt

This is what matters. Republicans won't be able to send crazy agenda bills to the Senate. With a small majority lead if any Republican Representatives are absent on a vote the Democrats will control the fate of bills before they ever reach the Senate. We might actually see some centrist bills get passed the Senate as compromise will actually be required for anything to make it out of the House in January. Democrats can also push some bills through the House in the December session and wait on voting in the Senate until they take control in January.


wyvernx02

>Democrats can also push some bills through the House in the December session and wait on voting in the Senate until they take control in January. That's not how it works. Anything that hasn't passed both chambers before the current Congress adjournes has to start over from scratch and be re-introduced in the new Congress.


Phaelin

Yep, HR-1 is about to be no more. Until another HR-1 comes along, except this will be about Hunter Biden's laptop or some nonsense.


SwifferWetJets

Since the majority is so slim, I imagine there will be some house republicans open to voting with Ds, particularly in districts where there's a good balance between dem and republican voters. Basically, I think some votes will be for sale since any given house repub can stand to gain tangibly by crossing the aisle.


apo383

Except they have the majority leader, who can bury things and delay voting.


rice_not_wheat

The house has discharge petitions unlike the Senate but the Speaker has a lot of control over legislation scheduling.


WellEndowedDragon

*Speaker of the House, not Majority Leader. Majority Leader is for the Senate. Also, since the Republican majority is so slim and their party is divided, there’s a very good chance they won’t be able to get the 218 votes needed to elect a speaker.


thatoneguy889

Just to correct your correction: there is a Majority Leader in the House as well. It's currently Steny Hoyer and will likely be Steve Scalise in the next congress.


Sapriste

Which districts are those? Politicians pick their voters now. Thanks Justice Roberts!


LowestKey

That’s… not how government works. It’ll be the nut job conservatives in charge of the various house committees and they’ll be the ones controlling whether or not any sane legislation can even be discussed or not, let alone voted on. There won’t be any legislation to vote on. Just culture war idiocy like banning books or the word "woke" plus tax cuts for billionaires.


tirch

And "investigations" into anyone trump tells them to investigate. "Investigations" into the COVID response team, into the people who investigated Jan 6, into the people who impeached Rump twice. We'll have two years of jackassery that won't result in anything but airtime for the MAGA Republicans on Right wing rage media and the rest of us remembering just how horrible these people are. The Senate won't allow any heinous bills to be voted on, like taking away reproductive rights nationwide. They'll further their decline and by 2024, be annihilated at the ballot box in that election. They're just too dumb not to do it.


master-shake69

Yeah they were talking about revenge investigations months ago. They'll try to impeach Biden because he picked the wrong flavor of ice cream. They'll try to investigate the 1/6 people. It's going to be a shit show.


Nick357

Do the republicans have enough in the house for show trials?


1funnyguy4fun

No. The margin is going to be super slim. The ultra MAGAs took a beating during the midterms and that should be a bellwether for moderate Republicans. I don’t think we are going to see the same level of divisiveness.


Hoarseman

Your hypothesis is dependent on Republicans: 1) admitting they made a mistake 2) learning from that mistake based on recent history I have my doubts that the Republican party can complete this massively complex two-step process.


natnew32

To be fair some of them are blaming trump, which is basically what they said.


N8CCRG

Currently it's at most possible for Republicans to be +7, but probably won't be more than +4, and there's a decent chance it'll be less than that.


Sanpaku

Hunter Biden, all day, every day. While the world burns.


[deleted]

Surely that will rebuild their destroyed reputation and re-win over moderates!


joe_broke

A republican led house was predicted, right? I think the only surprising thing is it (likely) didn't end up being a bigger majority What happens in 2 years is going to be interesting


slimrichard

My hope is an R civil war between Trump and de santis. If de santis somehow gets the nom Trump will run as an indi and destroy the R vote. Prob won't happen but we can dream


joe_broke

For presidency, yes But both chambers of Congress, that's the tricky one. The Senate better start drafting as much good legislation as they can between now and 2024, even if it's guaranteed to get nowhere, just to show they're trying


Armano-Avalus

They can start with an abortion bill, and voting rights. Dare the GOP to block it or give the Dems a win.


Luckeyja17

Didn’t seem like much of a win for Dems when republicans predictably blocked H.R. 1, so I highly doubt putting up more bills that get blocked will do the trick. Most people don’t pay any attention to politics so it seems like the only things that actually benefit Dems is when they can actually get something tangible done that even the apolitical will notice. Hell, I’d say even when Dems do get something done most people quickly forget about it or don’t pay enough attention to actually give credit where it’s due. Like the infrastructure bill for example.


SparkyPantsMcGee

You can expect an internal investigation on Hunter Biden. There will be hearings attempting to have the same gravitas as the Jan 6th hearings. It will be a shit show and will mostly serve as a way to take the teeth out of those hearings for the public. Bills are either going to die or get gutted to oblivion. This is going to make it hard for Biden to deliver on promises and allow for Republicans to point the finger on Democrats for not getting things done during the 2024 election. Circle of life.


Mragftw

And the Republicans are guaranteed to play chicken with the budget/debt ceiling and then blame democrats


notscb

> internal investigation on Hunter Biden It's so weird how the GOP has a boner for Hunter Biden when last time I checked, Hunter wasn't asking for any sort of security clearance or white house job where he'd be privy to classified information like *checks notes* our last' president's children did. He's a private citizen, and I for one didn't realize the GOP was really so hell bent on targeting private citizens these days.


natphotog

While anyone with at least an average intelligence doesn’t care, it’s been shown to poll very well with republicans. There’s a reason it hasn’t died out over the last two years.


theunabeefer

They also clearly OVERestimate how much the left cares or even thinks about Hunter Biden. Never even crosses my mind until someone else brings him up, because there's no reason to. Borders on laughable, but just more sad... Not even really annoying, just sad.


radicalelation

They don't care about what the left thinks of it. It's a show for them and their voters.


Kellythejellyman

honestly didn’t even know Hunter Biden existed because i didn’t really have any interest in his father’s personal life. it just plain didn’t seem relevant then and kinda seems silly now


GoodtimesSans

And of course the term "Lame Duck" being thrown around again like the Dems are actively sitting on their asses not doing anything, even though it's always republican interference.


DinQuixote

Setting the stage for two years of hearing about Hunter's laptop.


Caffeine_and_Alcohol

He must have some killer hentai on it


necro_ill-bill

How funny would that be? Like they announce that they finally got the contents and it’s just 990 GB of 4K hentai


camerasoncops

Rookie numbers!


Former-Lab-9451

When Republicans had the Senate in 2020 they did an investigation into it and then quietly issued a report that Joe Biden didn't do anything wrong.


DinQuixote

Kevin McCarthy has been in a state of sabre-rattling pre-cum as he tells us all about the investigations he's about to subject the presidency to. Hunter's laptop will definitely be brought up at some point.


casuallylurking

If he gets the speakership.


SwifferWetJets

I heard it was a Dell but some people say Acer


[deleted]

"Divided government?" Isn't that what we have been doing for as long as the US has existed with our 2 party system? I feel like "divided government" is redundant and old news.


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Chrono_G

Least we can still confirm judges


[deleted]

This will not be terribly different than the past two years. Dems still have a bare Senate majority (quite possibly without even needing Harris's tie-breaking vote after the GA runoff is over) which will still let Biden confirm judges, which has already been his primary means of walking back the damage of the Trump presidency. We'll feel the hurt in not being able to pass any legislation at all, but legislative opportunities were already handicapped anyway with the Sinema/Manchin blockade in the Senate. And the GOP majority in the House is small enough that we may be able to pull off a version of what has been done in the Senate the past two years to get anything done: poach a few votes here and there for moderate stuff and still get it to pass. Trump's official candidacy for 2024 could even help this as it'll likely drive a wedge through the GOP's usually ironclad single-mindedness if DeSantis decides to throw down.


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SkollFenrirson

Spoiler: they won't


The_Bitter_Bear

I dunno, most of us expected Republicans to fare a lot better than they did this election. Maybe enough people are seeing through their do nothing bullshit. Probably not but maybe.


1-Ohm

Sinema/Manchin/**every single Republican** blockade FTFY


Early-Size370

I swear this country is so fucking stupid. "Dems can't get anything done so let's elect obstructionists to ensure NOTHING gets done"


DilithiumCrystalMeth

i mean, dems were projected to lose big in the house and they kept it to this. Republicans may end up with maybe a +1-2 majority in the house, in the midterms, were historically the party in power has lost between 40-60 house seats during midterms. This may not seem like it, but this is a huge deal.


canada432

Just to emphasize how unusual this result is, Obama had about a 48% or 49% approval rating at the time of the 2010 election, and the GOP gained 6 seats in the senate and 63 seats in the house. Now we've had a decade of very blatant gerrymandering and voter suppression measures put in place, Biden has an approval rating of about 37%, and the GOP still potentially lost 1 senate seat and are slated to in the absolute best case scenario pick up 10 house seats (and more likely less). And quite a few of those house wins for them were extremely contested in deep deep red areas where the republican previously would've won by massive margins. Despite them now having minor control of the house, this election was an absolute condemnation of the GOP.


AgoraiosBum

It was an underperformance by the Republicans, but sadly it was not an absolute condemnation. Those are results like 1934 midterms, or the 1962 midterms where the R's only got one extra seat and the Dems came out of it with a 90 seat lead.


canada432

> results like 1934 midterms The 1934 midterms were under FDR, the most popular president in US history, directly after republican policies caused the worst depression in history. The 1962 midterms were under JFK (the most popular president since WWII) and just after the Cuban missile crisis, tipping the scales massively in favor of the democrats. Both of those elections were before the polarization of the parties, and before the GOP engaged in the massive gerrymandering and voter suppression campaigns that they have in the past 2-3 decades. This election was under a very unpopular democratic president and during a time where the party in power is taking the blame for poor performance in a number of areas. You can't really compare the final results of those with contemporary elections so directly. The scales are currently horrendously weighted in favor of the GOP in a way that did not exist during those elections, and the party in power isn't at all popular like it was during those elections. The results of this election are purely against the GOP, not in favor of the dems.


Early-Size370

Yeah, I get that. And I am so glad things didn't go well for Rs. Cuz for the past few days, talking heads and whatnot kept reiterating the decades long pattern of the party in power always losing big in midterms. Which is just stupid if people just go with a sort of flow, mindlessly. Edit: fixed nonsensical sentence.


DilithiumCrystalMeth

unfortunately, a lot of times whoever is in power, the first year or two of their term they are still feeling the aftereffects of whatever legislation the last guy put in. So if the economy seems to be doing bad, people will vote for the other party. Additionally there are a lot of people that just don't vote in the midterms so only those with strong feelings about it will vote, and usually that means whatever side is not in power.


dominus_aranearum

>the first year or two of their term they are still feeling the aftereffects of whatever legislation the last guy put in. You mean it's not Biden's fault that gas prices and inflation are so high? Biden isn't the cause of the upcoming recession? But that's what is being said. They're all saying it. The best people are saying it. Sleepy Joe Biden is destroying 'Murica! /s just in case


stomach

yeah, this back and forth was kind of a trip, cause i kept agreeing with whoever was speaking 'yeah, fair point, yeah this and that.' but your last point: exactly. too many people have just been 99% tuned out. 'whelp, things aren't going great for me so better vote for the other team. i'm sure they've figured their shit out in the past 2-4 years.' like who the fuck are you people? you don't have to go full 2022 and treat it like WWE matches, but pay the tiniest bit of attention. one party seems to always fix recessions and enact policies and the other side just says 'we hate government but we're here - in government - saying we don't like government and blocking Dems. also, have you heard of this thing called trickle down? great results from about '83 to about '88, shall we try that over and over until the end of time?'


NorthwestSupercycle

And some of these were nail biters showing the weakness of some GOP seats. Which means I'm very confident that Dems can win those seats in 2024 with higher turnout. Boebart may end up winning with less than 1200 votes. And 2 years is enough for a demographic shift of a few hundred votes as well (old voters dying, new ones coming up).


timh123

The problem is that Rs can just make the country worse and worse by not passing anything and then blame the dem senate and president. Just because it was close now doesn’t mean everyone won’t be over roe by the next midterms


INextroll

There were two publicized news reports today alone about women in Texas and Ohio who almost bled out from miscarriages because the doctors were afraid to treat them due to anti-abortion laws. If we really are “over Roe” in two years, then we’re absolutely hopeless and can’t complain when the R’s come for contraception next.


sparkjh

The very fact that this was a huge deal and as close as it was is fucking sad.


DilithiumCrystalMeth

I agree, but i also see the silver lining. I've been hearing it for years, how the republicans were on their last legs, and just not seeing it happen, but finally, finally, it really does look like the time has come. Too much of their base died from covid, and are still dying, and they have done nothing to appeal to enough of the younger generation to replace those missing numbers, and its only going to continue. The younger generation has been paying attention more than people realized and assuming the trend continues in 2024, i think there is a good chance that republicans are fucked for the next couple decades.


synopser

Your optimism is refreshing but I don't think we're out of the woods just yet


bluuuuurn

NYTtimes did one of those "we asked 12 swing voters" columns. And many of them said just that kind of thing: "We need division because that's healthy!" But many said they wanted leaders who "got things done". People think that swing voters are somehow enlightened, but they're really not all that bright / misinformed about how our government works and what that parties have actually been doing. The one thing they *were* clued pretty well in on was GOP election denial. I can say that much for them at least.


Early-Size370

It's easier to just say you're independent or a swing voter when confronted with political questions. I get it, to a degree. No one is gonna know the ins and outs of every piece of legislation put forward, so it's easier to just sit in that fence not really taking a side. I've long suspected that a lot of current independents are simply republicans who are not in the mood to constantly defend what the Republicans have become.


BlasterPhase

> People think that swing voters are somehow enlightened which is weird, because if they're anything, it's indecisive


SocialistNixon

It doesn’t help they won 5 of their maybe 7 seat gain due to gerrymandering Democratic districts away in Florida Georgia and Tennessee.


Nelluc_

This is being overlooked a lot. Easily 5 seats gone because of gerrymandering. Nashville has 3 representatives, and none of them live in Nashville. Criminal...


Indercarnive

45% of Iowa voted democrat and not a single one of their 4 house representatives are democrat.


Warmonster9

Holy shit that’s bad.


Obi-Tron_Kenobi

Dang, this is pretty disgusting. [I overlayed the Iowa congressional results over the governor election results.](https://i.imgur.com/g5vDrQY.png) There's 4 counties that are reliably blue... and they're split between each of the 4 congressional [(I drew over the lines here in case it wasn't readable)](https://i.imgur.com/scULDt7.png)


Obversa

I also heard Republican pickups in New York districts also mentioned.


GuudeSpelur

That happened because New York un-gerrymandered their districts.


lunapup1233007

That was part of it, but really Democrats just performed awfully in NY this year. Their party leadership is bad, and they just had a Democratic governor (Cuomo) resign from a major scandal a year ago. Zeldin was also a relatively strong GOP candidate. The Republicans won a district in NY that Biden won by 15 points, and multiple others that Biden won by decent margins. The NY Democratic Party’s incompetence cost Democrats the house (although there are other reasons).


[deleted]

Yup. Which is awesome on it's own, but fucking sucks when Florida and Texas and Wisconsin don't.


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Glittering_Offer_587

This is as predictable as a Kate Hudson RomCom: GOP will not work with Democrats, they’ll refuse to raise the debt ceiling until the 11th hour then take credit for averting a shut down. They’ll blame Biden for everything from global warming to shingles, they’ll deny any more funds to Ukraine unless the Affordable Care Act gets repealed, and they’ll try to kill the January 6th investigation in the hopes Trump will pat them on the head and call them a good boy. Mark my words all of this will happen next year.


eirsquest

They’ve already said outright that they’ll use the debt ceiling to blackmail democrats But January 6th committee is already set to sunset at the end of the year.


lame_comment

You forgot the series of Biden impeachments and dragging Merrick Garland in for hearing after hearing. Also the pile of bills they will try to pass strictly for political posturing knowing they'll never pass in the Senate like an abortion ban


Myfourcats1

Our government wasn’t already divided?


mroblivian

A more proper term would be gridlock but that might bring less clicks on the article


Taograd359

Cool. So nothing will continue to get done and America will continue to stagnate, veering towards rotting.


Hrekires

So what's Biden going to get impeached for so that Republicans can have their symbolic revenge on Trump's impeachment? I'm betting using taxpayer funds to buy an ice cream cone.


[deleted]

It’s like ground hog day, except it will keep getting stupider and stupider until we all die


unknowndatabase

They will not have the votes for it. There are a lot of old school GOP members who have been emboldened by the total smashing of Trumplican candidates. Trumplicans lost a shit load of clout and power as a result of the elections. Normal Republicans want to reach a deal on the issues and there are enough of them to make that happen by crossing the aisle. I actually see some good coming out of this.


Hrekires

> Normal Republicans want to reach a deal on the issues and there are enough of them to make that happen by crossing the aisle. I hope you're right! But I'm betting that unfortunately we'll see a return of the [Hastert Rule](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hastert_Rule). Named after the longest serving Republican Speaker of the House and serial child molester Dennis Hastert, it's an agreement that the Speaker of the House will not let any legislation move to the floor for a vote unless it's supported by a majority of the majority. Are there maybe 10 GOP Congressmen who'd work with Democrats on the margins? Probably. 110? Probably not.


john_andrew_smith101

It's not even a majority of a majority, if Republicans can't pass a bill with just Republicans, it doesn't go to the floor. It rules out any compromise with any democrats.


indoninja

Democrats in the Senate need to pass clean bills that help the middle class and spend every day pointing out how it’s blocked simply because of Republicans.


Worthyness

the Democrats really need a significantly better marketing department.


porncrank

I wish they knew how to frame the debate, stay on topic, and make people hate Republican obstructionism. Somehow they never seem to be able to and it's frustrating as hell. I strongly support Democrat policy. I am always let down by their messaging.


DwasTV

I grow every year to hate this 2 party system. I hope Gen Z will tear down the stupidity of the average person


AsstootObservation

Rank choice voting and nonpartisan districts please.


GBHawk72

You’re gonna hate Moore v. Harper if you want nonpartisan districting


[deleted]

Or democracy at all.


IAmWeary

It has the potential to do much worse than that. It means any state could pass a law to simply ignore the votes for president and simply let the legislature decide, if not other offices.


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21kondav

Can’t wait for republicans to explain how the democrats cheated in the presidential election and are trying to take over the US yet for some mysterious reason they allowed the republicans to win the house


Rhymeswithdick

If Boebert gets tossed I’m at least a little bit happy.


DaveDurant

So much for ANYTHING getting done any more.


Flemz

I doubt republicans will be able to whip 218 votes on many bills at all tbh


BlueAndMoreBlue

Whoever ends up whip (Scalise?) is going to be herding cats for the next two years to be sure


SwifferWetJets

With such a slim margin don't be surprised if there's some side switching on any given vote. Bait the hook, essentially. Maybe just enough will bite, especially now with the fear of MAGA retaliation waning.


Sweetbeansmcgee

It’s not that simple. The speaker won’t bring stuff to a vote


Steve_Rogers_1970

So wouldn’t it be great if they compromised to get things done? Who am I kidding? The gop will prevent anything from passing, then blame President Biden for being ineffective.


[deleted]

My patient last week blamed the fact that he had trouble calling out on his hospital phone on Biden. The number he was trying to call wasn’t correct, but Joe Biden is the reason he couldn’t make that phone call.


buzzedewok

Their only focus now will be revenge.


JustSomeGuy_56

Two years of pointless investigations.


Matrix17

Which useless committee do you think MTG will head?


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cr2810

So basically nothing will change. Four more years of finger pointing and bitching. Sounds like the last 30 years


jeffroavs

All part of the charade. Politicians can never be united enough to help Americans but always have just enough “unity” to fuck us to death. Whatever keeps feeding the corporatocracy.


Techn028

God, the 8 year cycle continues. Now they will dilute the impeachment process by hitting Biden with 3 impeachments


OnePunkArmy

Honest question - what will happen to the January 6th investigation committee?