I debated whether to put quotes on the post title since it’s stolen from a TPM article about Congressman Tim Ryan. Internal arguments are the best kind. They’re literally win-win. I decided to go for the win by leaving the quotation marks off.

Ryan has been using the phrase exhausted majority to describe the state of the nation in 2022. It’s perfect. Hell, it describes me and I’m a political junkie. Campaign 2022 *is* exhausting even when I take a break. It’s still looming out there with dark rumblings in many quarters about the state of play.

The state of play seems the same to me with incremental shifts in favor of the Republicans. These shifts are being trumpeted by those who like extra drama in their politics. They seem subtle and even I daresay nuanced. The GOP is favored to take the House, the Democrats the Senate. That hasn’t changed. I still hope the Dems will hold the House but I’m not making a prediction. That’s a mug’s game in 2022. In the immortal words of a notable Democrat:

A divided Congress will grind everything to a halt after two years of progress, but the Senate will act as a brake on the nuts in the House. Same as it ever was, same as it ever was.

There’s also an excellent chance that House Republicans will overplay their hand if they win a majority. There are some mighty annoying people among them. The exhausted majority finds the likes of Jim Jordan and Marjorie Taylor Greene exhausting. My lone prediction is that win or lose there’s a chance that Steve Scalise will knife KMac. If that happens, the Gret Stet media will praise him and say it’s good for Louisiana. Same as it ever was, same as it ever was.

I have an unexpected ally in my cautious optimism: Michael Moore. Having gotten the 2016 presidential election right, he considers himself Carnac in a ball cap instead of a turban. He does, however, advance some compelling arguments in an interview with The Guardian. Plus, early voting is at the same level as in 2018, which was a good year for the good guys.

In any event, it’s just a state of play:

The mid-terms aren’t the only election I’m following. Boris Johnson has decided not to do that UK Jive and stand for Prime Minister allowing the least crazy of the right-wingers, Rishi Sunak, to become a prohibitive favorite to be the next PM. Sunak was the runner up to 44 Day Liz Truss in that ill-fated leadership contest. He will be the first Asian PM of the UK and one of the richest ever. There will be no early election: Sunak is apt to consider that Rishi Business…

Speaking of Indians, we attended a Diwali party last night. It was great fun, and I didn’t do what I worried about in this Tweet:

Going to a Diwali party at one of Dr A’s colleagues house later. Need to purge this pun from my system. Diwali? What about di beaver?

— Shecky (@Adrastosno) October 23, 2022

I applied my nicknaming knack to the spouses of the docs last night. We are now the Sidekicks. One of them is a brilliant Brazilian bloke with whom I discussed the Brazilian election run-off. He’s as nervous as hell that Bolsonaro might squeak out a victory or refuse to leave office if defeated. He, of course, never calls the incumbent by his real name. It’s always Bozo.

Scary clown nicknames are in: we have Pennywise, they have Bozo. They are equally stupid and equally corrupt. No wonder we have an exhausted majority in America; make that the Americas. Stay tuned.

Since yesterday was Kinks day at First Draft, they get the last word with a Dave Davies song: