It’s been a rough decade for the country. This is the sixth election cycle since the Trumpist takeover of the Republican party. 2026 is the most promising year for Democrats since 2006 when an unpopular president presiding over an unpopular war and lousy economy took what he himself called “a thumping.” George W Bush was a terrible president but he accepted the will of the voters. Donald Trump has not, does not, and will not accept the will of the voters. It no longer matters: His credibility is in tatters.
The legacy media insists that the Insult Comedian’s ability to “create his own reality” is his political superpower. Wrong. It’s a sign of delusional thinking and cognitive decline. The rest of us may not like the current reality but we have to deal with it. Surrounded by sycophants, Trump is incapable of accepting the reality that project dictator has failed for lack of popular support.
Trump’s approval ratings have collapsed to Truman, Nixon, and W levels. That’s why the Spirit Of ’06 is back with a vengeance. Revenge is something the Kaiser of Chaos should understand but he’s too high on egomania to notice the collapse of his base.
The 2006 election cycle is special to me. It was my first election as a pundit, which intensified my interest. I was sick and tired of being sick and tired of the Bush wars. We’ve come to call them forever wars but they were Bush wars, make that Bush-Cheney wars. I don’t want to let Cheney off the hook because he was belatedly right about Trump. Blind pig; acorn.
Howard Dean was the DNC chair in 2006. He pursued the 50-state strategy, which ebbed as the focus turned to swing states and electoral college majorities in presidential years. We’re back on track 20 years later as states many had given up on are in play because of Trump’s disastrous policies and increasingly crazy comments. He thinks that every word that comes out of his big fat bazoo is golden and that all of his jokes land but nuke jokes are never funny. I should probably tweak my OG nickname for him but the Bad Insult Comedian doesn’t scan as well.
I considered using this Dr. Strangelove image for this post but went celebratory with Jasper Johns instead:
The senate map has expanded as you can see from this image via Sabato’s Crystal Ball:
The map proves that candidates matter:
- In Georgia, Jon Ossoff’s emergence as a rhetorical superstar and a weak opponent has made him the prohibitive favorite.
- In North Carolina, Roy Cooper is an old friend to voters, which is why the GOP has stopped throwing money away there.
- In Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed had proven me wrong. He’s a nimble candidate whose outreach to his primary opponents has worked.
- In Texas, James Talarico has a terrible opponent thanks to President Pennywise.
- In Ohio, appointed senator Jon Husted has become chum for Sherrod Brown to devour.
- In Iowa, Josh Turek is riding a wave of rural dissatisfaction with GOP policies as well as the coattails of gubernatorial nominee Rob Sand.
- In Kansas, Methodist pastor Adam Hamilton is running a strong campaign against a surprisingly weak incumbent.
- In Alaska, nobody cares about the NYT hit piece on Mary Peltola who is as Alaskan as the midnight sun.
- In New Hamsphire, my countryman Chris Pappas has moved into the lead. I may have to claim him as kin.
There are other states in play because of the weakness of red state candidates in the face of a genuine challenge. I remain concerned about Maine because Troy Jackson is a meh candidate whose campaign is haunted by the ghost of the Nazi tattoo guy. But given the possibility of a blue tsunami instead of a blue wave, Runaround Sue is in deep shit. Sink, Sue, sink.
I used The Spirit Of ’06 as the title in order to reclaim the semiquincentennial celebration from the hands of Team MAGA. It also evokes my Katrina focused Spirit Of ’05 post. I am, however, optimistic, not over confident. I’m not certain when Democrats became the party of bedwetters and pessimists but I harken back to the party of FDR and JFK. Hubert Humphrey called it the politics of joy. I call it The Spirit Of ’06.
The musical last word goes to Aretha Franklin followed by Bruce Springsteen:
The countdown last word goes to Harold Lloyd who’s still hanging in there:
