Who’s having the nightmare now?

Source: Wikimedia Commons

And just like that, overnight, a thousand lies fell apart. And it wasn’t just Republican lies that fell apart. Horsewash centrist narratives fell apart, too. Democrats are losers, are they? Democrats are too far left and have to move to the right, do they? Democrats will commit suicide if they play hardball? Democrats were silly to fret about threats to democracy when they should have talked about “abundance”?

But Democrats weren’t losers last night. From coast to coast, they won with drop-dead margins guaranteed to rip the rugs right out from under the triumpalism of Republicans and the barren lectures of the high-perch centrists.

It was a 34-year-old democratic socialist who won in New York, while a 67-year-old centrist (Andrew Cuomo) went down in flames. Californians gave Gavin Newsome, by a nearly two to one margin, the permission he needs to let Republicans know that if they try to gerrymander their way out of a Republican bloodbath in 2026, Democrats won’t just stand by and mewl while they get away with it. In Virginia, the new Democratic governor won by 15 points, and the new governor of New Jersey by 13 points.

Everybody knows that Republicans lie. That’s just a given. But I’m particulary amused by how the centrists (whether center-left or center-right) will now have to come up with some sneaky new ways of gilding a phony middle to dignify Republican lies.

At the New York Times, the idiot savant Ross Douthat has already started rolling out his new line: “Mamdani’s Victory Is Less Significant Than You Think: New York’s next mayor won’t save the Democrats.”

I can’t wait to hear what Ezra Klein, another idiot savant at the Times, comes up with. But I will be very surprised if it doesn’t boil down to a cautionary rather than celebratory “Yes, but” with a large serving of cunningly centrist sleight of hand formulated to keep him in good graces with New York Times management. Klein has, for far too long, gotten away with the deceit that has gotten him so much attention — claiming to want to help Democrats, even as, again and again, he undermines Democrats so that he can keep his perch and troll for attention.

But even as we celebrate this turnaround for Democrats, I am strongly of the opinion that Democrats didn’t have all that much to do with it, other than not being Republicans. Rather, Republicans did this, not only by what they already have done in the past year, but also by showing the world what they intend to do.

A year ago, it was easier to get away with lying (abundance and lower prices!). That was just talk, after all. But foolish people fell for it. Now that Republicans own all the power, the lies are being exposed (except for the full truth about Jeffrey Epstein), and they don’t have to keep a lid on even the Hitler-lovers among them, or the greed . They can have a Great Gatsby party for the super-rich while millions go hungry, not just flaunting but celebrating the fact that they just don’t care, never did, and never will.

Update 1, Krugman:

I had finished writing this post by 7 a.m., but I was waiting to put it up until Paul Krugman’s daily column arrived. Krugman usually posts around 6:30 a.m., but he was late today, no doubt because there was so much to write about. As expected, Krugman gets it right: Which Party Is in Trouble, Again?

Update 2, Looking ahead:

What will Republicans do now? A normal party, after such ominous losses, would look for ways — ways more or less in keeping with the party’s principles — to change course. But Republicans can’t do that. For one, the entire party is enslaved to Trump, and Trump won’t let them. For two, all the behind-the-scenes money and power that control the party is never going to back down on the real agenda — making the rich richer and the poor poorer, while killing off functions of government that stand in the way of making the rich richer and the poor poorer. There are no doubt a few Republicans in Congress who would like to see some changes of course. My guess, though, is that they are more likely to join those who already have been driven out of the party than to succeed in getting Republicans to change.

Republicans have two basic options: Better lies capable of deceiving voters again, or a surefire (and criminal) way to stay in power after the 2026 midterm elections. MAGA Republicans have no problem at all with the criminality. After all, their pardons depend on staying in power. My guess is that Republicans will blend these two options.

This year, Republicans had total control of what we call “the narrative.” The media were cowed, Democrats were powerless. Next year will different. It can’t be long before Gavin Newsome declares that he is running for president. The media will have to pay attention, and Newsome will scoop up the Republican narrative like clumps of kitty litter. Next year, it should be fun again to be a Democrat and a liberal.