Did Post-Covid Election Innovations Stall the Predicted Red Wave? | Over The Target

Well, the projected red wave didn't take place, and there's a lot of theory circulating about why it didn't happen. That's right, Brendan. A week later, it's still not clear exactly what happened while both right and left were predicting massive Republican gains. That never materialized. Why not? Let's look at some different possibilities. I'm Brendan Falun. And I'm Lee Smith. And we're Over the Target. It wasn't just the case that Republicans were confident they were going to do very well in this election. It was that Democrats were predicting they weren't going to do that well and were virtually consoling their voters, saying things along the lines of, it's okay to lose occasionally. Yeah, they were telling them beforehand. They recognized that the Biden administration's problems, especially with inflation, Democratic consultants, strategists that we saw in places like CNN, MSNBC, and then, of course, the print press, New York Times and Washington Post, they were all explaining, putting in context what looked like an upcoming onslaught, a red onslaught. Again, they were talking about inflation, mostly inflation, talking about rising gas prices, how this was affecting everyone, and it would be reflected in the polls. We saw this with the Democratic Party-aligned press right up until Election Day. So again, it took not only right-wing media personalities and strategists saying, here comes the red, it started as a red wave, and then it turned into a red tsunami. So what we saw last week and what we've seen unfolding over the course of the week has come as a surprise to everyone, it seems. Lee, while there wasn't a red wave as such, as predicted, there does seem to be a certain level of victories within certain regions within the U.S. for Republicans. Yeah, absolutely. And everyone is pointing, especially to Florida, where Governor Ron DeSantis, Senator Marco Rubio, they handily defeated their Democratic Party opponents. As a congressional source told me last night, Governor DeSantis' win has been described as a landslide. And this person who is a Republican said that's not quite accurate, because frankly, right now, Florida is just a red state. So it's going to be very, very hard for Democrats to win there anytime in the foreseeable future. Over the last couple of years since COVID, and Governor DeSantis deserves all the credit for this, keeping his state open, right, the free state of Florida, as they've called it, that's been extremely attractive to Americans, especially those locked down in the Northeast by COVID, all sorts of repugnant violations of their liberties. And so they've gone to Florida, they've moved to Florida, and the people who have moved there, even if they didn't move as Republicans, they've now registered as Republicans. And Florida is a very, very important sign, right, about what has happened to the United States over the last couple years. And in a sense, the 2022 midterms might be seen as a post-COVID election, and how that reflects how the United States has been shaped in light of the COVID lockdowns, as well as the mandates. And speaking of victories for the Republicans, I guess we can't exactly cast New York as a victory, but certainly saw a shift in the amount of votes received by the Republican gubernatorial candidate and Senate candidates in New York. And what you've said about COVID, I imagine this is factored in heavily there, New York being the state that saw some of the heaviest COVID restrictions, the lockdown restrictions, vaccine mandates. It's very interesting because it does play exactly into this. Now, Lee Zeldin ran a very impressive campaign. Former New York congressman ran a against sitting governor Kathy Hochul. And one of the things that Mr. Zeldin was focusing on was crime. And usually or typically in that race, a Democrat would be expected to walk away with it because New York, while not a blue state, New York City is a blue city, and that basically carries the entire state. So Mr. Zeldin finished, he lost, but he finished within seven points, which is itself extraordinary. So what we're talking about is there was a red wave, just not high enough to pull across people like Congressman Zeldin. What it did do though, is the Long Island congressional delegation, for instance, for the first time, I think maybe forever, is all Republican. Four Republicans are going from Long Island. But again, one of the important things to see about New York is how many New Yorkers, I mean, this is the state that most people left from since COVID began. And lots of them went down to Florida. So one way to see it is, is that Mr. Zeldin's winning margin may be in Florida. So again, as we said, this is the post COVID election. What we mean by that is different people have moved to different parts of the country. And they've reorganized themselves. And in many ways, this is what the 2022 vote is reflecting. We see that in Florida, number one, but we see it in other places too, like New York, and in places where people have not left. Places like California, where people suffered the most draconian lockdowns and regulations. People reelected Gavin Newsom. You would say, how could that happen? Look at California, Los Angeles, San Francisco, these great American cities are falling apart under the stewardship of Gavin Newsom. But the people who have not left, right, they're going to stick around. If they have no problem with what's going on, they're going to reelect the people who are responsible for the way that their states now look. I wonder, Lee, why that would be the case that, for example, with California, white people who are subject to the kind of conditions there, the way things have deteriorated in terms of crime, the living standard there, why they would be persistent in voting for a Democrat? Is it the case that factors that we may have discounted, like the gun control issue, I guess the way that the Democrats have cast democracy being in danger with the Jan 6th committee hearings, have those things that have solidified the opinion of voters in these blue states? Yeah, I don't think the January 6th talking points were that important for voters, even Democratic Party voters. Look, I mean, we have to recognize that at this point, at least a generation of voters has been educated to believe that voting for a Republican is like voting for a Nazi. So the idea that there's going to be Republican candidates who are going to do well in places like San Francisco or Seattle is highly unlikely. So I don't think it's the particular messaging about threats to democracy and stuff like that. But again, I think that what we've seen here, what we've seen the last several years, in many ways, this vote only confirms the voting that we've seen the last couple of years, the most important voting that people do, which is voting by your feet, meaning picking up and leaving and moving to another place saying, life is not going great here in New York City. Life is not going great here in Chicago or Los Angeles. So these people have moved to places like Idaho, not just Florida, they moved to Idaho, but they moved to Texas or they moved to North Carolina or South Carolina. So we've seen a lot of voting already going on the last several years. People have consolidated red states and the places where people have stayed, the places that we might consider problems with crime, very dangerous urban environments, with draconian COVID regulations. People have basically reaffirmed their loyalty to the party that has imposed these lockdowns, that is responsible for the spikes in crime, saying, nope, we're sticking to Los Angeles or Chicago or Manhattan or Brooklyn, no matter what. So again, that's what we mean when we're talking about the consolidation of red and blue America right now. If you're enjoying watching Over the Target on YouTube, you can find the full version on Epoch TV. Watch us on Epoch TV, where you'll find not only Over the Target, but all your favorite Epoch TV shows, including Vital Signs with Brendan Falun. Come get healthy with me on Vital Signs.