I realize that in space such as this I am supposed to wish everyone a happy new year.
I can’t do it. After 63 of these damn things, I know perfectly well that it will be the same shit, different year.
I won’t lie to you. I won’t raise false hope.
Gilead
Donald Trump
Coup attempt
Fig. 1. “Jake Angeli (Qanon Shaman), seen holding a Qanon sign at the intersection of Bell Rd and 75th Ave in Peoria, Arizona, on 2020 October 15.” Photography by TheUnseen011101 [pseud.], October 15, 2020, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
It appears that the story of the 2022 midterm election and the “red wave” that wasn’t is that traditional midterm expectations of a wipeout for the party in power combined with Republican polling that reinforced that narrative. It all failed to account for the wildcards I and, as it turns out, a few others pointed to.[1]
Jim Rutenberg, Ken Bensinger, and Steve Eder, “The ‘Red Wave’ Washout: How Skewed Polls Fed a False Election Narrative,” New York Times, December 31, 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/31/us/politics/polling-election-2022-red-wave.html
- [1]David Benfell, “The really, really, really wild wildcards in the 2022 and 2024 elections,” Not Housebroken, December 1, 2022, https://disunitedstates.org/2022/08/17/the-really-really-really-wild-wildcards-in-the-2022-and-2024-elections/; Jim Rutenberg, Ken Bensinger, and Steve Eder, “The ‘Red Wave’ Washout: How Skewed Polls Fed a False Election Narrative,” New York Times, December 31, 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/31/us/politics/polling-election-2022-red-wave.html↩