The “chattering classes” are still churning out their reactions to the mysterious non-appearance of a Red wave in the midterms, and several of those analyses echo that of conservative-but-not-crazy Bret Stephens. In his weekly back and forth with liberal Gail Collins in the New York Times, Stephens summed up Democrats’ surprising performance by concluding that– however American voters might feel about inflation or crime or the overall direction of the country — they weren’t ready to give up reproductive rights, endorse election denialism or cast ballots for “Republican candidates who have the intelligence of turnips and the personalities of tapeworms.”
A politically-savvy friend says voters had crazy fatigue…
Whatever else was in play, the enormous importance of reproductive rights to those election results has become increasingly obvious. All five states with abortion measures on the ballot voted for women’s bodily autonomy, including deep-Red Kentucky. More importantly, in virtually every state, turnout by women–many of whom had only recently registered to vote–increased.
That increase was consistent with longer-term trends; as The Center for American Women and Politics reports
Women have registered and voted at higher rates than men in every presidential election since 1980, with the turnout gap between women and men growing slightly larger with each successive presidential election. Women, who constitute more than half the population, have cast almost 10 million more votes than men in recent elections.
Once again, more women voted, and the message they sent was unmistakable: women are not going backward, not handing their reproductive choices to state legislators.
In a VoteCast exit survey, pro-choice voters (those who said abortion should be legal in all or most cases) were far more likely than pro-life voters (those who said abortion should be illegal in all or most cases) to say that the Dobbs decision had a “major impact” on which candidates they voted for. The partisan gap was more than 30 points– 65 percent of Democrats said Dobbs was a major factor, compared to 32 percent of Republicans.
It isn’t just through voting. Women are protecting America in other forums, too. A recent column by Jennifer Rubin detailed the current status of the investigation into Trump’s efforts to steal the 2020 election being conducted by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.
A voluminous new report from the Brookings Institution provides a legal road map for the potential prosecution of Trump. The report debunks defenses that Trump will likely deploy and underscores the real possibility that his closest associates might flip in the case, given how many might face criminal liability.
The Brookings Report to which she cites enumerates the multiple efforts made by Trump and his associates to subvert the election results in Georgia, and concludes that those efforts violated several relevant criminal statutes, including: 1) solicitation to commit election fraud, Ga. Code Ann. § 21-2-604(a); 2) intentional interference with performance of election duties, Ga. Code Ann. § 21-2-597; 3) interference with primaries and elections, Ga. Code Ann. § 21-2-566; and 4) conspiracy to commit election fraud, Ga. Code Ann. § 21-2-603.
Meanwhile, in New York, another female Attorney General, Letitia James, has sued the Trump organization for fraud.
That lawsuit is currently being tried, but James already won an important interim victory: a New York court granted James’ motion for a preliminary injunction, finding that the claims in her lawsuit are likely to succeed at trial. The Court ruled that Trump and the Trump Organization “cannot transfer any material assets to another entity without court approval, are required to include all supporting and relevant material in any new financial disclosures to banks and insurers, and ordered to appoint an independent monitor to oversee compliance with these measures.”
Going into the midterms, there was considerable debate about whether American democracy would prove robust enough to withstand the obvious and significant challenges it is facing from White Christian Nationalists and MAGA Republicans. Democratic governance requires adherence to one of the most important elements of the rule of law: the principle that no one is above the law–not rich people, not celebrities, not elected officials, and not Presidents.
That essential principle–accountability– is one of the (multiple) aspects of American governance that Donald Trump and his corrupt cohorts utterly fail to understand. If there is any one thing Donald Trump clearly believes, it is that rules are for other people–that the rules don’t apply to him.
Thus far, one of the very few Republicans who has had the cojones to tell him otherwise–forcefully and publicly– has been another female: Liz Cheney.
As Rubin noted in her column, it takes courageous women to do “what hordes of sniveling Republican politicians, donors and insiders cannot: hold Trump accountable.”
Don’t mess with us….
Haven’t women always ?
Memo to Trump: Don’t mess with a determined woman backed by substantiated evidence.
Good luck to them all. Time is short.
As I’ve grown older, I’ve become increasingly curious as to why a one-word descriptive of the male reproductive package (e.g., “balls” or as here “cojones”) is equated with strength while calling someone a one-word descriptive of the female reproductive zone (e.g., “pussy”) implies such a person is weak. The reality is that testicles provide a quick route to hurting the owner, while women can endure child birth. [NOTE: this observation is about metaphors and is not meant to be the launch pad for discussion of anatomy.]
The current buzz involves Nancy Pelosi’s abdication of House Democratic leadership to the next generation. Her pointed responses to Trump’s bullshit administration enabled, I think, women to be more out-spoken or out-going in their political lives. Karen Bass in Los Angeles is another example of a strong female politician who does not suffer Republicans at all.
The utter disgrace that Republicans continue to heap upon themselves is stunning too. They showed group disrespect for Pelosi by not showing up for her address or sat their looking at their I-phones. Typical. Now we hear how the vengeance-minded idiots are going to go after Garland, Biden(s) and anybody else who showed the world the cravenness, fecklessness and utter corruption of the Republican party. So if anyone wants legislation to pass Congress for the next two years, forget it. The Republican “conference” in the House is nothing more than a collection of whiney children fighting over everything to gain power.
And the prospect of Kevin McCarthy being House speaker is beyond laughable. I can only think that the oligarchs who fund his campaigns and bribe him regularly also own a bizarre circus. But unlike the clowns in any circus, McCarthy is neither intelligent nor talented. If Democrats do it right, they will not only further activate women, but the “undecided” voter too as the Republicans continue to throw up on themselves.
Amen Mark. It is also noted you do not get between a she wolf, she bear, etc and her offspring if you value your life.
Further proof, out of countless examples, that women are smarter than men. I have long thought that we guys should step aside and let women run the world for awhile. It pains me to say this, but my gender has screwed things up so damn bad!
I can’t wait until women outnumber men in Congress! We only have 90 in the house according to Madam Speaker (the badass)! Let’s get it done!
mark small; “As it is and as it shall ever be.” No idea where I remember that quote from but…”The more things change, the more they stay the same.” We, as the weaker sex, will ever be considered lower class members of humanity. I am again reminded of Dilys Laing’s quote, “Women receive the insults of men with tolerance; having been bitten in the nipple by their toothless gums.” We kept them healthy and strong and they still have their knees on our necks.
“A politically-savvy friend says voters had crazy fatigue…”
I know my tolerance level for the ongoing Trump and his cronies being above the law, contrary to the continuing claims that “No one is above the law>” which is the bigger lie than Trump’s Big Lie. I was beginning to relax a little when either the CNN or MSNBC news reminded me that Marjorie Taylor Green has been handed back her powers-that-be with all Republicans in the House takeover, however slim. She and others are now in power and promise revenge by returning to MAGA tactics to keep shit stirred up and block progress in Congress. Time to stop cheering and patting ourselves on the back; the House majority is a major loss to Republicans and their fat man hasn’t sung his swan song yet.
This chorus from an old favorite by Harry Belafonte “Man Smart (Woman Smarter)” says it all:
“And not me but the people they say
That the man are leading the women astray
But I say, that the women of today
Smarter than the man in every way
That’s right de woman is uh smarter
That’s right de woman is uh smarter
That’s right de woman is uh smarter, that’s right, that’s right.”
Harry knew this in 1956, so it seems we’re a little bit late to the discovery. BTW congrats to Harry for his Rock Hall of Fame induction, 2022.
JoAnn,
That’s Latin, Or I should say It was originally Latin.
Sic Semper Erat, Et Sic Semper Erit!!!
Roman Catholic in origin.
Kind of continuing on the faith tac,
Women seem to hold fast to their faith and remain true to their faith whichever tangent form it may take. Men on the other hand, tend to manipulate faith, they rely on themselves rather than any other sort of enlightenment. It’s the ultimate form of Me’ism.
Of course you have outliers like Bobert and Green, but, on the whole, the craving for self aggrandizement and power lies in the male saddle so to speak.
When you have individuals promoting faith, or their form of faith over proven theory which is scientific law, those are just narcissistic con artists. Just like knowing the Earth is round, you still have so many of these nare-do-wells promoting a flat Earth scenario. Something the Mesopotamians came up with, the Earth sitting on the back of elephants in those elephants standing on the back of a giant turtle or tortoise. Lol, and this late age of enlightenment, you still have individuals in leadership positions alluding to this sort of easily verifiable nonsense. Tangibly verifiable!
When one digs in their heels to promote something verifiably false, what is the reason? The reason is destruction, is to destroy! There are always enough volatile followers to ignite with just a permission slip. That has to be eliminated for there to be any real change. But, who will do it?
Women didn’t have heart attacks on the level of men, not even close. But, it climbed exponentially with women becoming involved in the business world. And I would imagine, other traits that men display will increase in women besides just heart attacks. The more power, the more striving to catch the wind, and the more disaster occurs. Faithful become faithless, Anarchy, crime, murder and greed run rampant, and therefore the end of that particular civilized society. I really love history!
Back in the days when survival was often a matter of strength it could be said that men imposed and women cajoled. Imposing involved strength and temper and cajoling involved planning and politics. Culture being what it is, while we have outgrown the reality that brought about those times, the culture persists.
Voting doesn’t require much strength (in fact the denial of democracy and voting requires more pseudo-strength, blindly insisting) but is more effective when part of a plan to use politics to get around strength. Enter the weaker sex. You know, the sex with the most at stake in birth control given that men are notoriously irresponsible in where they ejaculate.
As for why our pre-voting polling is somewhat blind to that, IDK.
Women – yes. Particularly a lot more younger women – who are becoming a significant factor in elections. More younger men (less than women) – also are helping the results in key states. In recent elections Black Women have been key. Now – this continues to be true – while additionally younger (often BIPOC) women are the ones who turn up in large numbers!
This is particularly important – because we – the older white men – are resisting change and keeping the power away from moving forward – desperate – for “stability” – e.g. – Reactionary Idiocy!
Let’s see. The most respected woman in America is Michelle Obama. She is busy writing books. The VP has zero reputation. Stacey Abrams was the boss lady and lost. Who ya looking to? AOC and her squad? Who’s gonna “woman up”?
I’m just curious if this is another means to divide the people. This time by gender by dividing a wedge between male/female and who gets to decide on abortion issues. It’s also an excellent dividing issue between secular and nonsecular, or those who can’t distinguish between the two.
What’s ironic is two days after the election, a Texas judge threw out Biden’s student loan forgiveness program. Two days after…irony or planned?
We are being sorted out and divided up to keep from coming together. It seems evident to me at this point.
I have two unrelated thoughts:
1) Let’s be very careful when reading too far into someone’s politics or capabilities based on one factor – ie “this is a woman, she’ll be pro-choice” or competent, liberal, or whatever. See MTG, Boebert, Sinema, Etc. Same goes for minority groups – plenty of wacky people who happen to fall into a group liberals tend to assume will be 100% on side.
2) In the spirit of the giving season, can we all pool our resources and help Todd get the therapy he so desperately needs? That level of paranoia can’t be healthy.
Lol–Mark I noted the use of metaphors many years ago and decided to change it up–that woman that man has some breasts in reference to being bold and tough. I often think of the movie Steel Magnolia’s and a reference to the character M’Lynn.
Opinionated, direct, strong women have always been seen as a threat to both sexes and women are given derogatory names like ‘Bitches’–if we are annoyed and voice our displeasure it is because we are on our periods–‘that time of the month’ quips.
Too many have not left the playgrounds of our youth. My sister played soccer and was often on mostly male teams and she was good. Played intermural soccer for Purdue in the late 80’s but if she took down a boy or did better than they were the shrills from the field–stop looking at her legs boys-the focus that the boy was memorized by beauty rather than they just were not as good and these statements came from their mothers.
Grace and strength under fire, Nancy Pelosi held US Democracy together during the corrupt Trump administration and the onslaught of the fascist coup. She’s one of the greats.
VERN! BEAUTIFUL!
So, now we will see the GOPIGGIES spend lots of taxpayer money to chase down Hunter’s laptop, which I wish
someone would forcefully introduce to MTG’s rear end!
You know how the Brits do their “Long live the king/queen” thing?
Long live Biden and Harris!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yeah, it’s God save the Queen! Now I imagine it’s God save the king, because the queen is dead, lol!
So is it God save the POTUS or the V’POTUS???
Or, maybe, just maybe, that would be too religiously explicit and not acceptable our atheistic tendencies?
Seems like it doesn’t take much to get people whipped up into a frenzy, everyone needs to say what they mean and mean what they say, hypocritical or not!
Today’s column reminds of what an exceptional human being and leader Nancy Pelosi is. The former undoubtedly is a huge reason for the latter. Her humanity as well as her leadership skills and calm strength under pressure come through time and again. The videos of her behind the scenes efforts on January 6th showed her calm, collected, and strategic calls to re-gain security for the Congress and Capitol (as the president was supposed to be doing) and her obvious concern for Mike Pence’s safety and everyone else’s.
As any good leader does, her track record of accomplishments includes cultivating and teaching and diversifying congressional leadership so that it is ably ready to lead AND is much more representative of ALL Americans.
She’s done it all with dignity, respect, skill, and grace despite the decades of hate and threats directed her way by political opponents and insurrectionists. Her comment yesterday – rising above it all – to say that our flag is still there moved me to tears.
She is a giant in American history for all men and women – especially the women and more especially for the young women who have grown up seeing her in congressional leadership throughout their young years.
Thank you Speaker Pelosi for understanding what a difference you were making for a whole generation of young people and for valuing ALL Americans in your every policy and leadership endeavor.
Saw on a bumper sticker:
Be Grateful Women Only want Equality
Not Revenge
To Nancy Papas @2:55
Thank you for adding Nancy Pelosi to my list of extraordinary women. Talk about saving democracy! I endorse everything you reference!
For millennia, women have been puppets to physiology.
Now, they need not be, but many see the logic of women’s roles in that way.
Women, some! women, vary from the center of the bell curve.
Now, if they wish, they can fill any role they’re fit for.
Men have their place. I cheer them all on as humans.
If we separate out any large segment of society such as women or men or people over 65 or people under 20 or people with dark skins or manual laborers or immigrants or the poor and we create a society in which that group is not enabled to reach their full potential as productive members, we are all poorer for it. If that group then IS allowed to be productive, we may be in awe of what they contribute. ANY type of caste system weakens its society.
Right on Sharon Miller!
As we sit in the aftermath of Indiana’s election where citizens voted for a guy that had been fired twice from the same office he was running for, along with being an election denier, I still don’t understand how voters can be so uninformed, and still vote for a total loser.
And at the same time, almost all of the idiots that voted to ban abortion in Indiana were re-elected and the only theory I have seen to explain Indiana’s voters behavior is “calcification” where voters are so set in their ways, it would take Adolf Hitler running for office before they notice there might be something might not be right. I can’t believe the mythical “swing” voters exists as the right becomes more and more extreme and the choice between Republicans and Democrats becomes more extreme. What is wrong with all of these people? Why are so many voters so ignorant? I can truly say that women had no effect on Indiana voting. Voter calcification was more powerful here.
Sharon Miller wrote the essential truth:
“If we separate out any large segment of society such as women or men or people over 65 or people under 20 or people with dark skins or manual laborers or immigrants or the poor and we create a society in which that group is not enabled to reach their full potential as productive members, we are all poorer for it. If that group then IS allowed to be productive, we may be in awe of what they contribute. ANY type of caste system weakens its society.” No more need be said. Thanks, Sharon.
It’s been stated above, but I hate this crass categorization.
Whitmer in Michigan, Sanders in Arkansas, and remember those “moderate” Republican women Sentors who voted to stack the Supreme Court for the Dobbs decision.
Another memory – women were “liberated” by “the pill” and, by and large, don’t want the government to ban birth control, but I remember rumblings in the early days when adverse effects were discovered, how “evil men” did this to women and would never create a male contraceptive pill with side effects.
One more – sorry – Indiana DID elect a turnip with an “R” in front of his name — OK, Morales isn’t a turnip, but —–
OK, so to not get so down, women are starting to come into their own in many arenas, and with the notable exceptions, because no sex has a monopoly on good or bad, this is a very positive development.
Last thought – Pelosi has always had brains, spunk, and class – she showed all three again when she decided to step back.
Thank you Peggy
Kuddos to Belafonte, my hero.
A fb friend got restricted on her page saying that women were smarter. I reminded her about Belafonte’s song.
They’re coming after our (women’s) voting rights next.