Wow! What a country! Georgia just elected two Democratic Senators, giving Democrats control of Congress and the White House as we kick off 2021. Meanwhile, the President of the United States was shouting in the background that his vice-president is his last hope for stealing the election. And, after last night, it looks like a whole bunch of U.S. Senators and Members of Congress probably miscalculated in their desire to get into the good graces of the Trump Swamp. 

First, Georgia. It’s too early to do any sort of deep dive, but it’s apparent that Black voters delivered for Raphael Warnock who drug Jon Ossoff across the finish line with him. It’s also likely that Republican voters who came out for Trump, didn’t come out for the Senators looking to hold their seats. That’s a huge warning to the GOP. The base’s loyalty to Trump doesn’t transfer.

Georgia gives direction to North Carolina. Turnout matters more than persuasion. Republicans win here because they turnout at a higher rate than Democrats. Until that’s fixed, Democrats will struggle to win because there just aren’t enough swing voters left in the state to make up the deficit. The state has almost 500,000 unregistered African American voters that Democrats need to get on the rolls. They should aspire to be Georgia. 

But make no mistake, Donald Trump was part of this GOP disaster. He sent mixed messages to his base, attacking the Georgia Republican leadership as corrupt and against him. His dimwitted and misinformed base had no incentive to vote for Loeffler and Perdue. They care only about Trump and Trump is clearly more concerned with his own survival than control of the Senate. His call to bully the Georgia Secretary of State laid bare his loyalties and they aren’t to the Constitution. 

And that leads to today. Trump is putting incredible pressure on Vice-president Mike Pence to create a roll out of whole cloth that would give him the power to overturn states’ election results. He’s basically told Pence, “You’re either with me or against me.” Pence’s career is going up in flame today regardless of his choice. That’s his reward for four years of cringing loyalty to an unfit president. How delicious!

After last night, the gambit by Members of Congress to contest the presidential contest suddenly looks like a mistake. Those Trumpers aren’t coming out to support a Ted Cruz or Josh Hawley any more than they supported Perdue or Loeffler. The anti-democratic sedition caucus that includes North Carolina Representatives Ted Budd, Richard Hudson, Dan Bishop, Madison Cawthorn and Greg Murphey is exposed as little more than cynical opportunists, right-wing authoritarians, and the intellectually challenged. They managed to outrage the conservatives who have been loyal to them for decades in order to chase the Trumpists who could care less about them now that their Dear Leader is leaving the scene. 

This morning, it’s a great day to be a Democrat. Republicans imploded in Georgia last night. The extremists and opportunists in Congress will expose themselves today as their fascist militias brawl in the streets of Washington, demanding the election be overturned. Donald Trump will rage like he’s never raged before, convincing the American people that they made the right choice in November. And Mitch McConnell will start packing up his office as he moves from Majority Leader to Minority Leader.