No single Democratic coalition can claim victory after Tuesday’s resounding midterm results – all parts of the Democratic coalition can.
uncertain
parts → claim → coalition
Their wins were so sweeping, so resounding, that factional divisions fail to explain them.
asserted
divisions → fail → them
This year, the most important thing Democrats had to be to win was, simply, not Republicans.
asserted
Democrats → have → ?
Trump gave Democrats the political gifts of a deeply unpopular war against Iran that led to rising prices, chaotic tariffs that devastated small businesses, farmers and international alliances, healthcare cuts, a deadly deportation scheme, self-enrichment, corruption, a never-ending debacle over a reflecting pool renovation.
asserted
that → give → renovation
Democrats took the ball and ran with it, taking on Trump as popularity continued to slide.
asserted
popularity → take → Trump
It wasn’t just the typical midterm backlash a sitting president’s party faces; it was a wholesale rebuke of the president’s Make America Great Again movement, the clearest sign yet that voters have had enough of Trumpism.
asserted
voters → sit → Trumpism
Democrats of all stripes declared victory on Tuesday night: moderates, progressives, populists, Democratic socialists.
asserted
Democrats → declare → night
And they won up and down the ballot, flipping both chambers of Congress, several governor’s mansions and delivering multiple new legislative trifectas in the states.
asserted
they → win → states
These victories will provide avenues for Democrats to hold Trump accountable and act as a functioning branch of government, something voters have said they’ve been missing in Trump 2.0.
asserted
they → provide → Trump
Democrats competed deep in Republican strongholds – places that wouldn’t have made the map even six months ago.
asserted
that → compete → map
US senators will join Democratic ranks from Kansas and South Carolina.
asserted
senators → join → Kansas
Texas went blue, and not just in one race.
asserted
Texas → go → race
Voters in rural districts that Democrats had previously written off showed they could be persuaded.
uncertain
they → write → that
Maine voters ousted a 30-year veteran of the US Senate despite a scandal-plagued Democratic candidate, who was eventually replaced.
asserted
who → oust → candidate
At the Democratic watch party in Des Moines, Iowa, where Democrats flipped the governor’s office, US Senate and three of four congressional districts, the excitement neared a level of disbelief.
asserted
excitement → flip → disbelief
“To Iowa Democrats, we’ve had a hard few years here in Iowa, but balanced government has been restored,” Rob Sand, elected the state’s next governor, told supporters in his victory remarks.
asserted
Sand → have → remarks
These wins will give Democrats a chance to hold Trump accountable at all levels of government – and to prove to voters that they can competently govern, should they harness the momentum.
asserted
they → give → momentum
The depth of the Democratic wins underscore the unpopularity of the Republicans, something voters around the country have been signaling all year.
asserted
voters → underscore → country
In talking to voters over this past year, I felt their deep discontent, an anger that animated their votes, on a level I hadn’t seen before.
asserted
I → talk → level
On the campaign trail, voters of all political stripes were fed up, their fury at the status quo rose above all else on their list of voting priorities.
asserted
fury → feed → priorities
When I asked progressive political consultant Anat Shenker-Osorio about this months ago, she predicted that the midterms would be decided by the “mad as hell, ain’t going to take it any more” vote, as midterms often are.
asserted
midterms → ask → vote
It would not be a sudden embrace of Democrats, but a “plague on both your houses”, she said.
asserted
she → say → houses
The size of Democrats’ wave would depend on how persuasive they were at convincing angry and disillusioned voters to turn out.
asserted
they → depend → voters
Given the blue tsunami, it seems they were convinced their vote was worth it.
asserted
vote → give → tsunami
In most instances, Democratic candidates showed up and listened.
asserted
candidates → show → instances
They held town halls all over their districts, hearing the anger that punctuated politics.
asserted
that → hold → politics
The Democrats raged vertically, at the billionaires and elites who rule the US political system, blaming them for rising income inequality that leaves Americans feeling like it’s impossible to get ahead.
asserted
it → rag → Americans
Voters, the results showed, are done with Trump’s Republican party.
asserted
results → show → party
Trump’s coalition has all but driven out any remaining factions that publicly disagreed with the president.
asserted
that → drive → president
The Republicans, now, need to contend with what they will become after Trump.
asserted
they → need → Trump
Could there have been a lane for Republicans who explicitly ran against the Trump agenda, saying they would work to rein in the executive and hold him accountable?
uncertain
him → run → executive
We don’t know.
asserted
We → know → ?
No one really tried.
asserted
one → try → ?
The attempts at fearmongering – over trans people, or Arab Americans, or Hasan Piker – didn’t work.
asserted
attempts → work → people
It was Republicans’ fault, voters decided.
asserted
voters → decide → ?
They paid far more for gas because of a war they didn’t support.
asserted
they → pay → war
They dropped their healthcare because they couldn’t afford it after Congress allowed subsidies to expire.
asserted
subsidies → drop → it
They watched as data centers moved into their towns, a physical manifestation of the disruption artificial intelligence could bring to their lives.
uncertain
intelligence → watch → lives
Trump dismissed their concerns over these issues, claiming they essentially weren’t happening, or were a necessary step toward greater goals.
asserted
they → dismiss → goals
Voters even rebelled against Republican attempts to gerrymander seats more favorable to their party, with major defeats in seats that the party should have easily carried by double digits.
asserted
party → rebel → digits
…and 9 more, not listed.
The Aporia
