Op-Ed: The midterm results (so far) show that old political narratives don’t apply and, in fact, that the Tea Party movement and Donald Trump’s candidacy are the real threats to the status quo
A lot of political writers have been talking about the Republican and Democratic midterms — and, in particular, how the Tea Party’s candidates fared. Here are just a few headlines that jumped out at me:
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“Tea Partiers Turn Left on Health Care,” New York Daily News (June 10). “Democrats have seized control of Washington, but they have lost control of the health- care debate.”
“Fifty-seven percent say Democrats have the right message, but only 13 percent say Republicans are doing the right thing on health care,” USA Today (June 5). “Fifty-five percent of voters in battleground states say Democrats have the right message on health care, while just 15 percent think Republicans are doing the right thing.”
“It’s the health-care issue we should be most worried about,” USA Today, June 17.
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“Republicans have the Tea Party,” New York Daily News.
“Democratic turnout in the House elections is running about 1,000 points behind GOP turnout,” USA Today (June 20). “Among Democrats, turnout exceeded that of Republicans by about 4,000. There are about 20,000 more Democrats than Republicans in the House.”
“Republicans have been running on the theme of the war on women: The right approach is to cut the defense budget, eliminate programs that help women, and defund Planned Parenthood,” USA Today (June 8), citing a New York Times piece from April. “But in the aftermath of Tuesday’s midterm elections, Democrats were on the ground knocking on doors and talking to voters who are concerned about their health care, about their schools, and about what their country is like.”
“Democrats are on track to win the House of Representatives,” Washington Post (June 6). “Democrats took control of the House Thursday and are on track to have the largest majority since 1945, when the country was young and didn’t have as many women voting in primaries.”
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“The Tea Party movement is driving the Tea Party wave. And it is the right response to the wrong direction of a dysfunctional government,” Boston Globe (June 13). “The Republican Party has spent the last 15 years trying to win the