linnposts.com

For all anti-Trump Americans, Tuesday night’s election was an infusion of fresh air that will push out a lot of the stale air the nation has been forced to breathe the last two years.

Reading through the Washington Post this morning, though, you would never know it.

It’s filled with articles about the absence of a “blue wave” on Tuesday, how the Democrats took control of the House, but in truth Trump actually won the election.

Really? Is that what happened, or did the mid-terms signal that the Post’s turn to the right during the Bush/Obama years that had abated somewhat after Trump took office is trying to make a come back?

Reading today’s Post you would have to conclude that Democrats taking control of the House was a small victory, and that going forward what they really need to worry about is over-reaching and pushing too hard against Trumpism.

Excuse me if I find all that to be political tripe dis-missable on its face.

For one thing, the Democratic victory was a blue wave. To gain nearly 30 seats they had to flip seats mostly in red states, and they did it.

But think back a minute to 2017 when Trump was inaugurated. Does anyone remember these same writers – or anyone else – even hinting that Democrats could/would win back the House in 2018?

No? No wonder since no one did. The fact that in less than two years that non-possibility turned into a major victory is incredible.

Moreover, the diversity of the Democratic win was historic, what with women winning in record numbers, more gays and lesbians than ever winning, Muslim Americans, native Americans, and Latino Americans winning, all standing in marked contrast to Trump’s narrow-minded, bigoted vision of America.

Tuesday’s Democratic victory in the House was a virtual rainbow coalition of race, creed, color, gender, and religion, while the only thing to say about the Republicans is the fact that the Senate will continue to be run by mostly old white men.

I suppose I’m a bit slow on the uptake for not seeing the insight and wisdom in the Post reports and op-eds.

Instead, I keep think about the fact that an estimated 113 million people voted on Tuesday, close to presidential year elections, and beyond any recent mid-terms. And the fact that the level of voting among the 18-30 year olds was record breaking.

And then there were the races in Texas, Georgia, and Florida. You know, the ones in which the Democrats also underperformed, except that performing at all was stunning

Only someone who knows nothing substantive about Southern politics would think these three races represented a Democratic defeat. The fact that any of these races was in the news at all WAS the real news, and victory.

As a Southerner, and having been in all three of these states numerous times. I confess that I never gave any of these candidates a chance of winning. As I said many times before Tuesday, we’re talking about Texas after all, and Florida, and of all places, Georgia.

Boy, was I wrong. That a Democrat who chose to run openly as a progressive in Texas would come close to defeating Ted Cruz is stunning, especially when O’Rourke’s campaign helped two other Democrats win House seats.

But even that amazing accomplishment pales in comparison to Georgia and Florida.

Racism still doesn’t run any deeper in this country than it does in Georgia, and in Florida there are literally millions of old white men and women who grew up taking the servitude of blacks for granted. The idea that they would come so close to electing a black man governor was as preposterous as it was Georgians electing a black woman.

So excuse me again if I fail to see any value in stories and opinion pieces that suggest Tuesday’s election was no big thing, or disappointing, or the result of Democrats not achieving the results they wanted.

Here’s the most accurate description of what happened in Tuesday’s election: “It changes everything.” That’s how Nicole Wallace, former Bush White House communications director and now an MSNBC anchor, described it, and she was exactly right.

Former Republican Congressman Joe Scarborough put it another way. He said that from now on, “what Trump says doesn’t matter.”

Everything has changed because of this Democratic victory. And what Trump says from now on doesn’t matter because his is not the only voice in the room anymore.

If that is not significant, I don’t know what the word “significant” means.

Indeed, before Tuesday’s election I felt like those of us who cared about truth and integrity, decency and competency, were fighting lies and deceit, corruption and recklessness with our hands tied behind our backs.

Today our hands are free to engage in the fight Trump has instigated for the control of our country and the values that once sustained us as one nation under God.

We didn’t win the fight on Tuesday, but our hands are no longer tied.

For me that made the mid-terms more than a Democratic victory. It was a great American victory, which is why this is a very good day for our country.