Rebuilding after a political earthquake

Democracy gets another chance

A meme appeared on Facebook after the election showing Obi-Wan Kenobi from Star Wars saying, “I felt a great disturbance in the Force… As though a gilded ballroom were being slowly, but firmly, shoved up someone’s ass.”

That about sums it up.

A political earthquake has occurred in which the MAGA coalition broke apart and crashed from its own hubris.

The man who called affordability a hoax, started wars while demanding a Nobel Peace prize, alienated our allies while cozying up to murderous dictators, and made self-enrichment one of his main activities, behaved as if he were testing his followers to see what their limit was. At last he found it.

Strong, bold Democratic candidates and effective organizing took advantage of voter disaffection. Black voters fed up with Trump’s lies and insults turned out in large numbers. Republican gerrymandering efforts backfired spectacularly, as did the effort to make everything about scary trans people.

The diversity of those elected was a repudiation of the GOP’s white supremacist hatemongering. Black women swept the top offices in Georgia. Voices like Senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan will be a powerful addition on the Hill.

James Talarico of Texas said, “I want to be a senator for those who can’t afford to buy one.” This is a refreshing reminder that writing off entire portions of the country is folly.

We have overcome an existential threat to our republic. There is much to celebrate. Yet much work lies ahead.

Establishment Democrats still control the party. One serious problem is how many are bought and paid for by the Israeli lobby. AIPAC’s praise for incoming Senate and House leaders Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries illustrates the slim chances that Congress under them will reject American complicity in Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. The struggle continues.

Trump remains in office for another two years barring an act of God. He will not suddenly become sane or decent. He has made the poisonous Stephen Miller his new chief of staff.

Bigotry has twisted and trapped the GOP. Its aggressive portrayal of diversity as a threat depends on regarding minorities as less than human. It is not merely a policy difference, it is a slander. But white nationalists convinced that they alone must hold all power will not easily relent. We have to keep defeating them.

Sen. Schumer called the election results “a generational remake of the House and Senate.” How is he a credible messenger for that? He will require careful watching.

What is Trump’s proposed triumphal arch intended to commemorate? Driving America to the brink of destruction? A judge has blocked it pending litigation.

Every trend has its outliers. Alabamans elected Tommy Tuberville governor. Floridians elected Republican congressman Byron Donalds governor.

Donalds has earned his Uncle Tom reputation. In 2024, he said that “the Black family was together” during Jim Crow and more Black people voted conservatively. After being strongly criticized, he denied romanticizing racial oppression. But if he objects to accusations that he is nostalgic for Jim Crow, he should not reminisce fondly about it.

With Sen. Marsha Blackburn now governor-elect of Tennessee, there was chatter about getting her to appoint embattled “Secretary of War” Pete Hegseth to her U.S. Senate seat. Blackburn has dismissed such talk. Hegseth, incidentally, is from Minnesota.

Texas Republicans are talking about kneecapping governor-elect Gina Hinojosa by limiting her power before she is sworn in.

You would think Republicans had hit bottom, but some continue digging.

Some people are already threatening to punish Democrats in 2028 if they do not repair all the Republican damage fast enough. This does not help. We need to summon the grace and decency to give Democrats a chance. They have a hard job ahead and deserve encouragement, not threats. Standing with your arms folded waiting for someone to screw up is another form of sabotage.

The electorate needs to learn that its fickleness and impatience only reward those who have done so much harm to our country. Elon Musk may have wasted hundreds of millions of dollars, but that does not mean he will relent. Our fight against the oligarchy is long-term.

Restoring constitutional checks and balances will take more than one election cycle. The new Congress will have to multitask by legislating as well as investigating the Trump administration‘s rampant criminality.

The notion that pushing for accountability will undermine efforts to fix things is a fallacy. We cannot win the battle for our future if we unilaterally disarm.

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Richard Rosendall is a writer and activist who can be reached at [email protected].
 
Copyright © 2026 by Richard J. Rosendall. All rights reserved.