The 2014 midterm elections were supposed to be a turning point in our country politically. The anger over 5 years of President Barack Obamas failed policies had reached a boiling point and the conservative base of the Republican party was finally ready to protest at the voting booth.
A defiant President Obama, in a speech at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management produced a quote that was seemingly the best piece of bulletin board material Republican strategists could have ever asked for.
“I’m not on the ballot this fall. Michelle’s pretty happy about that,” Obama said. “But make no mistake: These policies are on the ballot, every single one of them.”
With that statement the fate of the campaigning Democrats was sealed.
What would follow was a comprehensive shellacking in which the GOP would retake control of the Senate while making historic gains in the House of Representatives. In the 36 senate races, the Republican Party won 24. That represented a net gain of nine seats, the largest gain for a party in the Senate since 1980, and the largest Senate gain in a midterm since 1958. This resulted in the Republicans regaining control of the Senate for the first time since 2006 with a total of 54 seats. In the House of Representatives, Republicans would win 247 seats, a net gain of 13 seats. This produced the largest majority the GOP has enjoyed since 1928.
The prevailing campaign rhetoric that drove Republicans to victory in 2014 was the intention to defund the Affordable Care Act. The summer 2013 standoff over the ACA led by Texas Senator Ted Cruz had resulted in a two and a half week government shutdown. The initial effect of this strategy was a hit to Republicans as the NJ special election to elect a replacement for the recently deceased Democrat Senator Frank R. Lautenberg resulted in a win for Newark Mayor Corey Booker over former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan.
In the year that followed the shutdown, President Obama would see his approval ratings drop to all-time lows with Gallup showing only a 40% approval rating for the first week of November 2014. To the contrary, Senator Cruz would see his popularity grow and begin to hear the calls for a Presidential run. The Republicans almost had it all. They certainly had momentum. They had the support of the people and a crop of conservative rising stars in the party. What they didn’t have was the right leadership.
What came next was Betrayal.
With only about 2 months left of a Democrat controlled Senate and campaign promises to keep, Speaker of the House John Boehner would rush a 9 month spending bill that fully funded the ACA for 2015 to a vote and to outgoing Senate Majority leader Harry Reid’s desk that broke the central promise of the 2014 Republican midterm platform.
The anger that would come after was certainly justified. Entrenched politicians and their crony’s had been benefitting from big government policies for decades and after again being promised that change would come if the GOP could just get a majority in the Senate, the voters were left with egg on their face.
With enough is enough as their mantra, voter’s this presidential cycle looked for an outsider to satisfy their desire for a shakeup in DC. Dr. Ben Carson, Businesswoman Carly Fiorina and Businessman Donald Trump all sought to pacify the needs of an angry voter base. The engaged political spectators already knew they had a viable option in the Senate in Senator Cruz ready to lead.
What would ensue was the ugliest and most personal primary in Republican history. The presumptive nominee Donald Trump, while enjoying media saturation due to his celebrity status took control of the daily headlines. His strategy of aggressive personal attacks against his competition however would ultimately give birth to a movement focused on stopping him at all costs.
The same blind anger that handed the GOP the politically flimsy Trump is seemingly poised to hand America President Hillary Clinton. With #stoptrump, #nevertrump and others trending on social media the Democrats are enjoying help from the most unlikely of allies, The Far Right.
Those who do not believe in the political will of Donald Trump and stay home this November will be gifting liberals a third term of the failed policies of the Obama administration. People who are saying Trump can win without support from conservatives are not looking at the numbers carefully.
Trump lost 10 of the first 16 closed primaries. He also will complete the Primary season with far less than a majority of total votes. If conservatives commit to #stoptrump they will have to be ready to live with President Clinton.
Julio Rivera is an entrepreneur, small business consultant and political activist. He contributes to RightWingNews.com and NewsNinja2012.com, and had previously covered boxing and baseball for the now defunct "The Urban News" in his native Paterson, N.J. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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