2022 had to have been one of the most chaotic election cycles in recent memory, with all the chaos coming from the Biden White House and a compliant press.
Given President Joe Biden's long list of failures, including the economy, crime, border security, COVID response, and a foreign policy that's placing us dangerously close to World War III, it was all Democrats had going into the midterms.
The messaging in each case was that the previous administration was corrupt, as opposed to the steady hand of the current one.
The biggest news in the months leading up to Nov. 8 was the FBI's early morning raid on Mar-a-Lago, former President Donald Trump's Palm Beach, Florida residence.
The raid of a former president's home was unprecedented, and prompted whisperings of nuclear secrets and launch codes for sale.
The Hill reported, "The remarkable execution of a search warrant at a former president's home comes as the Justice Department has accelerated its investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol and the actions Trump took to overturn the 2020 election results to remain in power."
Since that report the Jan. 6 investigation is starting to crumble.
In the months leading up to the riot, the FBI had planted as many as eight informants inside the Proud Boys, the far-right group that figured prominently in Jan. 6.
American Greatness senior writer Julie Kelly reported that Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., asked FBI Director Christopher Wray twice on Tuesday if any FBI agents or informants, "dressed like Trump supporters, were inside the Capitol before the doors were opened on January 6."
Wray refused to answer.
CNN reported on the Mar-a-Lago raid that "The extraordinary move to search the home of a former president raises the stakes for the Justice Department and comes as Trump's legal problems continue on multiple fronts."
Those "legal problems" extended to senior Trump advisers, including former federal prosecutor Rudy Giuliani, who has been under criminal investigation by the Justice Department since the FBI's April 2021 raid on his own home and office.
After the raids, he accused the Justice Department of "running roughshod over the constitutional rights of anyone involved in, or legally defending, former President Donald J. Trump."
But federal prosecutors announced Monday, now that the midterms are over, that they have no plans to file criminal charges against Giuliani.
And finally, after months of speculation about the Mar-a-Lago raid, The Washington Post admitted Monday that it was all a big nothing-burger. Trump had no criminal liability with respect to the documents in his possession.
"That review has not found any apparent business advantage to the types of classified information in Trump's possession, these people said," the Post reported.
"FBI interviews with witnesses so far, they said, also do not point to any nefarious effort by Trump to leverage, sell or use the government secrets. Instead, the former president seemed motivated by a more basic desire not to give up what he believed was his property, these people said."
Twitchy editor Samantha Janney thought the timing of The Washington Post story significant.
"Interesting how we see this story from WaPo AFTER the midterm election," she wrote. "Granted, Trump was not on the ballot HOWEVER, plenty of candidates he endorsed were."
Despite the noise, Trump fared well with his House candidates, and Tuesday night Decision Desk HQ projected Republicans won a majority in that chamber with at least 218 seats after they projected that Trump-endorsed Kevin Kiley would win California's 3rd Congressional District.
However, as MarketWatch reported, "Trump had largely focused his attention on the Senate in hopes of breaking Democrats' narrow control of the 50-50 chamber," and there he didn't do as well.
Possibly the most notable Trump-endorsed loss was Dr. Mehmet Oz's 3.4-point defeat to Pennsylvania Democrat John Fetterman, which flipped the seat from red to blue and immediately put the GOP in the hole.
Other Trump-endorsed Senate candidates who lost their races include Blake Masters in Arizona and Adam Laxalt in Nevada. A third, Herschel Walker in Georgia, faces a Dec. 6 runoff election.
As it now stands, the best the GOP can do is to maintain the Democratic-controlled 50-50 chamber, but only if Walker defeats incumbent Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock next month.
So all the noise and clatter about bringing Trump and his aides, advisers and followers to justice was just that — noise and clatter. Their single goal was to win on Election Day.
And it worked — at least to the extent that Democrats will maintain control of the Senate.
Michael Dorstewitz is a retired lawyer and has been a frequent contributor to Newsmax. He is also a former U.S. Merchant Marine officer and an enthusiastic Second Amendment supporter. Read Michael Dorstewitz's Reports — More Here.
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