Before we freak out about the election results...
Trump's moderation is overshadowed by his caustic rhetoric. He would be well served to tone it down, and practice discipline and restraint with how he speaks.
As promised, I did not vote for Donald Trump, giving me a 5-1 record of not voting for him. The only time I voted for Trump was the 2020 general election. With that said, as someone who did not vote for Trump, we should all take a breath and calm down about his (almost historically unprecedented) victory.
The election results represented the rejection of the candidate who was effectively the incumbent: Kamala Harris fell well short of Joe Biden's 2020 vote total. That shows how terrible she was as a candidate. Harris, as of checking the totals on November 7, has fewer votes than Barack Obama got sixteen years ago, and the nation's population is much larger now.
As to the panic about what a second Trump Administration will bring, let's calm down a bit. Trump is easily the most moderate Republican candidate in my lifetime. He is significantly to the left of George W. Bush on spending, homosexual marriage, and abortion. Trump sounds more like Code Pink on foreign policy than previous Republican Presidents. Trump is certainly not aligned with the Tea Party movement on shrinking the federal government and returning authority over domestic policy to the states. The fantasies of Project 2025 aside, Trump isn't a wild-eyed right-winger. Trump is a lifelong New York City liberal who moved to the right to win a Republican primary in 2016. National policy will be significantly more conservative under Trump than Harris, but Trump himself is a moderate.
Trump's moderation is overshadowed by his caustic rhetoric. He would be well served to tone it down, and practice discipline and restraint with how he speaks. He will not do that, of course, because Trump has never had self-control except for very brief moments. The policies of a second Trump Administration will not be as "bad" as Leftists fear. Meanwhile, conservatives should prepare to be disappointed. Pro-Life voters have the most to lose with Trump compared to a more socially conservative alternative like Ron DeSantis. Trump said he would veto a national abortion ban, reversing 40 years of Republican Party platforms that called for a Human Life Amendment to the Constitution.
This election brings one huge sigh of relief: We are finally on the road to being done with Trump. Had he lost, he absolutely would have run in 2028, and I cannot imagine him not capturing the Republican Party's nomination at 82 years old. Had Trump won in 2020, we would be preparing for a post-Trump GOP right now, likely with President DeSantis or President Mike Pence. There is finally a light at the end of the tunnel, and I am eagerly anticipating January of 2029.
In local election news, we have a bright spot for Republicans. Only one Republican was on the ballot for local office, but the Republican candidate for county commissioner out-performed all of the Republicans who were running statewide. A bunch of people who voted for the Democratic candidates for President, U.S. Senator, Governor and Attorney General crossed party lines to vote for the Republican candidate for Monroe County Commissioner. Unfortunately, it was not enough to win, but is worth recognizing.
♣ - Joe VanDeventer - 23,119
♣ - Donald Trump - 20,980
♣ - Jim Banks - 21,160
♣ - Mike Braun - 19,936
♣ - Todd Rokita - 20,984
We saw this same outcome back in 2016, and Monroe County Commissioner candidate Perry Robinson also out-performed the statewide candidates in 2022. If Republicans somehow got within striking distance for statewide and national office with Monroe County voters, they would be much more competitive for county government offices.