Riding the Red Wave

VIEWPOINT

By RALPH HARDIN

Evening Times Editor

It’s been a little over two weeks since the 2024 election, and I hope my fellow Democrats have come to terms with the overwhelming majority of control the Republican Party is going to have over the country for at least the next two years (and more likely four years).

If you follow my column, you likely know my politics and know that this is not the outcome I was hoping for. I was not an outcome that totally took me by surprise. The Democrats never really got their act together over the last four years and now they will decidedly be needing to play catch-up if they hope to reconnect with the voter base in the 2026 mid-terms and especially in the 2028 elections.

But for now, I have one real piece of advice: Ride the red wave. Just relax and try not to be too stressed out about it. In baseball,

See VIEWPOINT, page A6 VIEWPOINT

From page A4

there is a term called “The Three True Outcomes.” It comes from baseball writer Christina Kahrl who explained that in the game, there are only three real results that come from any plate appearance that doesn’t involve the defense: a strikeout, a walk, and a home run.

And that’s what we’re looking at here with Trump 2.0… there’s really only three things that can happen here: 1) he and the GOP strikeout. Their plans don’t work, the country does poorly and the Democrats regain control of the White House and/or-Congress. 2) Trump “walks” — that is, his policies aren’t really all that impactful, just kind of moving us all along until it’s time to give someone else a try — either another Republican or some new Democratic challenger. Or, 3) he hits it out of the park. We have heard a million different ideas, plans and concepts of plans from Team MAGA over the past year or so. Now it’s time to see what they’ve really got. Who knows? Maybe this time four years from now, we’ll all be living in a utopia, with a Big Mac in every pot and not a drop of fluoride to be found.

There’s really only one way to find out. Just ride the red wave and see where it takes us…