By Michael Woyton
It was no surprise, after an estimated 7 million people gave up part of a recent weekend to protest on No Kings Day, that politicians and talking heads of the GOPmaga persuasion would down play the meaning.
They called the gatherings “hate rallies” and said the turnout really didn’t mean anything, because those who showed up were just hippies or old people or paid protesters with George Soros-produced signage.
Well, fast forward to Tuesday.
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When the blue wave wouldn’t stop, conservatives rushed to microphones to tell the world that there’s nothing to see here, please move along.
No less than Speaker of the still-not-in-session House Mike Johnson — a man known for saying, “I haven’t heard anything about that” — actually heard about last night’s election results from around the country … and responded with “meh, no biggie.”
Speaking from Capitol Hill Wednesday morning, Johnson took time off from not working to say, “What happened last night is blue states and blue cities voted blue. We all saw that coming.”
He then said “no one should read too much into last night’s election results.”
On CNN, conservative yacker Scott Jennings said the Democrats were “supposed to win” the governor races in New Jersey and Virginia, the Daily Beast reported, and that he hesitated to “overread it.”
He then crowned New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani the leader of the Democratic Party, a comment which elicited scoffing and laughter from other panelists.
The felon-in-chief being the self-effacing man he is took to social media to downplay the turnout and the results and make it all about him.
“TRUMP WASN’T ON THE BALLOT, AND SHUTDOWN, WERE THE TWO REASONS THAT REPUBLICANS LOST ELECTIONS TONIGHT,” he posted, according to ABC News, which added “but not naming the pollsters.”
Regardless of what the red side says about the results, voting rights and election litigator Marc Elias said in his newsletter that it wasn’t time to pop the champagne yet.
“History has taught us that this is precisely when Donald Trump is most dangerous — and when Republicans turn to voter suppression, election subversion and worse. With the 2026 midterm elections less than a year away, Trump is already plotting his next moves,” he wrote.
Among the things we need to be prepared for are Republican claims of voting fraud, trying to ban mail-in and early voting, extreme gerrymandering and asking the courts to legitimize their actions.
Elias stressed that the legacy media, with its “both-sides” coverage, is not standing up to Trump’s authoritarian power grabs and will not protect free and fair elections.
“I don’t know how else to say it, except to repeat what I wrote a year ago: We are on our own,” he wrote.
Elias’s conclusion is that, while last night was a big win, the work continues.
And I, for one, hope “the work” includes urging any reticent senators and congress members to stop being weak-kneed and start working in the country’s best interest.
I’m looking at you Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries.
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Lead art: Screen grab from CBS News via YouTube.
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