The lay of the land

In November of 2008, when the nation had just elected President Barack Obama, the percentage of Americans who called themselves Democrats (53%) quite significantly bettered the percentage who called themselves Republican (37%). Because that was true back then, commentators began to talk about the death of the GOP. 

Just a year later, however, that difference narrowed dramatically--44% claimed to be Democrats, 41% Republicans. Today Republicans control both houses of the legislature and the presidency, not to mention a majority of state houses and governorships. Rumors of the death of Republicanism were embarrassingly premature.

For decades, Democrats outnumbered Republicans. Still do. But a higher percentage of Republicans go to the polls, in part because they are both older and wealthier. 

So it's a little premature for Democrats to crow over what's happened since President Trump came into office. Excess glee could come back to bite you, as it has in the past. 

But, for Democrats, there's reason for hope because the numbers nationwide are moving, once again, in the opposite direction. The number of people who claim to be Democratic is seven points higher than what it was when Trump took office. The Democratic party is growing. The Republican party is not. 

While, the percentage of Republicans who stand behind the President hasn't changed-- 82% still back the President--surveys indicate there are simply fewer Republicans. Republicans still love him. Democrats hate him, and Independents, more each week, don't like him. If trends don't change, other Republicans may begin to talk about running against him in 2020. 

Why? When, several days ago, Senator Kirsten Gillebrand called for the President to resign because of the volley of accusations from women, she triggered the President's ire, which notably doesn't take much. Yesterday's tweet storm included a line many--most--found especially repulsive, given the attention the nation is giving to sexual harassment. Trump trumpeted that Ms. Gillebrand “would come to my office ‘begging’ for campaign contributions not so long ago” and then added, in parenthesis that she would “do anything for them.”

Sarah Huckabee Sanders claims only those whose minds are "in the gutter" would read that as sexual innuendo, but many did. Thousands. Millions. Including the editorial staff of USA Today, who rarely engage in the fisticuffs going on around President Donald J. 

"With his latest tweet, clearly implying that a United States senator would trade sexual favors for campaign cash, President Trump has shown he is not fit for office," they said. And then, "Rock bottom is no impediment for a president who can always find room for a new low." And there's more:  "A president who would all but call Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand a whore is not fit to clean the toilets in the Barack Obama Presidential Library or to shine the shoes of George W. Bush."

USA Today is in the gutter, I guess. Fake news.

But there's more: "This isn't about the policy differences we have with all presidents or our disappointment in some of their decisions. Obama and Bush both failed in many ways. They broke promises and told untruths, but the basic decency of each man was never in doubt."

Yesterday, Mark Galli, in a Christianity Today essay titled "The Biggest Loser in the Alabama Election," surveyed the damage being done to the Christian faith: 

No matter the outcome of today’s special election in Alabama for a coveted US Senate seat, there is already one loser: Christian faith. When it comes to either matters of life and death or personal commitments of the human heart, no one will believe a word we say, perhaps for a generation. Christianity’s integrity is severely tarnished.

Those harsh words may explain another phenomenon. Just a few days ago, Pew released polls indicating that support among white folks has dropped from 49 to 41 percent, just as it has dropped among those 50 and older, from 47 to 38 per cent.

But here's another: the percentage of Trump supporters who call themselves "evangelical Protestants" has also dropped since he took office, from  78 percent to 61 percent. 

Just for the record, I'm over 50, white, and for most of my life considered myself "an evangelical Protestant."

Last night, Trump lost. He chose to campaign for Judge Ray Moore, chose to have one of his campaign spectacles in Pensacola, Fl, close enough to rile Alabama voters to cast their ballots for a man plainly neanderthal--Muslims should be denied public office, the nation would be better off without constitutional amendments allowing women and African-Americans to vote, practicing gays should be imprisoned--all in the name of Jesus. Oh, yes, this too: the American family was better off during slavery.

Last night, Moore lost. So did Steve Bannon, big time. So did Donald J. Trump. Forty per cent of the electorate turned out in Alabama.

This morning, that's the lay of the land.