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GELFAND’S WORLD - The left and center-left have been doing a lot of crowing about Tuesday’s election returns. And they have a right to do so, considering that the Republicans took a beating in New York, New Jersey, Virginia, California, and Georgia. I suspect that the results are less telling than we might like them to be for the simple reason that, other than Georgia, these are pretty much blue states anyway. Still, the margins and the near unanimity of the results are consistent with a view that the tide is going against Donald Trump. It’s not all that surprising, since the first ten months of this presidency have included a lot of events and policies that most people would not have expected when they voted back in November 2024. The tariffs – and their current economic effects – might have been listed in Project 2025 but most of us found the implementation both surprising and strange.
But I found one result from Tuesday’s elections to be the most interesting. In exit polling done here in California, people who voted Yes on Proposition 50 responded by a margin of 80% that they voted this way (I’m paraphrasing here) to respond to the gerrymander the Republicans did in Texas and, therefore, in essence, to protect democracy.
In other words, most Yes voters found the whole process distasteful but felt that the action was necessary. We wouldn’t have supported this action had the redistricting in Texas never happened. And we did this in spite of protestations from the purists who wanted to preserve the fair and open redistricting system we had previously implemented.
This suggests that the majority of Democratic Party voters and a substantial number of independents are adopting an attitude in favor of practical politics. By this term, I mean the attitude that we have necessary work to get done and we can’t get bogged down in hyper-partisan infighting. I interpret the election of a Democratic Socialist as the new mayor of New York City along the same lines. And I’m also guessing that most New Yorkers who voted this way don’t expect to see their rent go down or supermarket prices to plummet. They just want to have somebody that they think is on their side rather than on the side of corporate supermarket chains.
I also feel a new-found sense of urgency on the part of pretty much every rationalist. The surprise-a-minute approach taken by Trump is wearing people down, and they would like to get some relief. Voting against every Republican candidate is what they have available to them.
By the way, if you would like to read a detailed analysis of how the anti-Prop 50 organizational effort failed, you can find a detailed analysis here.
The shutdown continues
We’re starting to feel the effects at many levels, including the order to cut airline flights by 10%. There are a couple of points to be made regarding Democratic Party strategy (some have been made here previously). It’s nice that the Democrats are standing up for Affordable Care Act benefits. This is as it should be. But it’s not enough. Trump’s tone and policy choices are also of paramount interest. For example, when Trump referred to the former president as “crooked Joe Biden,” the Democrats in the Senate should have quietly told their Republican colleagues that they would stop talking for the next week. Demand some sense of courtesy from the political opposition as a precondition of holding discussions. A cessation of the ICE raids in blue state cities ought to be another precondition.
One additional thought: The Senate Republicans could have set aside the cloture rule (Trump calls this “ending the filibuster”) at any time. They’ve done it before over judicial appointments. The fact that they have not done so as yet suggests to me that they are holding back from giving Trump complete control over the government. At some level, they would like to maintain at least some of the power that they once held. They don’t have the principles or the courage to confront Trump directly, but they can wrap their arms around an old Senate tradition as their excuse.
The fact that the Republicans could end this filibuster at any time may be the reason that the Democrats are not being more aggressive. But they should make it clear that they will not be Trump’s doormat, which means that they will continue their passive-aggressive politics while Trump continues to act the bully and tyrant.
Cultural Highlights for this Weekend and continuing into next year
Our harbor area’s San Pedro International Film Festival (Spiff) is now in its 14th year, and it will run from Thursday night through Sunday. (Disclosure: I have been involved with Spiff over the years.) You can find the schedule here. Several things are worth mentioning. There will be multiple programs of documentaries and short subjects that are of particular interest to those interested in environmental issues, both catastrophic and otherwise. There is a Saturday AM show that you should see for sure. It will be at the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium and exposes what is down at the bottom of the Catalina Channel. You can find location and ticketing information here.
Chamber music: The Camerata Pacifica will be doing a series of concerts, including at the Colburn School, beginning in November and continuing into next year. You can find information here. For those interested in Beethoven or Rachmaninoff, or in music you may have never heard of, this would be a way to experience it at a high level.
(Bob Gelfand writes on science, culture, and politics for CityWatch. He can be reached at [email protected])
