蘑菇视频

Nov 13, 2017 4 min read

“It is here in Virginia that we sent a powerful message to the nation that bigotry, racism and lies will never defeat love, fairness and truth.”

Susan Swecker, Chairman of the Democratic Party of Virginia, last Tuesday night

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When President Trump embarked on his five-country, 12-day trip to Asia, he packed his very best presidential mask.

For the most part, he stuck to his teleprompter and聽 left his most incendiary adlibs back in the states.

Let that sink in for a moment.

We now have a president who gets credit when he doesn’t use off-the-cuff rhetoric that inches us closer to WWIII.

While jetting around the Far East, Trump certainly knew that there’s increased attention being paid to several investigations looking into the possibility that his presidential campaign played footsie with Russia.

In the meantime, millions of Americans went to the polls last week, and most of them sent Mr. Trump a message: “Trumpism” could be short-lived.

Republicans had hoped that Ed Gillespie, a strong conservative, could replace Virginia’s outgoing Democratic governor, Terry McAuliffe.

In the final days of his campaign, Gillespie played his Trump card, by injecting Confederate statues and immigration into the race.

On the morning of the election, Trump even tweeted his support for him.

“@EdWGillespie will totally turn around the high crime and poor economic performance of VA. MS-13 and crime will be gone. Vote today, ASAP!” he wrote.

That didn’t work.

An hour after the polls closed in Virginia, Gillespie’s Democratic challenger – Ralph Northam – was declared the winner.

What was thought to have been a very close race, produced a shockingly wide margin (9-points) in favor the Democrat.

Trump hardly took the defeat in stride. (Especially since Barack Obama openly campaigned for the Democrat, while the Republican made it a point not to campaign with Trump)

Instead, Trump blamed Gillespie for not being more like him.

“Ed Gillespie worked hard but did not embrace me or what I stand for,” Trump tweeted after the outcome was determined.

TRANSLATION: “If you had won, it was because of me.” “Since you lost, it’s because of you.”

But Virginians weren’t finished showing their antipathy toward Trump and his fellow Republicans.

When Virginia’s voters were asked in exit polls which issue mattered to them most in their vote for governor, health care (39%) topped the list.

That’s a clear indication that Democrats are beginning to take their support for Obamacare to the polls with them when they vote.

That’s another blow against Trump, who continues to blather on about Obamacare being a “disaster.”

And that certainly isn’t what Maine’s voters think.

Despite the state’s governor, Paul LePage, vetoing five pieces of legislation that would allow for Medicaid expansion under Obamacare, last Tuesday 60 percent of Maine’s voters approved Medicaid expansion, anyway.

That move could benefit 70,000 of Maine’s residents.

But LePage has already signaled that he’ll block any effort to expand Medicaid in the state, unless it’s fully funded by the state’s legislature.

That’s a move right out of the Trump playbook that could backfire.

“Tonight, the message for Democrats and the country is that fear and division and hatred do not work,” proclaimed Virginia’s Gov. McAuliffe, who’s prepared to turn over the reins of his office to his fellow Democrat.

Republicans must now suspect that Democrats across the country have been energized by the tumultuous events of this past year.

That the election of Donald Trump has emboldened them, and the first real chance to reflect that was at the polls last week.

Not only have Democrats in Virginia and Maine spoken, they’ve also made their voices heard in New Jersey.

Chris Christie, a devout supporter of Donald Trump, is the outgoing governor.

His job approval number is at a paltry 15%, and some of that can be attributed to his support for Trump.

His Republican Lt. Governor, Kim Guadagno, ran to replace him.

Guadagno didn’t stand a chance.

Her Democratic opponent, Phillip D. Murphy, who’d never held a public office, beat her by more than 13-points.

Edward A. Owens is a multi-Emmy Award winner, former reporter and anchor for Entertainment Tonight and 20-year TV news veteran. E-mail him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net.