“How easy it is to make people believe a lie, and hard it is to undo that work again!”
– Mark Twain

Somewhere in the Mark Twain National Forest: NAJ screen shot/Google

Tales From the MoJo Road –
By Glynn Wilson –

SOMEWHERE IN THE MARK TWAIN NATIONAL FOREST, Missouri – While Democrats and sane people all over the country are freaking out on social media about the outcome of the presidential election, with good reason, there is one small sliver of hope left for some semblance of democracy in 27 races where votes are still being counted to see which party will control the House and the voting agenda in Congress next year.

If they can pull off a few more victories in California, Arizona and a few other states, the Democrats could still act as a bulwark against the most radical elements of the agenda of Donald Trump, J.D. Vance and the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025.

On Friday, three days after Election Day, votes are still being counted in 27 close House races, so there’s no clear majority yet. The House likely will not be called this week because of outstanding votes in competitive races. There are still a lot of votes left to count.

Republicans added three seats to their total on Thursday, while Democrats picked up one more seat. The total now stands at 210 seats for the Republicans, and 198 for the Democrats, with Democrats clearly favored in at least 15 races, which would give them at least 2013 seats. Unfortunately Republicans are leading in 12 races. If they win them all, they will control the chamber with 222 votes.

Two of those races are razor close, however, with the Republican only ahead by 0.2 points in California District 47 and Iowa District 1. If the rest of the results hold, the Republicans would still hold a majority in the chamber with 220 seats to 215, so it will take another 5 upsets to bring the chamber to a tie.

That’s not much hope. But it’s worth clinging to for the moment until we know for sure.

Republicans have already secured control of the Senate with a majority of 53 seats to the Democrats’ 43, with 2 independents. Votes are still being counted and some races are still too close to call, including one in Pennsylvania.

If Trump’s party does win control of both chambers, he will have a far easier time passing legislation to lower taxes, add tougher restrictions at the border, slash spending and potentially restrict abortion rights, campaign promises he has said he intends to fulfill.

Even if Republicans end up controlling both chambers, there may be limits to what Trump can do in Congress. Some Republican senators could balk at his nominations for cabinet posts, for example. And legislation in the Senate would still require the cooperation of Democrats to avoid a filibuster.

But the party that controls the House also controls what bills go to the floor for a vote. That would give Trump’s allies the ability to ensure that his priorities are voted on.

Trump’s campaign is now faced with the task of assembling a new government, but his people have not been cooperating with the administration still in power for less than three months. The White House said on Thursday that the president-elect’s advisers had not yet signed the paperwork required to access government-funded transition resources such as office space and computers.

Supposedly superstitious about planning a government in advance, Trump has so far refused to even receive intelligence briefings from federal agencies he will soon be in charge of. Which just goes to show that Trump really has no plans to govern and actually run the federal government in the interest of the people. He just wants to run it down and bring it to its knees so he can run his business from inside the White House.

It’s JD Vance and the Heritage Foundation leadership who have been planning for what to do if Trump wins, and that includes dismantling the democratic government and the existing professional civil service system and transforming it into a theocratic, oligopolistic autocracy.

Anyone who thinks this is somehow inspired by a god is a complete fool.

If there was a such thing as a just God, or a just CIA, one of them would strike Trump dead before he can be inaugurated in January. If they were to take out Vance too, and the Democrats control the House, the new Speaker would be in the line of succession to be the next president. Perhaps we will cling to that hope until Jan. 20, 2025.

If there is a God, he is a malign thug.
– Mark Twain

“Go to Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company.
– Mark Twain

* Sources

NPR/AP

NYTimes

Mark Twain Quotes About Religion