Republican Glenn Youngkin just won the governorship of Virginia and, of course, Donald Trump is taking credit for that victory saying the folks who loved him turned out for it. This is Trump's well-worn "I win either way" spinning. Youngkin avoided appearing with Trump and clearly dodged questions when he was asked why. If Youngkin had lost, Trump would be everywhere today saying, "He lost because he tried distancing himself from me."
In this country now, everyone is living in terror of the next election, no matter how far in the future it may be or how little we may even be able to predict about who'll be running or what the issues then will be. Tomorrow if there's an earthquake in Peru, someone will connect it to the likelihood of Trump or someone like him winning or losing.
I'm not looking at a lot of this. It's clickbait…someone trying to get your attention by telling you there's been a vital, determining development in that next election you're worried about. But there really isn't. How many unpredictable things have to happen in this world before people will stop fretting about things that can't possibly be predicted?
As for Virginia, William Saletan suggests a way to look at the results there…
…GOP chairwoman Ronna McDaniel lauded the former president as the hero of the night. "President Trump continues to be a huge boost for Republicans across the country," she declared.
This is a logical spin to put on the Virginia result, if you're trying to pump up your party and manage a narcissist's ego. But if McDaniel and others feature Trump in next year's elections based on the conclusion that he was an asset in Virginia, they'll be sorry. Polls show that he was a significant liability. Youngkin won this race not because of Trump, but despite him.
If you read Saletan's whole piece, you'll see this is at least as valid an interpretation of the data as any other. I'm not saying it's definitely right; just that there's a good chance it is. So drawing the conclusion that Donald is obviously making a comeback might not be correct. But saying that is good clickbait.