The Republican Party Failed Deliciously Last Night. Now, the Real Work Begins.

3 min readThese are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.—Thomas Paine, The American Crisis, December 19, 1776.And then, the folks on the Morning Joe show mournfully deplored Mr. Paine's divisive rhetoric.Man, just fck that noise. Line me up behind Rep. Robert Garcia, the incoming chairman of the House Oversight Committee, who greeted the epic ass-kicking of every evil loosed upon the world by the current president, the MAGA movement, and all of the cowards and enablers, with a simple, two-word message.Lawyer up.(And that is not even to mention that Rep. Jamie Raskin will be chairing the House Judiciary Committee.)Ignore all calls for conciliation. Turn a deaf ear to the impotent ghosts of Clintonian triangulation. Turn the last shovel-full of dirt on moderation in pursuit of thieves and brigands. Accept the incredible momentum that has risen behind you from across the country and use it to do two things at once. Ameliorate the very real problems of affordability, and cleanse the moneychangers from the temple. There's a lot of work to be done, but that is what the country demanded on Tuesday night. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered.And, at this writing, they're still counting ballots for the United States Senate in Mississippi. Goddamn.There are elements to the landslide that are worthy of their own posts, and we'll get to them as the day goes on. But here are some other highlights of the Night of the Great Reckoning.In what seems like decades ago, the Republicans around the country came up with a brilliant idea. Let's do an aggressive campaign of midterm gerrymandering so as to eliminate Black and/or liberal legislators now that the Supreme Court has fired the starting gun for the new Jim Crow. Say what you will about Hakeem Jeffries, but he rose to this challenge. He sent out word to states with Democratic majority legislatures to get to work on their own plans. And he helped make an arcane legislative process into a national issue. And, on Tuesday, the GOP's grand design failed utterly. From Axios:Florida: Republicans are set to go 0-for-4 in redistricted seats, failing to unseat Democratic Reps. Darren Soto, Kathy Castor and Jared Moskowitz, or capture a new seat that Democrat Pia Dandiya won.Texas: Republicans are set to narrowly win just one of the five districts they heavily redrew in their favor, with Democrats easily hanging onto several Rio Grande Valley and San Antonio-area seats.Ohio: Democratic Reps. Greg Landsman and Marcy Kaptur held on despite Republicans drawing them into more hostile territory.Alabama: Democratic Rep. Shomari Figures is also set for a comfortable win in a district Republicans had planned to fall into their hands.Louisiana: The district of retiring Democrat Rep. Cleo Fields, which Republicans made significantly more GOP-leaning, will go to a December runoff between Democrat Patricia Moore and Republican Gabe Firment.And, as a tasty bit of lagniappe, Rep. Richard Hudson, the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, lost his seat in North Carolina. (North Carolina was a notable GOP bloodbath.)It was a big night for decency. Vivek Ramaswamy will now fade into luxurious obscurity. The ghastly racist campaign against Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan failed. Ohio Congressman—and alleged domestic abuser—Max Miller will have all the time he needs now to answer depositions. And Rep. Scott DesJarlais, who should have lost his seat years ago for being a complete creep, finally did so, to Victoria Broderick, whom he beat by more than 40 points two years ago. And Allison Montgomery became the first trans person elected to the state legislature in Alabama.It was a very bad night for Congressional crackpots. Rep. Virginia Foxx is down in the North Carolina cataclysm. Rep. Victoria Spartz of Indiana lost early on. Lauren Boebert is, at this writing, locked in a life-and-death struggle with Democratic candidate, and retired rear admiral, Eileen Laubacher. Two of the prime congressional suspects in the January 6 insurrection, Andy Biggs of Arizona and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, have been retired from public life.And they're still counting in Mississippi, where they don't allow recounts in Senate races.