‘Just Really Anxious’: An America on Edge Votes on a Day That Really Matters

Warning: There are 60 calendar days until January 7 when Democrats take their seats. Anybody want to bet on any ethical behavior from Republicans during the lame duck session? More likely, they wlll destroy destroy destroy. Starting with replacing Sessions, firing Mueller, and shredding his reports. Thankfully, some of his court actions will survive.

Elections in the US don't resolve differences in the population, they just produce temporary shifts in the balance of power while the underlying battle between left and right rages on.

Anxious? Everyone? That is hilarious. Just watch what happens. Nothing will change. It's like being anxious over professional wrestling. https://emcphd.wordpress.com

From the early numbers, I am unbelievably disappointed and depressed. How can this many Americans be filled with this much hate? That's what it boils down to for me, racism, hate, bullying. My father died many years ago, was a bully and I am not sure I can bear seeing my country move in his direction. It's happening before my eyes. Weep for us, World.

I was talking with my daughter yesterday, who wanted to find a ballot and non-biased info on all the folks and issues on our ballot. I told her for the very first time in my 63 years of life I’m voting a straight democratic ticket. We must have a balance of power now, more than ever. All the power in one pocket is simply bad for our democracy. Especially as is currently displayed.

I feel like I'm in a hospital lounge, waiting for news on a loved one in surgery.

I think people are hesitant to make any predictions as to how the election results will turn out after what occurred in 2016. Very few people thought Donald Trump would win the presidency and I think even Mr. Trump thought his chances were slim. And then the unthinkable happened. After weeks if not months of the media predicting that Hillary Clinton was sure to win, she did not. Everyone was stunned so now people are keeping a low profile about these midterm elections and each side is just hoping they win. There are sure to be some surprises and we will know hopefully soon enough the winners and losers of a much anticipated midterm election. There will be some happy Americans and some less so once the results are in. This is what democracy is all about and we are lucky to live in a country where we can vote for the candidate of our choice. Not all parts of the world are so lucky. We may not always like the outcome but our system is still the best. And there is always 2020 to look forward to and start the process all over again. May the best candidate win.

America desperately needs an end to Republican hate;chaos and greed. GOP has made America sick. Ray Sipe

If I didn’t know any better, based on the number of people voting at my polling place alone, I’d think that the Republic as we know it is at stake. Unfortunately, it seems fear and paranoia are relatively unchanged from earlier stages of our evolution. Something about V.I. Lenin and “useful idiots.”

It's a weird feeling. I want the Democrats to win, but not by too much. I don't want them to get the impression that I'm for open borders, especially when violent gangs are crossing into America, and Nancy Pelosi wants us to embrace their chaos with open arms. I certainly don't want the GOP to win. Not when they tell me that tax cuts for the rich are in my best interest. Not when I know that their true motives include destroying MY safety net. How many sides do they have to their mouths? So, I'll just vote, and wake up to a new dawn.

If Democrats can at least get the House, it can be the beginning of the road back. Too slow, of course. But I remember what Ralph Nader said in his salad days: "You lose and lose and lose and lose and lose....and then you win."

Whatever the results tonight, all of the pundits who ominously intoned that President Trump was a danger to democracy were laughably wrong. In my 41 years of voting eligibility I have never seen our precious country so energized. Turnout for both Repbulicans and Democrats are at record levels and this is a very encouraging development for our republic. Hopefully, we can respect the results and get on with addressing our most pressing issues, like health care, rebuilding our infrastructure and passing a humane immigration set of laws that are enfocrced and respected by everyone.

Will this civic awakening continue after the election?

"We believe he’s sent from God,” Kathy Kiely, 67, said of Mr. Trump from a mall food court in Prescott, Ariz., “to bring us back to where we used to be, and where we can be.”" Sent from God? Or God's opponent? I'm tired of hearing liberals and progressives called hysterical. If those critics, likely mostly Republicans, studied history, they'd be hysterical too. I've never seen the country in greater disarray. Anyone who's not anxious hasn't been paying attention. Maybe by now they finally are.

The real anxious ones are the Dems & the liberal wing of the party. The mainstream media & progressive pundits have elevated this race somewhere along the lines of "The Fate of Humanity is at Stake!" That was a blunder...hysteria rarely works. But there have been many blunders during this election cycle for the Dems. The messy judicial hearings, calls to impeach, Heidi Heitkamp apology, Elizabeth Warren DNA tests, Hillary & the caravan. If this election is a referendum on Trump then it's also a referendum on progressive politicians. If they lose...& all indicators are they will...then it will strengthen the hand of Democratic moderates. From the GOP's perspective losing the House is irrelevant. They're going to win the Senate. Control the Senate & you control the most important lever of power: the judiciary. This election should have been a blowout for the Dems. Three months ago it was looking that way. But it's actually become a serious, still iffy, horse race. Assuming polls are right, the Dems will reclaim only a few states, won't reclaim the Senate & might lose the House. As usual, after the election, pundits will congregate to discuss “why” Democrats didn't have a better showing. Here’s “why.” Trump isn't the problem. It's the 62 million people who voted for him. No matter what happens on Tuesday they're not going to suddenly see the light & morph into liberals. If anything they will become more determined to win the cultural war that has divided this country.

I am not even remotely anxious about the election. For one thing, I live in MI and I have two excellent choices for Senate. They are both fine individuals, the campaigns were run well, I'm proud of both and will be proud of whichever one wins and I am sure they will do a good job representing me and my fellow Michiganders. Also, if James wins, he will be our first ever African-American Senator from MI, and without a Oprah, without a single Hollywood celebrity, without any major newspaper or TV network noticing or caring, because they had nothing to gain from patronizing him. Or Stabenow wins, an excellent Senator, beloved of Michiganders of all stripes. We know she'll be great, no problem there. Anxious? No, just tired of all you guys pushing that nonsense. we're fine, this election is no big thing.

Here’s my thinking-if the Democrats win the house, I will be relieved, but unless they crush the GOP in the house AND senate and demonstrate that the people decisively reject trumpism the divide is enduring and perhaps even in unreconcilable. Then what? If the minority continues to rule because of lies and gerrymandering maybe the great democratic project is over.

It’s crazy what’s going on. The president is a racist, a bigot, misogynist, narcissist, and a liar (and those are just a few of his good traits). This election is not going to change the hearts and minds of his followers, but it is a mandate on what the country wants from its congressional representatives. If we go blue, we will get through, if we go red those who need healthcare will be dead.

I firmly believe the reason we are a divided country is the last several years (>2y) laws have mainly centered on taking from one group and giving to another. Unless that changes, we will maintain divisions. Who can change that?

Honestly, as a white guy I'm not nervous about the election. I'm not the one without an official birth certificate, a valid drivers licence, a voter registration card, and a face that's recognized by the local poll workers. I'm not the one who's been on parole, behind in child support payments, or under indictment. I'm not the one without a car, valid registration, and proof of insurance. I'm not the one without broadband, and functioning tech, so going to the polls and voting was a breeze, and using the voting machine was cake. Oh wait, you're talking about the results of the election. Never Mind.

I'm not worried or anxious about Trump or the Big Blue Wave. If I was to be worried, I be worried for the future--the people of the future. In the future, it won't matter what your politics are today. The future is going to take out a lot of people and there is nothing anyone can do about it. Your politics aren't going to save you. In fact, your current precious politics will be your ruination. Democrat. Republican. Makes no difference. People want change? Well, change is coming and no one's going to like it and no one is going to escape. Every advanced government in the world knows this. Every country with at least one super computer knows this. The technocrats know this. The ultra rich know this. The upper echelons of our secret service knows this. The natural world is barely hanging on, and we keep dancing around politicians as if. This is colloquially known to masses as climate change. I assure you, you know nothing of what the world is about to become. Very soon.

A warning to all: Those of us in Wisconsin eight years into the state-sized version of this Trumpian nightmare. The bully, Scott Walker, won in 2010, with all kinds of promises he failed to keep. He immediately engaged in "divide and conquer" (his words) tactics to gain just enough public support among conservatives, polarizing a once neighborly state. His m.o. was to cut taxes by cutting services and going after public servants, demonizing teachers, nurses, police and fire as "takers" and "moochers." Highly unpopular, an attempt to recall him failed 2 years later as his supporters were motivated by a great deal of outside help. That failed recall feels like these midterms. Then two years later, Walker was reelected despite being very divisive and unpopular, because the economy was doing well enough (thanks, Obama!). Now, 8 years after Walker was elected the state has been so poorly managed to save wealthy employers some taxes that Walker might finally lose. Our schools are struggling and our infrastructure is in tatters, and Walker's latest venture was the FoxConn boondoggle that is going to cost us $4B for little return, sold by both Walker AND Trump as a great opportunity for more jobs in a part of the state already at full employment. Last year, another dozen millions were spent to advertise out of state to attract new workers. Scott Walker is a divisive, poorly educated fool, but he's a good puppet for wealthy GOP oligarchs. Donald Trump is Scott Walker 2.0

We're all waiting. Hoping to see a fair election, despite the winner-take-all attitude of our presently fellow citizens. An NPR pundit called them the other tribe. I've seen cheating before. We saw this when Jeb Bush ran a corrupt election process in Florida in 2000 to help his brother. We watched in horror as the conservatives on the Supreme Court gave the Republicans the election though the Democrats won (It turned out later.) We heard rumors of siphoning of votes away in Ohio cities to give Bush the state in 2004: nothing was ever proved but Diebold did promise him the state. I am afraid that this is it. Democracy balances on the point of a razor. If the GOP wins fair and square we turn to fascism. If they steal the election, by whatever means, it could mean a civil war nobody really wants. Wars change everything. Nobody really wins.

Trump famously said, "I could shoot someone on 5th Avenue and not lose any votes". That has now been replaced by "Trump could be caught on videotape handing America's most sensitive military secrets to Russia and still not have any Republican votes for impeachment". Whatever evidence and proof of criminal acts that Mueller could come up with, it is certain that such evidence and proof could not be as powerful an indication of wrongdoing, as the evidence in the public record that Bret Kavanaugh was lying in the Senate hearings relating to his confirmation as a Supreme Court Justice. Once Christine Ford's account included three people she said were there AND his calendar had them all at Tim Gaudette's house on July 1, 1982, AND Ford's description of the interior of Gaudette's house in Rockville, MD exactly matches that of the actual house, which still exists: the only way that Kavanaugh was not lying is either: Ford somehow obtained access to his 1982 diary/calendar, or Ford has a time machine or Ford stalked Kavanaugh in 1982 and planned to do this, if and when he was nominated to the Supreme Court. Whatever the outcome of the 2018 midterm elections, it appears Trump will be in office at least until 2020..."

I am waiting to exhale. I've been holding my breath since election night 2016. If we do not stop Trump and his Merry Band of Henchmen tonight, he will be unleashed. There will be no stopping him. And Dems? IF you win tonight, do not get complacent. Figure out who you are, what you stand for, and a smarter way of reaching all Americans - besides standing against Trump. I pray that works tonight. I thank all Dem candidates - especially the new candidates - for taking the shot. I thank all new voters for saying, "Yes. This one is important" and coming out to stand in rain, with precinct problems, taking time from work, getting child care, etc. I am 67 years old. I have been watching politics intensely since fourth grade when Kennedy beat Nixon and I stayed up all night to watch it. This is THE most important election in my lifetime. I do not want to leave America. I love America. But if Trump wins tonight.....it will no longer be America for me. Waiting to exhale. Two years.

How does a narcissist react to a deep and broadly based personal rejection? With increased fury and rage or, oppositely, with near depression and withdrawal? We shall see. What we can expect from the Fake President if he is strongly rebuked by the electorate, is a total lack of any grace, contrition, or circumspection.

'“History always repeats itself,” said Robert Brock, 42, a Trump-supporting truck driver in South Daytona, Fla., forecasting a kind of modern civil war between conservative and liberal.' These guys are always kind of funny to listen to...talking as if the New York First Marine Division would be stopped by them during their invasion of Florida and liberation of Miami.

Not on the ballot, but in our hearts and minds are the events of the last two weeks. The nation has experienced murders--at a supermarket, a synagogue, and a yoga studio driven by race, religion, and gender. White males, brazened by rhetoric and silence, piloted flashing vans, flashing guns to kill and rage in silence, their message clear--while Trump tells America that desperate, poor families walking with their children fleeing violence will be met by armed soldiers, ICE agents and bureaucratic semantics that will strip children from the arms of mothers and put them in cages they call summer camps. Despite court orders, the children, guilty of no crime, their parents not charged with any criminal conduct, have not been returned. The media dropped the story. Remember chemistry: adding a catalyst to dormant or latent conditions, previously primed, can cause explosive, unpredictable results. Trump is the catalyst. For the safety of the world, for the peace of the nation, for the protection of the children, vote out those who endorse his once removed death squads, civilian and official, by remaining silent about their threat and witnessed carnage. Vote out those who silence endorses killers. Vote out those who applaud death by their support of Trump's policies--his lies and hate. Trump embeds violence in poverty. Vote out the law makers who silently endorse the starvation and deaths of children in Yemen, where, through American military aid, a child dies every 15 minutes.

I am not anxious. The candidate’s market campaigns mirror our capitalistic corrosive propaganda machines, slick initiative ballot measures mirror the muddy minds of questionable citizens and I still miss Ralph N.

In effect, Trump has become the leader of the largest cult this world has ever seen. The rest of us need a reorientation. A sizable portion of his followers have the mentality of cult followers and we can no longer assume that we are talking to rational actors. I don’t know how to engage with people like this, perhaps the Times will look into it and publish a piece.

“We believe he’s sent from God,” Kathy Kiely, 67, said of Mr. Trump from a mall food court in Prescott, Ariz., “to bring us back to where we used to be, and where we can be.” "...back to where we used to be" is the scariest part of their blind support of Donald Trump, a man who falls in love with murdering dictators and believes white supremacists are "very fine people."

There is no God with whom I am familiar who would send Donald Trump to anything other than a bankruptcy hearing.

All I know is I feel like drinking all day and night today.

Voted this morning; straight blue. It was more crowded than during the presidential election by a factor of 5. Glad to see people paying attention and taking this seriously. Americans need to come together and vote for sanity this time around or this country is cooked.

Huck Finn would only watch Fox for the theatrics. And he wouldn’t fall for a word of it.

I decided yesterday that it was less masochistic for me to watch Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte plus What Ever Happened to Baby Jane, than to think about the elections.

I feel like a child waiting anxiously for Christmas. Hoping for a big blue wave.

This is not a bipartisan election. It is those who were duped and lied to and believe the propaganda against people who do not believe the GOP propaganda and know that trump is a con man and a sham and has started this country down the road to fascism and probably answers to the Russians. In other words. GOP votes are for the traitors in the house.

omg terrified...balance please

"I don't worry 'bout a thing, cause I know nothing's going to be alright." Mose Allison. Let's get to work on 2020.

Like the past leader Trump seems to admire and whose rhetorical style he's borrowed from, he will take everyone down with him without a care about the damage.

I do not understand my neighbors and family and fellow citizens who support, even worship, Donald Trump. He is on the ballot. If Republicans keep control, I am living in a country I do not recognize or feel I belong to. It was hard to adjust after he was elected but it will be impossible for me to adjust if Democrats fail to take the House and a few governorships. I need hope. I need to hear that this awful man is not who we are.

“We believe he’s sent from God,” Kathy Kiely, 67, said of Mr. Trump from a mall food court in Prescott, Ariz., “to bring us back to where we used to be, and where we can be.” I grew up Christian, and while I may not follow that path any longer, this statement hit me like a punch in the gut. Mr. Trump, sent from God himself. A holy prophet of righteousness, sent to save us. Seriously. This is absolutely fear of the highest sort. It is insanity.

It's just so much easier to lie without a consequence from either party and news media haven't learned how to get ahead of Trump's mastery of wooing the ignorant and the power hungry.

I checked out NYTimes emoji thing, and it seems that, like me, 50% so far are "afraid"! That's exactly right. Even with a blue wave, we are skating on the edge of disaster. Degraded planet, income inequality, trickle-up headed for the worst crash ever (and deceiving), kids jailed and separated from parents, rampant election cheating, and the minority ruling the majority. Hate promotion, trigger-happy rage armed with high-powered killing machines. I'm for the Constitution, and I am a patriot. Trump is neither. Republicans are indifferent, as long as they can help their rich buddies loot and exploit our planet to extinction and keep the golden prizes for the next few years. It's terrifying how easy it is for lies to win. A lie travels around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.

Blue wave! Blue wave! Blue wave! I'm saying this over and over to myself to implement the psychological tool of acting confident to feel confident -- or at least quiet my anxiety.