jswolfe

Recovering Journalist.

[AJ Inapi (Allan) @aj_inapi]

AMERICANS - RUN THE CLOCK BACK 50 YEARS.

Forget today’s personalities for a moment.

You’ve seen this movie before.

🇺🇸 1976 - Watergate hangover. Vietnam. Ford vs. Reagan.

Conservatives were angry with the Republican establishment. Reagan nearly took the nomination from a sitting Republican president.

Turnout fell to just 54% of eligible voters, the lowest presidential turnout since WWII.

Jimmy Carter arrived as the Washington outsider:

“A Leader, For A Change.”

Carter won.

Then came inflation, economic anxiety, the Iran hostage crisis and a national crisis of confidence.

🇺🇸 1980 - Reagan.

Reagan didn't ask Americans whether everything was perfect.

He asked:

“Are you better off than you were four years ago?”

The conservative coalition expanded into working-class Democrats and union households.

Result: Reagan 489 electoral votes. Carter 49.

The modern conservative Republican era was born.

🇺🇸 1992 - THE COALITION FRACTURES AGAIN.

Bush had famously promised:

“Read my lips: no new taxes.”

Then he signed a tax increase.

Conservatives were furious. Pat Buchanan challenged him from the right. Ross Perot ran as an outsider preaching deficits, reform and “United We Stand, America.”

Election night:

Clinton: 43%
Bush: 38%
Perot: 19%

Clinton entered the White House.

But two years later...

🇺🇸 1994 - THE REPUBLICAN REVOLUTION.

Newt Gingrich and Republicans nationalized the midterms around the:

CONTRACT WITH AMERICA.

Taxes. Spending. Crime. Welfare. Government accountability.

Republicans gained 54 House seats, seized both chambers and controlled the House for the first time in 40 years.

Then the cycle turned again.

🇺🇸 2006 - IRAQ. DEFICITS. CORRUPTION. BUSH FATIGUE.

Republican voters were frustrated.

The broader electorate was exhausted by Iraq and increasingly dissatisfied with Washington.

Democrats gained 31 House seats and captured Congress.

Nancy Pelosi became Speaker.

🇺🇸 2008 - “HOPE AND CHANGE.”

Obama entered Washington with Democrats controlling both chambers.

Then came the stimulus fight.

Obamacare.

Federal spending battles.

And something started boiling at town halls across America...

🇺🇸 2010 - THE TEA PARTY.

Taxed Enough Already.
Limited government.
Lower taxes.
Cut spending.
Take Washington back.

Republican voters became intensely mobilized.

The result?

Republicans went from 178 House seats to 242.

One of the largest modern midterm reversals.

Then another cycle.

🇺🇸 2016 - “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN.”

Trump shattered the Republican establishment and rebuilt the GOP coalition around immigration, trade, manufacturing, nationalism and political populism.

Republicans entered 2017 controlling:

The White House.
The House.
The Senate.

But politics didn't stop.

🇺🇸 2018 - THE BLUE WAVE.

Trump's opponents were furious.

They organized.

They voted.

Democrats gained 41 House seats.

Nancy Pelosi returned as Speaker.

For Trump's final two years, Washington operated under divided government.

🇺🇸 2020 → 2022 → 2024

The pendulum kept moving.

Biden entered office in 2021 with Democrats controlling the White House, House and Senate.

Republicans recovered the House in 2022 - but by only a narrow margin.

Then in 2024 Republicans regained unified government: presidency, House and Senate.

And now it is 2026.

Republicans again hold unified government.

The political environment has again become difficult: inflation and cost of living remain major voter concerns, and current polling shows significant differences in enthusiasm between different parts of the Republican coalition.

That is the part of American political history worth remembering:

1976 → 1980 → 1992 → 1994 → 2006 → 2008 → 2010 → 2016 → 2018 → 2020 → 2022 → 2024.

Anger.
Complacency.
Backlash.
Mobilization.
Realignment.

Then the cycle starts again.

American politics has spent half a century demonstrating one basic fact:

ELECTIONS DON'T END POLITICAL ARGUMENTS.

They determine who holds institutional power while those arguments continue.

And history keeps the receipts.

We can all agree that President Trump is a once in a lifetime President and giving him the leverage should supercede anything this midterms.

[jswolfe @jswolfe]

@Dbacks Can you provide the program for Saturday afternoon? When do gates open? What will ceremony feature?

[Freddy🇩🇪 @FreddyLA7]

After a long day of driving we’ve finally had the time to explore a bit and it was WORTH it. This is somewhere in the Watkins Glen State Park in New York.

For a moment I felt like I was deep in the jungle searching for an ancient lost city.

[Grummz @Grummz]

They just indicted the Southern Poverty Law Center on 11 counts of fraud.

Wow!

The SPLC worked with Facebook, Old Twitter and Youtube on their safety teams, sometimes directly advising/flagging what content gets demonetized, restricted or removed!

They were a HUGE reason why social media companies choked out voices, even Gamergate voices, back at the height of social media censorhip.

Turns out, they were PAYING actual hate groups to FALSE flag. I repeat, they took doner money to fight these groups, and are then alleged to have paid the leaders of these group to create trouble...which, of course, gives them more to talk about and raise money for.

WE WERE RIGHT. This was a huge grift, a huge setup, and so many fell for it, and so many big companies went along with it. And everyone's speech was completely controlled by narratives like this.

I'm so thrilled that they indicted them, and I hope the leaders of the SPLC get the book thrown at them.

[The Long View @HayekAndKeynes]

I think most people are totally missing what's going on. This is my attempt to explain it.

[jswolfe @jswolfe]

@UnitedStandMUFC This looks like a 4-4-2

[jswolfe @jswolfe]

@people Disgraced? Really? That’s the adjective you chose?

[jswolfe @jswolfe]

@richardgaisford Hi Richard! We are back in AZ! Thanks again for the insightful talks! I’ll be interested in your next endeavor! Had any time to look through @Aroundworldbook?

[jswolfe @jswolfe]

@RealSLokhova @RealSLokhova It was the deputy director, Andrew McCabe, who ordered Crossfire opened.

[jswolfe @jswolfe]

@drawandstrike @drawandstrike Remember, however, that it was McCabe who told his team to “classify” them to get Comey in trouble.

[jswolfe @jswolfe]

@Dbacks @forthepeople No. 2002.

[jswolfe @jswolfe]

https://t.co/u9gmfo4t9k

👍

[Jake Oliver @DarthDbacks]

To celebrate the Start of Spring Training

I have a 2023 NL Champions Replica Ring to give away to a lucky fan of the #Dbacks!

To enter:
-Must Re-tweet This Post
-Must Follow Me
-Must Like This Post

*For an extra entry, respond to this post with your favorite article on Diamondbacks ON SI site
https://t.co/zoyfdqMxeU

*Deadline to enter is Monday, Feb 17 at 10 PM

*More giveaways to come, stay tuned!

Good luck everyone!

[Jake Oliver @DarthDbacks]

To celebrate the Start of Spring Training

I have a 2023 NL Champions Replica Ring to give away to a lucky fan of the #Dbacks!

To enter:
-Must Re-tweet This Post
-Must Follow Me
-Must Like This Post

*For an extra entry, respond to this post with your favorite article on Diamondbacks ON SI site
https://t.co/zoyfdqMxeU

*Deadline to enter is Monday, Feb 17 at 10 PM

*More giveaways to come, stay tuned!

Good luck everyone!

[jswolfe @jswolfe]

@ShitpostRock @DawsonSField Times like this when I miss @TheThomasWictor

[jswolfe @jswolfe]

@SteveGilbertMLB Have the @dbacks mothballed the “D” logo caps for 2024?

[jswolfe @jswolfe]

@Verizon @VerizonSupport Anyone else have this situation? Verizon being slow to provide credit — we’ll look into it, a team will investigate, do you have a ticket number, do you remember which promotion? Ugh.

[jswolfe @jswolfe]

@verizon @VerizonSupport I have been a customer for 23 years. For the last nine months I have been trying to get credit for a phone I turned in to get a new one. Still no credit. Told in October it was fixed. Told in November it was fixed. Two hours tonight — we can’t fix.

[jswolfe @jswolfe]

@DawsonSField @UKNeil79 In December or August?

[jswolfe @jswolfe]

@Gambo987 Why didn’t the Suns go for Holiday?

[jswolfe @jswolfe]

@SteveGilbertMLB Did Torey give an explanation for not starting Pfaadt? Seemed like overthinking.