IT WOULD SEEM THAT CHUCKIE SCHUMER LIKES LIVIN’ ON THE EDGE…

I can’t help but wonder if it has yet dawned on Senate Democrats that they could soon lose the last congressional tool at their disposal to block legislation from the Republican-led Congress, and as early November of 2018.  And that would be because of the very simple fact that they will then be called upon to defend 23 Senate seats while the GOP will need to worry about defending only eight.  That leaves many of the 23 Democrat Senators, and their leaders, with the rather unenviable task of trying to balance party solidarity against the personal political survival of those up for reelection.  Party leaders commonly give vulnerable senators leeway to buck their party going into an election year, but if the Democrats allow a third of their senators to freelance on critical votes during the next two years, they pretty much cease to function as a party at all.

For Senate Minority Leader Chuckie Schumer, this means playing a most dangerous game with 10 of his colleagues up for reelection in states won by Donald Trump plus, Maine, where Trump won one electoral vote.  The choice for Chuckie and the Democrats is whether to fiddle in the middle, blurring the distinctions between its incumbents and the Trump-led Republican Party, or to make a last stand at Fort Obama, defending former Barry’s legacy, even at the cost of losing the ability to delay and or block legislation.  The magic number is eight.  With eight more seats, Senate Republicans would no longer need worry about Chuckie and his fellow Democrats.  If the 2018 election sends eight more Republicans to the Senate, the Democrats lose the last vestige of the maximum power they commanded in 2009-2010, when they held 60 seats in the Senate, control of the House and the White House.

Nine of the Democrats up for reelection in 2018 are freshmen, so they are coming into the first defense of their seat, typically the most difficult. They are Sen. Christopher Murphy, Sen. Angus King, Sen. Mazie K. Hirona, Sen. Joseph Donnelly, Sen. Timmy Kaine, Sen. Martin T. Heinrich, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sen.Tammy Baldwin, and Heidi K. Heitkamp.  Six of the nine won their seats in 2012 with 53 percent or less of the vote: Baldwin, 51 percent; Kaine, 53 percent; King, 53 percent; Heinrich, 51 percent; Heitkamp, 50 percent; and Donnelly, 50 percent.  There are four more Democrat senators from states Trump won and each has had tough races in the past, so there is a very strong possibility of picking off: Florida’s Sen. Bill Nelson, Missouri’s Sen. Claire McCaskill, Pennsylvania’s Sen. Robert P. Casey Jr., and West Virginia’s Sen. Joseph Manchin.  With these four seats, the Republicans would then gain ten.

However, there are two sides to this political ledger.  The Republicans have eight seats which they must defend and not all of them are in good shape.  The weakest of the eight Republicans in the 2012 cycle were Nevada’s Sen. Dean Heller and Arizona’s Sen. Jeff Flake.  Both men were openly hostile to Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign, with Flake actually having a shouting match with Trump when he visited with GOP senators.  Heller might catch a break in 2018, as Trump won Arizona and lost Nevada.  There is every chance in the world that when the dust settles that both Flake and Heller could be returned to private life in November 2018.  Therefore, 10 minus two equals eight.  And eight plus 52 equals 60–and gives the Republicans the super-majority votes they need to dismiss any and all challenges from Chuckie Schumer and his merry band of Senate Democrats.  What a shame.

If, however, the Republicans fail to seize the opportunity that 2018 offers, it could be another six years before the chance presents itself again.  In the 2020 Senate cycle, the Republicans will defend 22 seats to the Democrat’s 11, a reflection of the GOP’s nine-seat pick up in 2014.  Then in 2022, Republicans defend the 24-to-10 results it just won in November.  Democrats have held 60 or more seats in 12 different congresses, including 1937-to-1939, when they dominated the Republicans 75-to-17. Republicans have never held 60 seats in the Senate, but twice they held 59: 1909-to-1911 and 1921-to-1923.  An eight-senator pickup would be an historical mark, and it would mean in practical terms that Republicans cannot be stopped by anyone but themselves.  But knowing this group as we all do, that certainly is not outside the realm of possibility.

Of course the unspoken factor here is that the Democrats no longer even bother with trying to pretend they’re a political party.  In truth, what they are is a rudderless, ever more lunatic fringe, secular-but-manic religion, existing only for the furtherance of their own power and the destruction of America. They stand for nothing but virtue signaling, divisiveness and are eager obstructionists in the name of "party solidarity".  When asked what they stand for, seldom is the answer provided anything other than arrogant posturing, lies and outlandish behavior.  It is a meaningless and embarrassing display at best, certifiable at worst. The more they stick to their outdated playbook, reliance on subjective reality and fringe allegiances the closer they come to a well-deserved extinction.  They profess to be the guardian of the little guy but seek nothing more than to use him in their relentless quest for power.

And if the truth be told, Chuckie isn't ‘playing a dangerous game’, he's playing Russian roulette...with a full cylinder, and I love it.  Democrats are their own worst enemy.  Their childish ways are their biggest weakness.  The more childish they and their supporters act, the more vulnerable their party becomes, especially given that Republicans are generally more passionate about voting during non-presidential election years and more likely to vote during midterms and municipal election years because we know that State and U.S. Senators as well as State Supreme Court judges are just as influential in driving our agenda and attributes to why the left has been shellacked so badly at the state, local and federal level because we DO love this country more and want our party’s RIGHT influence to remain solid to sustain protect the national sovereignty of this beautiful nation we all love and cherish.

It’s not just a duty to us, but a responsibility to reinforce the influence of our beliefs among those who we willingly put in charge to instill our influence because we know what happens if we drop the baton.  We saw that in 2008 and it didn't take very long for Barry to remind us all of what can happen when the left in this country is provided with a level of power that allows them to do whatever it is they wish.  As has been said so many times before, and needs to be repeated ad nauseam from this point going forward, these people, these Democrats, NEED to be defeated in EVERY aspect because when the left is in power, they are dangerous. When they are not - they can be rather funny in their delusional hysteria.  If Republicans play their cards right they could sustain power for the next TWO generations, at least!  But the question is, do they have it in them to do what we all know is required to succeed?