I spent a good part of the night here in my Normandy fortress, trying to follow, from the other side of an ocean (still called the Atlantic, as far as I’m aware), how things were playing out for my American friends. And oh boy, look what the American electorate dragged in this morning.
A BLUE WAVE, no less. And a rather magnificent one at that.
The Democrats have taken back both the House and the Senate. Apparently, after nearly two years of presidential tantrums, tariff roulette, testosterone antics, constitutional gymnastics, misogyny, racism, gratuitous violence, billionaire worship and the daily televised adventures of a heavily bronzed narcissist, a plethora (see what I did there, Henk?) of Americans have decided that perhaps this isn’t quite what they ordered. And yes, I know, a considerable number are still convinced that this is EXACTLY what they ordered, preferably with extra deportations and a complimentary MAGA cap. But today is not their day. They can go sulk in a corner.
But the most delicious part? TEXAS. Bloody TEXAS. Home of SXSW, Austin, my beloved Lake Travis, some of the best barbecue on the planet and, once you venture outside Austin, enough right-wing political enthusiasm to make a European fascist feel slightly underdressed.
James Talarico, a 37-year-old former schoolteacher and Presbyterian seminarian, has defeated Trump-endorsed Ken Paxton, becoming the first Democrat elected to a US Senate seat in Texas since Lloyd Bentsen in 1988. Yes, 1988. Back when the Soviet Union still existed, the internet was a virgin curiosity and Donald Trump’s hair was presumably still negotiating the terms of its unconditional surrender.
And as if one upset weren’t enough, Texans also fired Greg Abbott. Gina Hinojosa, an Austin state representative and decided underdog, denied him a record fourth term and becomes the first Democratic governor of Texas since Ann Richards, and the first Latina ever to hold the job. The man who bused migrants to other people’s cities as a political stunt will now get to watch the movers bus his own furniture out of the Governor’s Mansion.
Texas! Where Democrats have traditionally been about as welcome as a transgender vegan brisket at an NRA barbecue. Where more than $150 million of Musk’s money, MAGA hysteria and the entire Republican fear factory apparently weren’t enough to convince voters that Ken Paxton was a splendid idea. Where a former teacher who actually talks about compassion, decency and helping people has managed to defeat a man who spent years demonstrating how remarkably little of those qualities is required to build a successful Republican career.
I can already hear Trump whining that this is actually an enormous personal victory. The biggest defeat ever won. Nobody has ever lost so successfully. Everybody says so. Beautiful numbers. Tremendous numbers. The best numbers. And Ken Paxton? Never liked the guy. Barely knew him. Some loser from Texas. Probably a Democrat in disguise. Sad! (Reality, for once, is not far behind: Trump has already told Fox News he “had no choice” but to endorse Paxton.)
Of course, America hasn’t suddenly recovered from its collective bout of political insanity. There are still two years of Trump, an impressive collection of institutional wreckage, a Supreme Court with a rather creative interpretation of constitutional principles and enough MAGA lunacy to keep an international congress of psychiatrists gainfully employed until the next century. The damage is real, the divisions run deep, and no electoral landslide is going to magically cure a country where a disturbing number of people still believe that cruelty is a political program.
But this morning, the pendulum has swung. Hard. And for once, the people who have spent years screaming about taking their country back are discovering that other Americans are perfectly capable of doing precisely the same thing. Without storming the Capitol, threatening election officials or smearing excrement on the walls of democracy. Imagine that. How terribly un-American of them.
So here I am, under my apple tree in Normandy, with a very large coffee, an even larger grin, and Texas Sun by Khruangbin & Leon Bridges playing at a volume that was probably already unreasonable before I turned it up another notch. Possibly two.
The neighbors can file a complaint with the Republican National Committee.
The sun is shining. And at least today, it’s shining blue.
