Why Trump Didn't Lose!, 3398

I’m still reporting on the Trump effect.
I believe that it is a mathematical impossibility that President Trump did not win 2020 election. Never before have the Democrats put up such a weak, scandal-riddled opponent, but then, for a variety of painfully obvious reasons, confined him to his basement, actually avoiding personal appearances or even media appearances.
The astounding fact is that never before in modern presidential history has a losing presidential candidate had winning coattails – at all – much less, the huge ones that Trump displayed.
This year, Republicans will flip as many as 12 seats in the House – severely slashing Nancy Pelosi’s majority. In fact, not one Republican House incumbent lost their race, while twelve Democrat incumbents lost to either a Republican woman, a minority or a veteran.
As Virginia moderate Democrat Abigail Spanberger put it:
“We need to never use the word ‘socialist’ or ‘socialism’ ever again.”
More importantly, Trump’s coattails were not only wide-spread, they extended deep into the state races as well, affecting Republican’s long-term prospects for 2022 and beyond.
At the state level, the GOP picked up more than 200 seats and gained control of two state legislatures, while losing none, unquestionably strengthening their position for the crucial 2021 congressional redistricting.
For example, take the pivotal east-coast swing state of North Carolina. Most people only looked at the Governor’s race there, where incumbent Democrat Roy Cooper won a 4.5% victory over his Republican Lt. Governor, Dan Forest. Strangely, he outperformed other Democrats on the ballot.
Could it be that Cooper had a little help from his friends?
North Carolina elected its first African-American to the Lt. Gov. slot, Republican Mark Robinson. And since Gov. Cooper will be term-limited 4 years from now, Robinson, at this point is the favorite to replace him in 2024.
North Carolina Republicans held on to the NC House and Senate.
But even deeper down in the field, a little-appreciated seismic shift occurred.

For the past 4 years the Republican legislature has struggled unsuccessfully over a variety of issues because ultimately, the Democrats held a lopsided majority in the North Carolina Supreme Court.
But for the first time in history, Republican judicial candidates swept all eight statewide judicial races.
In the Supreme Court, Democrats held a 6-to-1 advantage. In a stunning reversal, hat lead has now been cut to 4-3, with Republican Justice Paul Newby, even winning the race for Chief Justice after a lengthy recount battle.
And in the 2022 midterm election two more Democrat justices come up for re-election, so Republicans could soon have a complete Trump-effect reversal in just two years.
I’m still reporting from just outside the citadel of American freedom. Good day.