The political punditry is currently fixated, ad nauseam, on the November midterms when discussing the upcoming fortunes of the two major political parties. 

While the impact of the upcoming election is certainly relevant, as it is with most things, the long-term effects of what has been and is occurring receive little examination.  When one looks at the future beyond November 2022, it is patently clear that Democrats, both as a political party and as an identity, have suffered and are suffering a historic level of self-inflicted damage that will not be measured in just one or two election cycles but will be measured in terms of decades amounting to a generational level of destruction.

Dr. Robert W. Malone, M.D., who was thrust into the wider spotlight by his recent appearance on Joe Rogan's podcast, has been at the forefront of the discussions about COVID-19 treatments and the so-called vaccines for over a year and a half. 

Recently, Malone was interviewed by Tucker Carlson for his Fox Nation podcast not only to discuss COVID but also to talk about Dr. Malone, the person.  During the conversation, Dr. Malone offered that as a product of the Central Valley of California, he considered himself "center-left" in his political and philosophical leanings.  Further, he donated to the campaigns of both Obama and Biden.  But his next comment should send tremors through the Democrat consultant class as well as any Democrat politician with even a scintilla of self-awareness.  Malone said that after what he has witnessed over the last two years, he would never vote for another Democrat again. 

It might be tempting to say, sure, since he's been vilified, demonized, and cancel-attempted by the left and Democrats, why would he be inclined to support them going forward?  Besides, he's just one guy, so what is the big deal?  This is a dangerously myopic view — because if he, a longtime member of the "center-left," feels this way, he cannot be the only one.  The question is, how many?  Most do not have the chance to express this sentiment on a public platform or, for social or economic reasons, may not even say it out loud, except to close family and friends.  Recall that a similar unseen and unmeasured demographic helped elect Donald Trump.  

If there are doubts about this theory, there are some Democrats who are possessed of enough self-awareness to see this imminent bleak political future approaching, and they want no part in it.  So just who are these mystical seers?  They are the dozens of long-serving House Democrats who have decided to retire at the end of this term.  Anyone can probably muster the energy to serve a cycle or two in the minority to build seniority if, realistically, it could turn around in the short run.  But if you are in your late 50s, 60s, or 70s and foresee, potentially, a decade or more languishing in the minority, that is just too heavy a lift.  No old criminal wants to spend his remaining days in prison, and no old representative wants to wind down a political career in the minority.

The majority of the damage has been inflicted in just two short years, the result of phenomenal and spectacular multi-tasking. 

On the federal level, during COVID, the Democrats have succeeded in discarding over 90 years of standing for the family-oriented, blue-collar working class by shutting down businesses and mandating vaccines and masks, thus enriching and empowering massive corporations.  Not to mention the massive invasion of illegal aliens who will soon be competing for whatever post-COVID jobs remain. 

While this was transpiring, local and state Democrat politicians and school boards alienated and angered otherwise Democrat-leaning suburban voters over COVID restrictions in schools as well as the right to a say in the curriculum.  

Then, in what can only be described as a fantastic effort at overachievement, Democrats at every level turned city voters against them over defunding the police, the resulting increasing crime rates, homelessness, and drugs. 

Finally, the ongoing and developing Durham investigation into the Trump-Russia collusion case could far eclipse the extent of damage inflicted on Democrats than all of the foregoing combined.  If it is irrefutably established the Clinton campaign and Democrat operatives, both inside and outside of government, were involved in spying on a political adversary and engaged in other illegal actions to undermine a duly elected president, it would not only be the most massive criminal dirty political trick in U.S. history, it could well be considered treason.  Watergate will have successfully been supplanted as the worst.  Only time will tell.

Now, no one is naïve enough to think that places like California or cities like New York, L.A., or Chicago will suddenly start electing Republicans.  Democrats, however, may well be relegated to governing these and other discrete enclaves.  There is, however, no way any political party that is seen as being the facilitator of this level of mayhem and illegality regains national-level governance in the short term.

Republicans know this well.  It took them 20 years, and a war hero general as a candidate, to win back the presidency in 1952 after President Herbert Hoover was blamed for the Great Depression.  It took Republicans 40 years to win back the majority in the House of Representatives in 1994.  No question, Democrats did this to themselves, and this time, they will not be able to blame it on Trump.

Image: Pixabay, Pixabay License.