What happened? Journalists and other Democrats have already started blaming voters for the party's (likely) defeat in the midterm elections.
Seriously? Yes. As the Washington Free Beacon reported earlier this month, Democrats and their allies have a history of lashing out when American voters decline to validate their preferences at the ballot box. The election is in 12 days, but things aren't looking great for Democrats. Polls suggest they are going to lose control of the House and possibly the Senate as well. That's why the voter-blaming is already underway.
What are they saying? What they always say in these situations. That the 2022 election is the most important election of our lifetimes and anyone who doesn't vote for Democrats is ignorant at best and evil at worst.
See for yourself:
"I cannot believe anybody would vote for these people."
— House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.)
"A vote for Republicans might just be the last one you ever cast."
— Ryan Cooper, MSNBC opinion columnist
"The United States is facing the greatest danger to its constitutional system since at least the 1950s, if not the *18*50s, and millions of people are like: Yeah, but gas, man."
— Tom Nichols, Lincoln Project alum and "defender of experts"
"It's terrifying how many Americans will choose literal fascism, female serfdom, climate collapse, and the reversal of everything from Social Security & Medicare to student loan relief [because] they think giving Republicans the power to investigate Hunter Biden will bring down gas prices."
— Joy-Ann (Pro-Democracy) Reid, MSNBC host
"I'm not going to say that the GOP are Nazis at this point or whatever, but it certainly sounds very familiar to what happened in Germany, which is a bunch of citizens, Adolf Hitler gets a third of the vote. Nobody thought it could happen there. They kind of went along because they said he would solve the economy and fix inflation."
— Matthew Dowd, MSNBC contributor and self-described "renowned thought leader"
"Voters who follow the news closely will likely find it hard to believe that so many fellow Americans would even consider casting ballots for election deniers and Republicans who betrayed democracy. But 'low information' Americans are the ones who will decide the midterm elections."
— Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post columnist
"Aggravated by declining economic prospects, overwhelmed by the opioid epidemic, and utterly divorced from mainstream news sources, [Republican voters] unsurprisingly glob onto conspiracies, hold up former president Donald Trump as their champion, and refuse to process any information that conflicts with the victimhood they embrace."
— Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post columnist
"At some point, you have to accept that we get the government we deserve. If voters want ignorant, unhinged, and unserious leaders, they'll vote for many of these Republicans."
— Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post columnist
"Polls suggest that the economy and crime are among the most important issues for voters in the midterms—and that, as a result, Republicans are surging in the home stretch. I think a lot of voters are missing the point. These elections are actually a referendum on whether you favor the continuation of democracy in America—and Ukraine."
— Max Boot, Washington Post columnist
"In four short weeks, the nation faces the most important midterm elections of my lifetime. This year, the choice is between our democracy as we know it—messy, incremental, often frustrating—and a hard-edged performative populism fueled by resentment, misogyny, and racism."
— Eugene Robinson, Washington Post columnist
"The midterms are giving me agita. Aside from the MAGA cult members (for whom no crime Trump pulls is disqualifying), and the GOP (who would support a potato for Senate if they thought it could win), I am increasingly despairing of people who seem to enjoy being willfully uninformed about everything—facts, history, consequences, Biden's accomplishments, etc. Maybe the Founding Fathers had it right about the Electoral College system because I honestly find it hard to trust ordinary Americans to vote intelligently and non-tribal-ly than ever before."
— Washington Post reader in Q&A with Robinson