In the words of one of my favorite singers of all time, Dinah Washington, what a difference a day makes!

Today, I am deriving no small amount of amusement by reading the missives earlier this week of pro-Trumpist GOP polemicists.  They made it clear that the Biden administration and the Democratic Party in the midterm elections were headed for a “beatdown.”  They described Joe Biden as a disaster worse than Hurricane Katrina.

These self-anointed gurus ignored Biden’s landmark initiative for Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices, a vital cudgel in the fight against inflation.  They made no mention of the enactment of Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure measures, which together constitute the largest such program since FDR’s New Deal and Dwight Eisenhower’s creation of the Interstate Highway System.  They deliberately remain silent regarding Biden’s historic climate change expenditures.

All things considered, Joe Biden has already established himself as the most successful president of the past century, other than FDR and LBJ in the enactment of federal budgetary domestic investment programs, all destined to magnify American economic productivity.

And today, the claim of Republican Trumpist sympathetic journalists that the Democratic Party is in disarray is laughable in the extreme.

The success of Joe Biden in enacting economically productive legislation and maintaining party discipline has been due in large part to his ability to marginalize the AOC-style Democratic socialist progressives and thwart any of their policy initiatives.  Biden has been the federal policy maker in charge.

Yet from the standpoint of history, in this recently completed election, it is Biden’s role in making the protection of democracy the prime Democratic campaign issue that may be his most significant political legacy.  To understand this, one must first place the entire national campaign strategy in its proper issue context.

The Republican midterm campaign strategy was focused on two issues:  Inflation and crime.  The crime issue was utilized primarily as a weapon to retain the support of suburban women contemplating leaving the GOP as a result of the Dobbs Supreme Court decision denying abortion choice.

The Democratic issue thrust was two-fold: 1) abortion choice; and 2) protection of democracy from the MAGA fascist thrust. The MAGA lethal danger to the American Constitutional system and civil liberties has manifested itself in two forms: 1) the election denier movement; and 2) violence against dissidents and minority groups.

Many “wise persons” in Washington and other national insider circles advised Biden against the inclusion of the threat against democracy as a campaign strategy basis.

Yet non-elitist Joe Biden knew the truth.  He realized that after Charlottesville and the January 6, 2021 insurrection, American democracy has been endangered as never before.

And Joe Biden recognized that for the great majority of Americans, the MAGA threat to democracy IS a kitchen table issue.  His pre-election speech on Wednesday, Nov 2, 2022 on the MAGA threat to democracy was historic in its meaning and impact, which went beyond the Senate elections.

The White House has been just as delighted with the defeat of election denier candidates for governor as it has been by US Senate race results.  The defeat of election denier GOP gubernatorial candidate Tim Michels in Wisconsin by incumbent Governor Tony Evers was cause for rejoicing at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.   If election denier GOP gubernatorial candidate MAGA fanatic Kari Lake loses to Katie Hobbs in Arizona, this should result in dancing on the White House lawn.

The contest for control of the US Senate comes down to three races: Arizona, Georgia, and Nevada.  The party that wins two of these three seats will have US Senate control.

The Democratic incumbent US Senator in Arizona, Mark Kelly has a substantial lead over Republican Blake Masters and is likely to prevail.

In Nevada, the contest between Democratic incumbent US Senator Catherine Cortez-Masto and Republican US Senate challenger election denier Adam Laxalt is too close to call.

In Georgia, however, in the forthcoming December 6 runoff between incumbent Democratic US Senator Raphael Warnock and his Republican challenger Herschel “Father’s Day” Walker, Warnock is likely to emerge as the victor, just as he did in the 2020 runoff.

The victories of both Kelly and Warnock will enable the Democrats to retain control of the US Senate.  This historic triumph will be due to Joe Biden and his insistence that the danger to democracy be a central issue in the Democratic midterm strategy.  Indeed, reports of Joe Biden’s political demise have been greatly exaggerated.

Alan J. Steinberg served as regional administrator of Region 2 EPA during the administration of former President George W. Bush and as executive director of the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission.