Thread by @dcpetterson

Remember during the Newsom recall vote, we were told this was the first test of Democrats in the post-Trump era, and how the result of that vote will tell us all about how Democrats will do going forward?

Then Newsom won, resoundingly, and we didn't hear anything more.

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We =didn't= hear, "Look at that! Democrats really are on a roll! The defeat of Trump wasn't a one-shot! Republicans are on the ropes! Trumpists might as well just give up!"

No. What we heard was 🦗🦗 crickets.

Now there's a governor's election in Virginia.

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We're being told this is the first test of Democrats in the post-Trump era, and the result of this vote will reveal all there is to know about how Democrats will do in the 2022 midterms.

This sounds familiar. I'm not sure, but I think I've heard this line before.

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Don't get me wrong. I'm not downplaying the importance of the Virginia governor's race. This absolutely is a must-win.

At this point, I'm not thinking about the disaster for America if Terry McAuliffe loses. Failure is not an option.

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But if McAuliffe wins, I predict the media will forget about it by Thursday, and the =next= special election (wherever it is, wherever in America it happens) will become the "first test of Democrats in the post-Trump era."

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=Every= election will be the "first test"--there will never have been a "test" before that--until the Democrat loses.

Notice too, how it's never a make-or-break test for Republicans, or for Trumpists. The media exacts no consequences for a Republican loss.

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When the Republican loses, there is no hand-wringing about Republican future prospects, no editorials about "Republicans In Disarray!"

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Oh, and the media never covers elections as they have become--a contest, not between two roughly equivalent political parties just playing The Game Of Politics, but as deadly and bloody battles in a literal war between 1) democracy and 2) murderous racist fascism.

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So yes, the Democratic Party--and democracy itself--is being "tested." I'm not playing down the importance of the Virginia race. I'm commenting on the ridiculous and asymmetrical coverage of it.

At this point, the race feels a lot like the Newsom recall.

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A single election is never the whole war. We will fight another day.

If McAuliffe wins, we have to gird up for the next battle.

If McAuliffe loses, we have to gird up for the next battle.

Don't listen too closely to media analysis. The pundidiots have agendas, too.

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