Michael Moore: ‘We Killed the Red Wave’

By Michael Moore/ November 9, 2022

It’s 6am and I haven’t gone to bed. The headlines are already popping up on my screen:

“No Signs of ‘Red Wave’ as Race for Congress Remains Tight” (New York Times)

“Congress hangs in balance as Democrats defy expectations” (Washington Post)

“‘Red wave’ fails to materialise as Fetterman clinches crucial Senate seat for Democrats” (The Guardian)

“Control of Congress Remains at Stake as Democrats Fend Off Anticipated ‘Red Wave’” (The Wall Street Journal)

I’ve checked my inbox and so many of you have written to me through the night. So many of you who worked hard over these last months to prevent the bloodbath. A fascist takeover by a full slate of election deniers and voting suppressors.

And now we know there will be no bloodbath. Not today. And it’s because we and millions of others erected a force field around the haters and bigots to stop them in their tracks. And that is what has happened. Sometimes you have to lose a battle or two in order to win the war.

I love how you all knew that if for some reason we couldn’t create a blue tsunami on Election Day, our second best choice was to make sure there would be no red wave.

And that is where we are at as America wakes up on The Day After. As Election Day 2022 came to an end, the Republicans last night were in a state of shock as they found themselves, at least for now, in control of neither the House nor the Senate! They were unable to throw a single Democrat out of the United States Senate. In fact just the opposite happened — the Democrats were able to flip control of their Pennsylvania Senate seat from a Republican to a Democrat. In stunned disbelief, the Democrats instantly went from a 50-50 Senate to a 51-49 Senate in their favor. Georgia and Nevada are still too close to call, but the Democrat in Georgia holds a small lead, and the Democrat in Nevada has played see-saw all night with the Republican. To be clear, they’ll be counting these votes for days, if not weeks, and so it’s anybody’s guess what could happen.

As for the House, you need 218 seats to hold a majority, to be able to pass (or defeat) a bill. Right now they are 20 seats short of that and that is why none of the networks nor the AP nor the New York Times have called the House for either Party.

The looks on the faces of Fox News are glum. This was not what they — or we — have been told for months would happen. Back in the spring, Republican leadership predicted that the Trump Party would pick up nearly 60 seats in the House. It looks like they’ll be lucky to get 10. Commentators on Fox called it a “disaster.” One scenario suggests they could end up with just a one vote majority.

“The real winner tonight” said one Republican, “is Joe Biden. He’s got a big smile on his face right now.”

There was so much heartening news coming out of last night. Abortion rights measures passing in Vermont, California, Michigan, and Kentucky — with Montana poised to follow suit. Marijuana was made legal in Maryland and Missouri. Record midterm turnouts by young people occurred in many states.

I will go into more detail when we next talk (after more votes are tabulated). For now, let me just say this:

We were lied to for months by the pundits and pollsters and the media. Voters had not “moved on” from the Supreme Court’s decision to debase and humiliate women by taking federal control over their reproductive organs. Crime was not at the forefront of the voters “simple” minds. Neither was the price of milk. It was their Democracy that they came to fight for yesterday. And because of that drive, we live to fight, and hope, for another day…

Once again, massive thanks to all of you for helping all of us build a Blue Wall that stopped an ugly red wave.

I’ll speak to y’all later.