Even though Donald Trump actually showed up and had his best debate performance on Wednesday night, Hillary Clinton still won. But debate performances are not what’s notable about this election anymore. Following Trump’s “grab them by the pussy“ comment, the party has distanced itself from the populist arm’s orange messiah. Mrs. Clinton’s victory is practically assured.
Now it’s a question of how she wins the election and the most interesting aspect of this topic is Texas.
According to a SurveyMonkey/Washington Post poll, Hillary Clinton is, get this, within 2 points of Donald Trump in Texas. This is well within the margin of error. When you combine blood red Texas with a GOP currently in the process of losing Georgia, as well as additional toss-ups in Florida, Arizona, and Ohio, there may be no clear path to victory for Donald Trump.
But Texas is significant. A blue Texas would be catastrophic for Republicans, especially considering the current state of the party. Texas acts like an anchor. It’s senators, Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, are two of the most virulent conservative minds in Congress. Texas also boasts 36 House Representatives and every seat is up for grabs in November.
A Texas that votes collectively for Hillary Clinton in November would be a monumental backstab for a party that has effectively bogarted Congressional representation on behalf of the state’s 27 million people. Further, depending on Mrs. Clinton’s margin of victory, there exists a potential for Democratic land-sliding on down-ballot races. While it’s premature to assume that Republicans will suffer heavy Congressional casualties in this election — even if Mrs. Clinton wins the election by the margins being promoted by former GOP strategist Steve Schmidt — the possibility is real enough for House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., to place his focus entirely on those Congressional races.
To turn Texas blue would be to cut out the heart of the Republican Party. What better way to end this batshit, awful election than to put the Republican Party into full crisis mode?
Featured image by Gage Skidmore, available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license.
h/t PoliticusUSA
