Sleepy Joe's Virginia Nightmare

Falling asleep in the middle of an international climate conference, representing a country with a lot to do when it comes to tackling emissions, may not have been the worst part of ‘Sleepy Joe’ Biden’s week. It was a name that gained traction during the 2020 Presidential Election, discrediting him as an old man who wouldn’t be up to the job. It was a tactic successfully used by former president Trump in 2016, when he accused Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton of not having the ‘stamina’ to be President of the United States.

Though he used personalised attacks unsuccessfully in 2020, this one seems to be somewhat true of Sleepy Joe, who dozed off with his arms crossed mid-conference; and let’s not forget falling up the stairs along with his numerous ‘gaffs’.

But it the nightmare for Sleepy Joe was not falling asleep, but what happened in a pretty blue state, close to his homestate of Delaware (it’s no longer Pennsylvania since he won the election). In a state where he defeated Donald Trump 54% - 44%, a huge swing has taken place, which may signal a crimson tide in next November’s Mid-Terms.

Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe has lost the race for Governor of Virginia to Republican Glenn Youngkin by close to 3 percentage points; for the sake of simplicity let’s say 51% to 48%. While urban areas such as Richmond and Norfolk stayed blue, the overall map is very much red. The western half of Virginia (not West Virginia the state), the map is solid red, apart from only a handful of light-blue dots in towns like Lynchburg and Roanoke.

Like 2020, postal ballots were accepted, though the majority voted in person, either early or on election day. But unlike 2020, the Republicans won a significant victory, which leaves us with questions to ponder as we get closer to the all-important Mid-Term elections.

‘Did Trump cost the Republicans the 2020 elections in all three institutions; the House, the Senate, and the White House?’ and ‘Is Sleepy Joe going to lose both the House and the Senate for Democrats in 2022?’

Joe Biden promised big in 2020, and big promises need big deliveries, as Trump found out during his first term in office. Whether he is responsible or not, Biden is suffering politically from the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, the rise of the Taliban, and the stagnation of the economy and his infrastructure plan. Unless things change significantly within the next 6-8 months, Sleepy Joe may as well go into hibernation if Republicans take control of the House and/or Senate during the second half of his first term in office.

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