Louisiana Voice

Okay, the Democrats swept the midterms. It was truly a tsunami, casting a blue tint over the formerly predominantly red map of the U.S.

First, Democrats should know that the euphoria is temporary at best. Americans now expect results and we’re impatient. Democrats should also know Americans have notoriously short attention spans. In other words, what have you done for me lately?

Finally, Democrats should remember that politics is a pendulum. Republicans made the mistake of thinking the Democratic Party was dead. Democrats would be wise not to think the same of Republicans. The pendulum swings back and forth and it will swing again to the right—hopefully later rather than sooner—but it will swing back. It’s always been that way. To suggest, as some have, that if this or that doesn’t happen, the opposing party will be in power “for the next 100 years” is crazy talk. The political landscape is far too volatile for such permanence.

We are sick and tired of the gridlock, the finger-pointing and the refusal of members of both parties to compromise for the good of the American people. Refusal to negotiate for the sake of scoring political points is a song we’ve heard too many times and we’re more than a little sick of it.

Democrats have one chance to bring about real change, real progress in Congress, to actually get things done. Otherwise, the swing back will be quick.

Remember 1976 when backlash against the Republicans for Watergate swept Jimmy Carter, a decent man, and Democrats into office? Well, that lasted exactly four years before Ronald Reagan and the Republicans ushered in the likes of Newt Gingrich, Grover Norquist, Karl Rove and George W. Bush, which in turn led to governmental shutdowns, higher deficits and events like Iran-Contra and eventually the Citizens United decision which opened the floodgates to unimaginable money to pollute political campaigns—and a 20-year winless war.

As bad as all those Republican administrations were, they paled in comparison to the bumbling, stumbling, grumbling psychopath who currently occupies the Oval Office.

At last, for the first time since Barrack Obama vacated the presidency, Democrats have a real chance to rein in the excesses of Donald Trump and family.

NY Times Reveals Trump Sons’ Links to $1.6B Kazakhstan Deal.

Trump’s Kazakhstan deal has gotten scant media attention, probably because the details of the deal broke in the midst of the midterms, which were dominating the news cycles. But it is no less significant than that $400 million gift airplane from Qatar, the Russian diesel deal or the elusive Epstein files and all the sexual abuse charges.

And speaking of the Epstein files, just what is the relationship of Trump’s Commerce Secretary HOWARD LUTNICK and the world’s most notorious child predator? Simon Andriesz, a whistleblower, alleged he had uncovered undisclosed business ties between Lutnick and Epstein in the federal government’s Epstein files. Andriesz subsequently died of suicide following retaliation against him for his revelations of other wrongdoing.

Epstein Files: Whistleblower Simon Andriesz Dies After Exposing Howard Lutnick Ties

Likewise, the media have been awfully quiet about the latest rape allegation against Trump. Again, this may be attributed in part to the midterms’ domination of the news cycle but the media must know that news is most often comprised of more than a single topic. Other stories deserve just as much exposure but somehow get pushed to the back pages.

That news came in the form of a NEW REPORT released by Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee and revealed that at least five other women have come forward to claim that they were either sexually assaulted or raped by Trump and/or Epstein in the 1980s and the early and mid-‘90s at Trump Tower, Mar-a-Lago and at Trump’s Plaza Hotel in New York City.

It should be abundantly clear by now that Trump is a serial sexual predator, is oblivious or unconcerned about legal restrictions on his power as president, is criminally involved in insider-trading, is guilty of gross conflicts of interests and is unconcerned about working Americans.

So, coming into office in January, Democrats should be poised to:

• End the war in Iran;
• Reverse all of Trump’s tariffs;
• Investigate ICE crimes;
• Investigate insider trading;
• Work to close the income gap between the uber-rich and middle Americans;
• Consider impeachment of Pet Hegseth;
• Force the release of unredacted Epstein files.

Only then should Democrats turn their attention to investigating other criminal activity by Trump and his cabinet.

To go into office with guns blazing in widespread investigations would be a mistake and a repeat of Trump’s tactics. A saner approach is called for here. Yes, all criminal activity should be investigated but only after other more pressing issues are addressed as listed (in order) above.

“This is what happens when a political party allows itself to be hollowed out and wholly defined by one man. When the public sours on that man, the party falls right along with him.”

–Michelle Cottle

“Antipathy toward the president trumped everything else. But for Democrats, winning was the easy part. Memories of this election cycle will be shaped by what Democrats do with their power.”

–Binyamin Appelbaum

“MAGA will end one day. The election results last night suggest that it could be sooner rather than later. Texas elected a Democratic governor. Georgia elected a Black female governor. North Carolina flipped innumerable contested races blue. This repudiation of Trump’s small, racist, profoundly unserious vision of America needed to win decisively. And it did.”

–Tressie McMillan Cottom

The president wasted billions on foreign wars and waged a brutal assault on immigrants here at home. On Tuesday, voters woke up from the delusion that Trump’s an ally of working people.”

–Jean Guerrero

“You can’t lie to people about the price of a gallon of gas or the price of a pound of ground beef or the price of a ton of fertilizer. Tariffs and the lunatic war on Iran have clobbered ordinary people while Trump and his billionaire cronies have lined their pockets.”

–Lydia Polgreen

(Each of the above quotes are from The New York Times columnists)

“As it turns out, not everything has a price tag. Elon Musk spent nearly $190m blanketing the state with ads against James Talarico. But his attempts to depict Talarico as an unhinged extremist wasn’t enough to convince a majority of Texans to vote for Ken Paxton. A similar story played out across the country. Donald Trump deployed hundreds of millions of dollars through Maga Inc. to boost candidates such as Darline Graham in South Carolina, Mike Rogers in Michigan, and Michael Whatley in North Carolina.

“It didn’t work.”

–Judd Legum, founder and author of Popular Information

“One of the big stories of the midterms is that the south is no longer solid Republican territory. The southern strategy has a term limit, and the region’s diversity is now paying political dividends for the Democrats.”

–Charles Blow, author, political analyst and contributing writer to The Guardian

(Charles Blow, a native of Gibsland, LA., is a graduate of Grambling State University)

“Tuesday night – almost exactly 10 years after he won the presidency in an upset victory over Hillary Clinton in 2016 – the Trump era effectively came to an end. Now, with a Senate majority, Democrats will be able to investigate the president and his cabinet members, draw public attention to their own agenda items, assert Congress’s constitutional prerogatives, and block Republican judicial appointments.”

–Moira Donegan, The Guardian

“Elon Musk angrily put Ken Paxton on eBay. The billionaire was hoping to recoup some of his $190 million purchase of Paxton, but in the Texan’s first hours on eBay the bidding for him stalled at six dollars.”

–Andy Borowitz and Paul Karasik

Fed up with paying so much at the gas pump? Most of us are but it’s not entirely the fault of the Iran war and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

A lot of the high price of gasoline and diesel is just pure greed.

A quick look at corporate earnings of the oil companies tells a graphic story of how big oil is capitalizing on the war and artificially inflating the price of fuel.

Here’s a headline from CNBC that’s almost certain to give you a warm fuzzy:

Chevron and Exxon hit all-time highs as refining profits soar in reaction to Iran and Ukraine wars.

Oil earnings Chevron (CVX) and Exxon (XOM) Q3 2026

The story began, “Chevron and ExxonMobil on Friday reported profits that soared in the third quarter, as their U.S. refineries ramped up production to full capacity to take advantage of high diesel fuel prices.”

Wow. ExxonMobil’s profits actually doubled to $15.4 billion (with a “B”), compared to $7.5 billion for the same quarter of 2025.

It was enough for Pedo-President Trump to exult that U.S. energy companies are making a “FREAKING FORTUNE” just before today’s midterms.

The story was much the same for BP and SHELL, both of which mirrored ExxonMobil in raking in record profits even as consumers paid higher and higher prices for fuel.

Of course, all of this should come as no surprise to anyone who has been paying attention.

It was during the 2024 presidential campaign that Trump gathered big oil executives at Ma-a-Lago in April for a closed-door meeting. At that gathering, Trump made a pitch for big oil to kick in $1 billion (again, with a “B”) for his campaign in exchange for $110 billion in savings through the relaxing or outright elimination of drilling regulations, a lifting of the moratorium on gas exports and elimination of automotive pollution regulations.

Trump Asked Oil Execs for 2024 Election Cash in a Deal Worth $110BN: Reports – Business Insider

So, if there were ever any questions as to whose interests Trump held foremost in mind, that should’ve pretty much erased those doubts.

That should also have made today, election day, it crystal-clear that any Republican officer-holder or candidate who did not repudiate that mindset is complicit. Likewise, any Republican officer-holder or candidate who does not insist on releasing the Epstein files, or who otherwise remains silent as this president commits insider-trading, destroys diplomatic relations with old allies or in any way, shows sympathy with people like Putin or Kim Jong Un or who condones attacks on innocent American citizens or who ignores the rule of law is every bit as guilty as the tyrant they continue to prop up through their refusal to act in the interest of the nation.

And every one of them should be voted out of office. That includes people like congressional candidates like Stephen Wagley whose TV ads advocate the BANNING OF ILHAN OMAR FROM CONGRESS.

I’m not Islamic and I don’t agree with that particular religion. Nor, for that matter, do I adhere to Buddhism, Hinduism, or even certain beliefs of the evangelical so-called Christians—but I do very much agree with their right to believe as they do and I will state emphatically that it is not Stephen Wagley’s place to decide who will or will not serve in the U.S. Congress. It may be good dog-whistle rhetoric to the radical extremists but it is a damned poor example of what this country is supposed to stand for.