Let's begin with some truth. Joe Biden is a bad President. Inflation is hurting working Americans. Violent crime is surging in black, urban neighborhoods, and millions of foreign nationals have illegally flooded into the USA since Biden was inaugurated.

With me so far?

More truth. Republicans should have routed the Democrats last Tuesday. The progressive left, which controls Biden, has failed to solve vexing problems and made things worse. So traditional/conservative candidates had a big policy advantage going into the election.

It did not translate into votes.

Why not?

Independent voters broke for the Dems by four points, that's why. Nobody predicted that. But it happened.

It looks like January 6 and election "denying" is the major reason. Republicans are associated with both. Democrats pounded that theme with TV ads. Yes, it's unfair and foolish to support Democrat incompetence because January 6 happened. But that's what many independents apparently did.

Abortion also swayed some independent women. But not as much as the denier thing.

In addition, the Democrat machine successfully brought the specter of Donald Trump to the midterm pre-vote. Remember, more than 80 million Americans voted against Trump in 2020 - even though he did a good job running the economy. And that was before the election denying and the January 6 riot that stemmed from it.

Thus, the "red wave" stayed out to sea, and the red flag was waived in places like Pennsylvania and New Hampshire.

Reality bites, as the saying goes.

So, we'll all continue to suffer under Joey Houdini, who somehow escaped again. More personal debt, more African-Americans killed in their neighborhoods by violent criminals, more immigration chaos. Help is not on the way.

Americans get another chance two years hence. Maybe the red tide will roll in then.

In the meantime, hang onto that life jacket.