Usually the midterm elections are a sensation for whichever party is not in power. Republicans lost control of the House (but retained the Senate) in 2018, under Trump. In 2014, during Obama’s second term, a “red wave” gave Republicans control of the Senate when they already had the House. A “red wave” was supposed to happen this year. It did not. Fox News’ Jesse Watters was one of many in the GOP who thought it would. And now that it hasn’t, he’s having a meltdown trying to understand why.
On Wednesday’s episode of The Five, Watters threw a fit, wondering out loud about one issue whose explanation should be obvious: single women voted Democrat by almost 40 points. Gee, what could be driving single women away from the party that went all-in on banning abortion before realizing that was wildly unpopular? But women weren’t the only demographics Watters couldn’t believe didn’t like them.
“And urban America, they’re cleaning out clocks in the cities. Cleaning our clocks! I’m not saying anything nefarious is going on, but they are cleaning our clocks in the cities,” he ranted. “And we’re giving it away.” Perhaps Watters forgot Republicans are always trashing cities, that their last president teargassed its denizens, that one GOP senator even advocated for the National Guard being sent to New York City during the Black Lives Matter protests, which could have led to dead protesters.
Then Watters came for Gen Z. “And the fact that these youth voters are coming in so strong on an off year is very concerning,” he said. He then came up with his own theory, putting the blame on — you guessed it — single women. “This new generation is totally brainwashed, because a lot of these single women who are voting 37 spreads for Democrats are teaching all of our younger generation in these schools, and they’re polluting their minds. And then they grow up and they’re in their 20s, and then they vote for leftists.”
Watters had another baffling take, this time about why voters didn’t turn en masse against the sitting president. “There’s just not the hatred for Joe Biden that there is for Barack Obama and for the Clintons,” he said about a nation whose Republican outposts are awash in “F*ck Biden” flags. “There’s not a ‘hate Biden’ vote that’s out there,” he added. “People just don’t feel the same passion against the guy that they also feel for other people.”
Well, at least Watters didn’t blame Trump, as others have, for hand-picking a sea of underperforming or tanking candidates.