The reaction to the midterm election results by Republicans and their deep red media allies reminds me of Greek mythology and the gods of Mount Olympus.

To be specific, I think of the maenads waking up the day after a Dionysian orgy, hungover, groggy and a bit confused. They reek of sweat, sex, and wine. Their hands are sticky with the blood of last night’s sacrifice, which they tore apart with their bare hands.

The Maenads

Now, they face the bright reality of a new day and are both astonished and somewhat appalled by what they did when they were in the grip of their wild and uncontrollable orange god.

To say the Republicans are in denial is like saying that the maenads blamed their wine.

Who the Republicans are Blaming

Vice President JD Vance blames the war with Iran as part of his strategy for taking over the White House. President Trump reprimanded Fox News for giving screen time to so many Democrats. Also because some of the Fox News tribe actually got up the gumption to talk back to him on election night. Texas Senator Ted Cruz laid the blame on all the GOP, spreading it thinly to avoid any backsplash on him.

Retiring Sen. Thom Thillis also sprayed fault all over the place;

“I think that it has to do with failure by the Secretary of Homeland Security Noem in terms of proper interior enforcement, it has to do with probably Pete Hegseth not providing a clearminded strategy for how do you get in and get out of Iran, it has to do with Howard Lutnick’s Liberation Day which was an abject failure,”

Well, alrighty then. Let’s not point the finger at ‘ol Zeus because he still could shoot a lightning bolt your way. What’s that you say? The thunderbolts have lost their power? That happened a while ago, but you were too drunk on your Dionysian wine to notice.

At least The Wall Street Journal admits that Trump is “the main architect of this rout.” Their editorial continues: “Going into 2028, the GOP needs a debate about what it stands for after Donald Trump, and let’s hope it starts this week.”

What the Republicans Stand For

The only problem is that we all know what the Republican Party stands for because we’ve seen it in action for two years and we have decided we don’t like it.

This is the giant in the room that the Republicans don’t want to talk about but ignoring it won’t make it go away.

For two years the GOP has acted like the gods of Olympus: harrying, chasing, bullying, threatening, raping, and punishing insignificant humans for their own amusement and enormous profit. On Tuesday, the humans stood up and declared that we are tired of this treatment and want it to stop.

So the GOP can gather in a circular firing squad, blaming everyone but themselves for the midterm debacle. But it won’t change the fact that the American people have seen the greed, the grift, the lies, the threats, the concentration camps, the ICE raids….and decided we don’t want it. Any of it. That should be perfectly clear by now.

A Difficult Wine to Swallow

This is, however, a very difficult goblet of wine for the Republicans to swallow. Since the election I have seen multiple news articles on what the party needs to do. Depending on the author, they have to decide what their core values are, what programs they believe in, what their goals are going forward, and what their 2028 platform should focus on. They will waste their time on these efforts because they are still befuddled,

We have seen the enemy and it is them. We have been ruled by the gods of Washington for two years now. An administration full of ignorant, incompetent sociopaths has run amok, unchecked by a cowardly Congress too scared of losing their next election to stand up and do the right thing.

We have seen what Republicans do when they can govern in any and every way that suited, please, and profited them and we didn’t like it, We acted when the time came and voted it out.

Republicans in Fantasia

If you remember Disney’s movie Fantasia, there is beautiful music and there is disturbing music. In today’s America, Beethoven’s “Pastoral Symphony” with its Greek gods cavorting on and around the countryside just turned into Mussorgsky’s “Night on Bald Mountain.” The gods of Olympus have been flipped into the spirits of the dead flying around the night sky and wailing in despair.

They brought it on themselves with their Dionysian excess. Now let’s see if they learn anything from it.