Never the Same

This is the 16th anniversary of September 11, 2001. This is my ninth year of posting on this day. This time, I’ll write about the political impact of this attack.

The election of 2000 was historic in that the man who won the Electoral Vote did not win the popular vote total. Of course, this is less common as of last year. Still, Bush’s win was mired in controversy and he had few coattails. In fact, he lost the GOP majority in the Senate shortly after his inauguration. However, 9/11 came just 7 months after that day.

The rest of the Bush administration was seen through the prism of the War on Terror, with a brief detour into Hurricane Katrina. In 2002, Republicans gained seats based on the response. In 2004, Bush won a clear majority over a Democratic Party criticizing the war. But then, 2006 saw the rise of Democrats again.

To some extent, Obama promised and delivered on a shift of focus away from Islamic terror. At the same time, Republicans slowly rebuilt their numbers thanks to something called the Tea Party. After 9/11, a number of people who considered themselves Democrats of liberal came to their senses over Islamic terror.

The increasing momentum of non-Republicans voting Republican first led to dissatisfaction when the GOP had majorities in Congress, to a sort of revolt when the prospect of a Jeb / Marco ticket being forced on them became a possibility. Even a decade and a half later, the continuing refusal by Democrats to condemn the politics of Islam and both parties unwilling to fight illegal immigration led to a Donald Trump victory.

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