This week both fringes dug in more and it is significant.  The middle became less represented and the feeling of homelessness grows.  What happened?  The left went much further left this week.  Setting up a long-term fringe war.  Further away from policy results but instead merging into the left lane hitting the gas on ideology.  The right was already on the fringe, but the Democrats still were relatively centrist.  This week the left agreed to fight like conservatives do.  Cater to the radical wing of their ideology.  To win seats.  No more hedging by the left.

Al Franken Martyred

Al Franken did not want to resign.  He wanted due process.  It does seem the case that multiple allegations against him are true.  Or true in some portion.  However, these allegations are much less severe than John Conyers, Roy Moore, or Donald Trump.  They did not happen while he was a Senator.  He was an effective Democratic Senator from Minnesota.  A part of the country Blue will need to win in the coming years.  He was not a lawyer or a life-time politician.  Tough in hearings and vocal on important issues.  A good fundraiser.  Nonetheless the party decided that purging him would help against Roy Moore and Donald Trump in the short term.  This was politics mostly.  Al Franken run out of town in a couple of weeks.

The 5 Day Purity War on Roy Moore

The Al Franken move allows the Democrats to say they do the right thing.  They purge immoral and bad acting representatives on their own.  This sets them up for the next 5 days.  Which is the time remaining in the Doug Jones vs. Roy Moore Senate race in Alabama.  They are emboldened and free to attack Moore, Trump, and Bannon’s character with a clean resume.  We will see if it works.  I don’t think it will.  Moore will win.  Even if he does, because Democrats have the high ground now on morality, they can attack him and demand change from Mitch McConnell as soon as he hits town.

Democratic Senators Tweet Ambush

Those in the middle should be interested in what happened yesterday.  30 Democratic Senators, mostly via Twitter, came out at the same time to recommend Franken resign.  This was a coordinated power move to cater to the extreme left’s purity movement.  The #metoo movement is real and necessary and I applaud what is happening and am proud of the country.  But the US Senate yesterday chose to out someone without due process by Twitter so they could foil Roy Moore.  They have only 5 days and it couldn’t wait.  So they bullied him out of the U.S. Senate using social media.  Yikes.

Jerusalem Capital Stokes Controlled Fire

This was a Donald Trump campaign promise.  One that didn’t have to be run by anyone and one that didn’t require input or diplomacy.  Nothing even has to happen.  Just like an Executive Order this is just talk.  So Trump did it to get a win.  It wasn’t necessary and it inflames religious tensions worldwide.  Jerusalem is a very intricate complicated place.  A political win for the base wasn’t worth upsetting an unstable energy source currently well controlled.  It can be used in the Roy Moore race for the religious wing and for the base.  Bringing the current right even further right.

The middle lost big this week.