The Importance of Scheduling

I’ve hinted at this before. But a little-discussed aspect of the Trump insurgency and drive to become First Citizen is that the GOP has been remarkably successful in recent years in scheduling its collective freakouts in non-election years: debt default crisis (2011), Cruz Obamacare government shutdown (2013). There are numerous examples. Obviously by its nature, a meltdown or freakout in a primary contest and nomination fight is by definition during an election. But managing the schedule so that the freakouts and elections don’t overlap is a pretty big thing – especially presidential elections. The last time there was a scheduling breakdown was during the 1998 Clinton impeachment freakout. And, as you’ll remember, a predicted GOP wave election turned into an almost unprecedented, if still modest, Democratic pick up in the House in the sixth year of a two term president’s tenure in office.