SHIELDS

Echoing the nationalist-nativist rhetoric of Trump, the GOP gubernatorial candidate, a heretofore establishment Washington Republican, managed to deliver 80 percent of the one-third of

the Virginia electorate that is Latino, Asian or AfricanAmerican to his Democratic opponent, who carried Virginia by a margin more than two times larger than President Obama’s 2012 margin.

Having, by overt hostility, alienated Virginia’s minority voters, the GOP

nominee needed to win 67 percent of the white vote to prevail; he came up 10 points short.

The early returns of 2018 can already be seen in the flurry of retirement announcements from Republican House members. In its day-to-day operation, the U.S. House is relentlessly undemocratic. The majority party runs everything, including all the committees, the schedule of what bills ever see the light of day and all the rules. Being in the House minority is not fun. The retirement of GOP House members indicates

their widespread, mostly whispered, belief that in next November’s midterms, when Trump’s favorable job rating will almost certainly be closer to Bush’s low point than either Obama’s or Clinton’s, Republicans will take a pasting and the Democrats will win back the

House majority they lost to the tea party-energized GOP in 2010. History gives us this preview.

To find out more about Mark Shields and read his past columns, visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.