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If I were one of the leaders of the Republican Party, I would be very, very worried right about now. The most dangerous thing in politics is when one party finds that the non-voters in the opposing party are what we might call “energized.” Remember that a few percentage points in our elections can mean a real “blow out.” Right now in New York, Democratic voters who literally hate Donald Trump’s guts, who consider him to be a very dangerous man and who have properly fixated on his health care bill -- now known as Trump Care -- are lining up to oppose Republican congressional candidates. The danger for the Democrats is that there are so many would-be Congressmen, ranging from those barely out of knee pants to those who will soon need Geritol, they will beat each other’s brains out and become so divided that the Republican incumbent will emerge victorious. For those incumbents who have voted for Trump Care, there is real danger that this coming election in 2018 will be about that vote as well as their pro- Trump position.

All you have to do is look for the Republican incumbent on Facebook and see the mounting anger against these people. There’s no question that they are in real trouble. One Republican told me that his wife won’t go to the social media pages because the comments are so mean spirited. So now these same incumbents are looking for opportunities to stick it to Trump and the orange colored Republican’s attack on the press offers just such an opportunity. John Faso of New York’s 19th Congressional District let Trump have it with nothing held back.

You can always gauge how things are going by watching the ultimate opportunist, Andrew Cuomo. Let’s all remember that by his actions or, more importantly, inactions, he’s the single reason why the Republicans are still in control of the New York State Senate. However, the control of the Congress is a different story. After all, you would have to be really naïve or maybe stupid to not be aware of the fact that Andrew is running for President. I’m not going to argue with you if you believe he has no chance. He certainly does and I will offer you proof that it can happen; witness who is sitting in the Oval Office today.

So Andrew is out there leading the troops who want to replace the Republican Trump backers. The leaders of the Republican Party are responding in kind. They are going after Andrew with everything they’ve got. They are pointing to the corruption charges against Cuomo’s friends and a lot more. The more the Republicans feel threatened, the tougher their rhetoric will become. Just listen to the words of Ed Cox as he trashes Cuomo. Of course, the Republicans in the Senate were so grateful for Andrew’s help in keeping them in power that the Republican Senators voted to put Governor Mario Cuomo’s name on the new Tappan Zee Bridge. Interestingly, the Democrats in the State Assembly didn’t go along until the last minute when their arms were twisted to reach an end of the session deal.

Obviously, the Republicans now control everything and as long as that remains the case, the prospects for what seems like an inevitable move toward a Trump impeachment are not all that good. Not only that, the socalled investigations that might lead to that are seriously compromised by Republican leaders who seem to be dragging their heels. For their part, Congressional Democrats are proceeding with caution, hoping to keep the various investigations hot until the Congressional elections. So, a great deal is at stake about the future of the country and a newly emboldened Democratic Party is on the move. But as we all know, Democrats have it within their capacity to screw it all up.

Alan Chartock is professor emeritus at the State University of New York, publisher of the Legislative Gazette and president and CEO of the WAMC Northeast Public Radio Network. Readers can email him at alan@wamc.org.

Democrats are proceeding with caution, hoping to keep the various investigations hot until the Congressional elections.