This week’s off-off year election continues the trend that started a couple minutes after it became clear that the Electoral College was going to appoint the Great Orange Liar to the presidency. This quaint little anti-democratic system of ours has been kept in place for the past 154 years because some of the people who live in the Confederate States think they might have a shot at bringing back slavery, this time confiscating Hispanic and Muslim lives to fight it out with the Africans for the last bit of stale, moldy bread that once was America.

But it appears the worm might be turning, at least just a bit. 154 years ago, Virginia was home to the Confederacy’s seat of power. This week Virginia became as blue a state as Massachusetts with the governor’s mansion, the state House of Delegates and the state Senate all in the hands of the demon Democrats… which the Trumpublicans in both America and in Russia have defined as a bunch of commies. Both of their Senators are Democrats, as are seven of their 11 Congresspeople. Virginia is so blue now that even dogs can see it shine.

Kentucky… well, Kentuckians elected Mitch McConnell to the Senate 34 years ago and have kept him in office ever since. To be fair, Mitch has been the candidate of the Republican Party strictly because they have not yet chartered the Obstructionist Party. His junior senator is Republican Rand Paul, an Objectivist so far to the right he’d make Ayn Rand cry “woof.”

During the first Civil War, the blue-grass state (for a change I’ll skip the obvious jokes) was not a member of the Confederacy. But nor was it a member of the United States of America. It was neutral. However, during that war Kentucky remained a slave state, unlike its neighbors Maryland and Missouri. So, indeed, the first Civil War wasn’t just about slavery, in Kentucky it was about having your cake and eating it too. This became a skill truly mastered by its current senior Senator.

But this week the people of Kentucky elected one of those commie Democrats to the governorship, a guy named Andy Beshear. As of this writing the Republican incumbent has refused to concede, perpetuating his party’s reputation as a class act. What the hell, Hilary Clinton got three million more votes than the Great Orange Liar but she lost anyway, so what does this impotent clown have to lose? The state GOP is calling for a new election.

I said the worm could be turning. Of course, that might not work out. The Democrats only have about two months to coalesce around a couple of worthy and inspirational candidates, and, well, they’re just not good at that. They also must get the vote out as they did in Kentucky and in Virginia. That’s an uphill task, but the Trumpublicans have been quite inspirational in these efforts.

Like most nose-counters, I think it’s unlikely that the Great Orange Liar will be convicted in Mitch McConnell’s Senate, not even if somebody finds the Russian Pee-Pee tape and it shows Trump lapping up all the yellow stuff on the mattress. It’s possible, but it won’t matter unless the Trumpublicans develop such virtues as honesty, abhorrence to treasonous activities, and the commitment to the concept of placing Nation over Party. Don’t hold your breath on any of that ever happening. They’ve made their bed, and they’re still in that bed long after the president soiled it.

Different strokes? In 51 weeks, we will find out.

• • • • •

And, so, a priest, a rabbi, and a minister walk into a bar… and the bartender exclaims, “What is this, a joke?”

Yes. Yes it is. But, on whom?