Friday open thread: Yes, Donald Trump will be in prison. Yes, Democrats will win in November.

You all know me. Through diligent work and intense self-reflection, I'm a glass-half-full kind of guy. 

I wrote last week about how cynicism and pessimism do no one any good, especially cynics and pessimists. Now, I'm not speaking about judicious skepticism. I'm speaking about "Nothing will ever change, and you're mad to think otherwise."

But cynicism and pessimism, again, have served no one, at any time of human history. such attitudes do nothing more than stifle your own hope, which is what our opponents want. The boot on a human face, forever, can only come about if we allow it. It is not inevitable. It is not foretold. It is only possible through our inaction and apathy.

Case in point is the graphic which heads this piece.

If we were truly in a climate which presaged a Red Wave, this wouldn't even be within the realm of possibility. A white man in North Carolina even with a Black woman? Absurd. And yet, here we are. Black female Democrat Cheri Beasley is in a tossup with white male Republican Ted Budd. It would be laughable to even think that. And yet, this is what the polling is showing.

And let's discuss that polling. As we've seen since 2016, polling hasn't been covering itself in glory. In 2018, it overstated GOP strength. In 2020, it overstated Democratic strength. And in 2022, it's set to overstate GOP strength again. It acts as if Dodd didn't happen. Yet, even with these faults, Democrats are overperforming in what should be a cakewalk for the GOP in a midterm election while a Democratic president is in office. Which, to my layman's eye, means it is again going to be wrong in its prognostications of a GOP victory in the House. 

And then there's the "Trump will never go to prison". Yes. Anyone else who had a bill of particulars as Trump has would be under the jail by now. But, as much as we want to consign him to the memory hole, he was the president. No president has ever been held to account in a court of law. One has to get one's ducks in a row to take him down. But let's look at what's happening:

• Fulton County, Georgia, is set to indict him.
• New York County has a criminal trial against his company.
• New York State is pursuing a civil case for fraud against his company.
• There are two Federal grand juries pursuing cases against him.
• He will have to testify in the E. Jean Carrol trial for defamation.
• And just yesterday, the January 6th committee both made criminal referrals to the Department of Justice against him, and subpoenaed him to appear before the committee.

This is far from "he's getting away with it all." 

The preponderance of evidence is this: Trump will meet his comeuppance. And the Democrats are in position to defy history and hold onto and expand their majorities in both houses of Congress. 

People like winners. We must act like winners. Winning begets winning. And, my friends, we're winning. Embrace it.