Emergency

If all indications are correct, Election Day will see a massive red wave, sweeping Republicans into power in the House, Senate, governorships, and statehouses across the country. The mood will be grim for Democrats — the night is dark and the knives are long — but there is hope right around the corner in the form of a tool they have long had at the ready: the return of Covid. Understand, there will be no actual return of Covid in anything resembling its initial offering. It is unlikely to kill more people than it has in recent months. But what will change is Democratic acceptance of the idea that Covid is over, or that it can no longer be used as justification for emergency steps and massive spending packages.