Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.

Mid-Term Campaign 2018 may be all but over for establishment Democrats. Future 30 or 60-second TV campaign ads featuring a fast back-and-forth montage of images from President Donald Trump’s first State-of-the-Union address showing the sour-faced Democrats sitting on their hands not applauding for record low black unemployment, new bonuses for employees, 2.4 million jobs created, a strong stock market, the American flag, In God We Trust, the National Anthem, a fully-secured border, a merit-based immigration system, fighting opioid abuse and recognizing Jerusalem as the capitol of Israel. These anti-American images these Democrats cannot escape. These images will haunt the liberals during Campaign 2018 and 2020.

With the mid-term elections only 9-months out it’s apparent to voters that liberal lawmakers don’t just hate President Trump – they hate the USA and they just proved it. All those scowling looks from Democratic leaders during the SOTU address are burned into the memories of voters wanting the country to unite and get things done for the American people. The Democrats have no message of hope for the country that Trump hasn’t already capitalized on. The far-left liberals have dug themselves into a deep anti-American hole. There will not be another SOTU address before the Nov. 6, 2018 election. Those images will reappear in powerful and resonating campaign ads that aren’t really negative campaigning – just show the truth and let it clearly speak.

These images of a split U.S. Congress cheering the president and demonizing the president certainly will become split-screen campaign ads for virtually all Republicans, Independents and renegade Democrats running for office this year against establishment Democrats.
No matter what happens in the mid-terms, there are sure to be many new faces in the U.S. Congress – especially the House. Here’s a rundown — as of Jan. 31 — of the impending congressional shakeup coming to Washington, DC. and across the nation’s state houses.

Let’s start with three U.S. Senate Republicans are not running for reelection while all the incumbent Democrats that must run are up for reelection.

A total of 49 members of the U.S. House of Representatives will not seek reelection to their house districts – 15 Democrats and 34 Republicans.

Plus a total of 30 U.S. House members are retiring this year – 8 Democrats and 22 Republicans.

Ten members of the U.S. House are seeking U.S. Senate seats – 3 Democrats and 7 Republicans.

Nine members of the U.S. House are running for governor of their state – 4 Democrats and 5 Republicans, according to BallotPedia.org.
According to the numbers that matter, the Democrats are hoping to gain three seats to regain control of the U.S. Senate, while the Republicans are hoping to gain eight seats for a filibuster-proof U.S. House of Representatives majority and maintain control of the U.S. Senate. It’s doubtful the Democrats can retake the U.S. House in 2018 – there’s too much ground to cover.

Anyone who thinks they can predict how this mid-term salt-shaker of an election will shake out is nuts. But those SOTU images will help propel the formation of a new government backing President Trump – Democrats included – at least those that campaign for bipartisan cooperation. But those Democrats that keep up with the same old ‘racist’ ‘sexist’ rants — Trump’s forever critics – they will suffer greatly. The nation has had enough of the stagnation, the division and fighting Trump’s ‘America First’ agenda while watching mainstream media support the liberal-left-anti-Trump no matter how successful President Trump is. Any voter with a lick-of-sense sees right through this stinky-haze of media bias blowing in the wind these days.

For Democrats seeking reelection and newcomers they must break away from establishment Democrats – Schumer – Pelosi – Waters– and preach working together with President Trump and not against him. Those Democrats that finally realize Trump is the president will do a whole lot better than those that continue these efforts to undermine Trump’s presidency.

Now the nation is yet again facing another politically-motivated government shutdown. President Trump is not backing down as he seeks funding to keep the government open, beef up the military, tighten immigration controls, seal the southern border with Mexico and find a permanent solution for those hundreds-of-thousands of children – the DACA kids — brought to the USA illegally by their parents who are now adults living in the only nation they know.

Establishment Democrats are fighting President Trump at every turn. They are showing the way for a new breed of Independents and Democrats to redefine their strategy for winning in 2018 by working with the president and not against him. They, too, can use those SOTU images to break away from old-school Democrats and show them their new role sitting on the front-porch back home and not sitting in the U.S. Congress doing nothing.

About the Author Britt Nelson relocated to Costa Rica in 2011 from Florida, where he served as news editor for the Palatka Daily News, a newspaper owned by the New York Times Regional Newspaper Group (NYT-RNG) for 20 years.

Nelson served the NYT-RNG for 18 years in Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida as a correspondent, reporter, staff writer, senior staff writer training new reporters, copy editor, page designer, editorial writer, editorial page editor and editorial board member.