The True Mark of a ‘Red Wave’ and What That Means Going Forward – Our Interview with Professor Dorian Lassiter

The measure of a ‘red wave’ is not how we compare this mid-term to others historically or how media outlets guessed at expectations. Instead, Experts show that elections, like coin flips, are completely independent events that only a fool would compare to one another or guess at

Image Courtesy of veracityreport.org

To understand this situation better, our own Chief Political Correspondent, Kurt Dillon, interviewed the former professor of Political Science for the State University of New York at Farmingdale, Dorian Lassiter. Here is what he had to say about this most recent election cycle.

KD: Why do you disagree with most of the traditional media in saying that there was no real ‘red wave’ as it was being called?

Professor Lassiter: “The biggest problem with this I see today is the mainstream media. They need to stay relevant and supply continuously fresh talking points that are both engaging and more than a little sensational. Because of that, they devised their own criteria for what they believe a ‘red wave’ should look like, but those criteria are not based upon any tangible elements.”

KD: So what would be the proper criteria, and how should we, as representatives of the media, present those criteria to the public?

Professor Lassiter: “The first step is to stop trying to compare this election cycle to previous ones. Even in the most recent cases, the world today is not the same as it was during the pre-covid mid-term election cycle of 2018. I’ve scanned the internet reports and dozens of media articles that try to say that this mid-term election cycle was a huge disappointment for Republicans because it wasn’t as overwhelming as other mid-terms were historically against the party in control of the White House.

This is a completely ridiculous assertion from the jump because elections are like coin tosses. Each one you have is completely independent of all the others. Because of that fact, every new occurrence is in no way influenced by any of the previous ones, or even by the totality of the previous occurrences.

To put that a but more simply, if I flip a coin, there is a 50/50 chance of any single result. The second time I flip it, there is exactly the same 50/50 chance, no matter what the outcome of the previous flip was. Because of that, it is completely absurd and utterly illogical to expect that the result from any or all of the previous flips will have even a slight influence over future flips, nor will they allow me to better predict the outcome of any future flip – not even slightly.

That is the nature of all independent events, and election are just as much independent events as coin tosses are.”

KD: So, you’re saying that all of the media sources who are trying to view these most recent elections through the spectacle of hindsight are somehow missing the mark?

Professor Lassiter: “Exactly. None of the previous midterms has even a slight influence on the ones we just had, so it is a gross misnomer to try to compare them, just like it was a significant error to use those past results to try to predict the enormity or lack thereof, of this election cycle.”

KD: I can see that and I’m sure our readers will be able to see it too. But then, what do you suggest would be a better, more logical way to evaluate the Republican performance of this past cycle?

Professor Lassiter: “American politics, Like any zero sum game - which is to say, that one side cannot win, or gain stature or position in any way without the other side losing a directly proportionate level of their position or stature – can only be evaluated on the basis of what position each side had prior to the election event, how that status quo changed during the event or events, and what position or stature each side has once the events are concluded.”

KD: I see. So, what you’re saying is that instead of comparing this entire election cycle to the performance of past election cycles, it is more appropriate to look at the political real estate each side controlled prior to the election and compare it to the holdings of each after the elections were concluded?

Professor Lassiter: “That’s exactly right. It’s the only proper way to make any such comparison contrast of zero-sum set of events. Who won and who lost is directly determined by a comparison of the holdings of each side, both before and after their conflict.”

KD: Based upon what you just revealed to us, in your estimation, would you say the gains made by the Republican party in this election cycle would be substantial enough to be considered a ‘red wave’ foe the GOP?

Professor Lassiter: “I don’t see how anyone could logically say otherwise. The only substantiation of any ‘underperformance’ would be to compare the results against the completely fabricated and utterly useless predictions that were made prior to the event, once again based solely upon the absurd history of previous mid-term election cycles. To give a proper analogy, it would be like going to a casino roulette wheel and betting your house on ‘red’ just because the previous 5 spins resulted in the marble landing on “black.”

“Because of that fact, when we look at the ‘political real estate’ as you called it, (a great term by the way I might have to steal sometime down the road), we see that the GOP now has control of the House of representatives, that alone is a massive real estate grab. In that, they get to insert their own Speaker of the House and summarily are now able to block policies and new legislation by the Democrats which they disagree with. In political circles, that achievement alone is akin to an election grand slam.

“Next, when you look at the fact of the gains Republicans made all throughout states like New York, Texas, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Alabama, California, Arkansas, Florida, Ohio, Wisconsin, and others, when you add that among those, they even forced out the DCCC Maloney in New York, and you know that these are all zero sum games – again, that each GOP win directly corresponds to an exactly equal Democratic loss - you begin to see the magnitude of what the GOP has achieved in this election cycle and just how much more momentous it is over what mainstream media keeps trying to hype as an underachievement of some kind. This, even though the projections they are basing that underachievement upon were completely made up through speculation on their part and were mixed with absurd historical comparisons to prior independent coin flip election cycles.”

KD: Based upon what you’ve told us, Professor, do you believe we just saw what could be considered a ‘red wave?”

Professor Lassiter: “I don’t think it could really be described any other way. When you look at the totality of the Republican political holdings prior to these elections, and compare them to their current political holdings, the difference is tremendous and really goes a long way to visually demonstrating the voice of the American people.”

KD: One last question before I let you go, Professor, and I really do want to thank you for taking the time to speak with me today, how would you characterize the American voters’ response to the issue of abortion in America and what influence you believe the SCOTUS reversal of Roe v Wade had on this election?

Professor Lassiter: “ When we look closely, we can see a few isolated geographic locations where the issue of abortion meant more to people in those areas, however, when you consider that 6 Governors across America introduced sweeping anti-abortion legislation as soon as the SCOTUS reversed Roe, back in June, and that each and every one of those governors won their respective bids for re-election by what can only be considered overwhelming margins, its clear that Democrats made a huge tactical mistake pitting abortion as their horse to ride through this election cycle instead of the much more prevalent issues to Americans such as the economy, inflation, crime, and border security. This election cycle really proved that abortion is pretty much a non-issue throughout most of America, with only small, isolated pockets of the population ranking it as a high priority of theirs.”

KD: Thank you again, Professor Lassiter, for taking the time to speak with us today.

Professor Lassiter: “Always my pleasure Kurt. I hope all of you guys over at The Veracity Report keep up the great work.”

Veracity Editor's Note:

This unbiased, non-satirical, fully attributed article was thoroughly researched by our team of fact-checkers and found to be accurate. The sources relied upon for the factual basis of this article were: Former Professor of Political Science, Dr. Dorian Lassiter, Ph.D., and veracityreport.org.

More information on this and all our stories are available on our network website veracityreport.org.

This article was compiled and written by Chief Political Correspondent, Kurt Dillon – Because the Truth Matters!

If you or anyone you know might be interested in becoming an independent correspondent for The Veracity Report, either as a foodie reviewer or as a cub journalist, you can email us for more information at info@veracityreport.org

If you would like to help support our efforts to continue to bring you completely unbiased, uninfluenced, and completely independent news, you can make a one-time donation of any amount, or sign on as an ongoing sponsor of The Veracity Report for as little as $1.00 per month through our Patreon account at the link provided below.

Your contributions allow us to continue bringing you the highest level of traditional journalism imaginable, so we thank you in advance for any help you can provide.

Copyright 2022, The Veracity Report