Special to L. Neil Smith’s The Libertarian Enterprise

Follow-up to The Set-Up: No outcome can ever be allowed to produce the headline “Trump Triumphs!” by Vin Suprynowicz in the previous issue

And . . . checking to see how well our prediction fared, one day later, after ALL FIVE Trump-endorsed insurgent Republican candidates won on Tuesday Aug. 7 (even though Kobach in Kansas led by only 180-some votes as the sun rose on the GOP gubernatorial primary, making a recount likely, there) . . . . In races which the AP assured us yesterday “will help determine the political landscape — and Trump’s standing within his own party,” the Associated Press headline as of 6:15 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 8, after Democrats lost and Trump’s candidates won EVERY DAMNED RACE, was . . .

“Primary night takeaways: Democratic optimism, women advance

“THE ASSOCIATED PRESS | Wednesday, Aug. 8, 2018, 6:51 a.m.

“Democrats didn’t walk away with a clear win Tuesday night. But they didn’t have to. They essentially battled Republicans to a draw in a central Ohio congressional district that should have been an easy win for the GOP. Even a too-close-to-call result was a sign of Democratic momentum and offered clues for how to run in November.

“Some takeaways from another round of voting ahead of the fall midterm elections:

“URBAN-RURAL-SUBURBAN SPLITS PREVIEW NOVEMBER BATTLES

“Democrat Danny O’Connor’s strong showing in Ohio ’s 12th Congressional District” (remember, he LOST, by 1,800 votes) “offers his party a roadmap to the House majority: Galvanize suburbanites to join the party’s urban base and offset the Republican advantage in rural areas.

“O’Connor came close to upsetting Republican Troy Balderson” (meaning . . . he LOST?) “by running up his numbers closest to Columbus, performing better than Democrats recently have in the district’s suburban core, and even managing to dent the GOP advantage in rural areas. O’Connor won 65 percent of the vote in precincts closest to heavily Democratic Columbus.” (Is this sounding like he LOST, while ALL of Trump ’s endorsed candidates triumphed?) “He ran ahead of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential marks across the district: about 6 percentage points ahead of her mark in vote-rich Delaware, small-town Licking and rural Morrow counties. . . .

“Many of the districts Democrats are hoping to flip in November are more favorable to them than the Ohio 12th,” the AP reports. (Gee, as of yesterday I thought The AP considered Ohio 12 to be ILL-SUITED to a Trump victory, since it “features a far more affluent and educated voter base than the typical Trump stronghold, ” meaning Trump can apparently only win in places that look like the set for “The Texas Chainsaw Murders.”)

“If they can compete there, they’re well positioned in the key battlegrounds,” The Associated Press continues.

“The tight outcome also underscores lingering questions about President Donald Trump’s value — or liability — to Republicans in the districts that will determine whether the party maintains its control of Congress.” (Remember: Every candidate endorsed by Trump Tuesday WON, in races which The AP told us yesterday “will help determine the political landscape — and Trump’s standing within his own party.” What the heck would they be writing if Trump’s hand-picked candidates had LOST?)

“Trump won the district by 11 percentage points in 2016, and he rallied on Balderson’s behalf ahead of Tuesday’s vote, ” The AP continues. “While Trump declared Balderson the winner, the close margin, several thousand provisional votes and absentee ballots, and Ohio law putting off a final count means it will be weeks before the outcome is known.

“THE YEAR OF WOMEN CONTINUES

“There will be at least eight Democratic women running for governor in November. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan and Laura Kelly of Kansas joined the list Tuesday. Both will face Republican men. . . . ”

Wait a minute. Where’s the part where they admit “ Trump Triumphed; Red Wave Smashes All Obstacles”? Is this The Associated Press, or some Democrat Party house organ, spinning like mad?

“DEMS HAVE THEIR ANTI-TAX LAW PLAYBOOK,” THE AP continues.

“The narrow results in Ohio leave Democrats confident that they can win voters by running full-force against the GOP tax plan. . . .”

Oh, enough. Starting to get an idea why the President calls these guys “Fake News”? How does all this “Democratic optimism” stuff differ from what the AP would be churning out if Trump’s candidates had LOST? Do you think a single person involved in grinding out this Democrat happy-talk voted for Trump in 2016? A SINGLE ONE?

Only over at The Daily Caller (which the Good Old Boys of the Washington Media fraternity fervently HATE) do we learn that in “Tuesday’s special election in Ohio and primaries across the country . . . the biggest losers were the Democrats in Ohio and the far-left candidates endorsed by socialists Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, though you’d be hard-pressed to know it if you watched MSNBC or CNN.

“Whether you win by one or one hundred, you’ve still won, and the GOP won the special election last night in Ohio while all three candidates Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez campaigned for lost their primary races,” The Daily Caller reports. “Will this lead to stories about how the shine has come off the diamond of media darling Ocasio-Cortez? Likely not. . . .”