WASHINGTON — Today is Tuesday, democracy’s favorite day. There’s a lot to talk about in that word.

Primaries are upon us. The national news media, especially The Washington Post, can’t get the story straight about former President Donald Trump’s sway in the midterms.

Barely a week ago, Trump’s “potency” was front-page news, to be feared by all Republicans that faced voters without his favor.

Now, not so much.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican who openly defied Trump, will almost surely defeat former Sen. David Perdue, Trump’s hand-picked man.

Trump sought revenge on Kemp for not playing along with the plot to undo the 2020 presidential election results.

All Republican candidates ought to take a page from Kemp’s honest courage as he prevails over a revenge-obsessed former president.

Let Trump bask in the humiliation of that Georgia rebuke. Salt in the wound was former Vice President Mike Pence campaigning for Kemp.

Trump didn’t fare well in a North Carolina race, either.

His young pet and hell-on-wheels congressman, Rep. Madison Cawthorn, lost his reelection bid. The House gave a sigh of relief, because Cawthorn carried a loaded gun around airports. His mouth was just as dangerous.

Dr. Mehmet Oz, whom Trump endorsed in the Pennsylvania Senate race, did not win outright. The oleaginous Oz is locked in a recount, though Trump suggested he just declare victory.

Oh, don’t you miss that flagrant disrespect for fairness and the rule of law? Even if Oz wins the primary, the smart money is on Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, with an appealing, authentic and dressed-down persona.

Also in Pennsylvania, a Trump loyalist, Doug Mastriano is the Republican nominee for governor. He marched with the Jan. 6 mob. He appears too extreme for the land of my birthplace and Quaker state founded on William Penn’s brotherly love. Josh Shapiro, the state attorney general, is a safer bet.

Even in Ohio, getting redder every year, the same pattern could hold true. Trump endorsed JD Vance, the brash bestselling author of “Hillbilly Elegy,” for an open Senate seat. He won the primary.

Yet Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, son of Youngstown with a flair for heartfelt oratory, will wear well with statewide voters. He’s the real deal. That seat could be a critical Democratic pickup.

The press fell for Trump’s grandiose claims — lies — too many times, giving him “free media” and more power than he possessed. It’s another insidious kind of inflation.

So, the Post had to backtrack and note Republican governors are finding that Trump’s support isn’t worth much. It’s more of an illusion, or a delusion.

Fancy how sweet, not to hear or read another word about Trump’s power in the midterm elections. The emperor of dangerous nonsense had his day, my friends in the press corps.

Set thyselves free, the great Quaker governor might say to reporters who just can’t quit Trump. Penn was a brilliant Founding Father.

American democracy never had such a bad sport before. The Capitol was sacked by the British in wartime. But it was never attacked by a war within, tens of thousands of Americans in an attack that disrupted the constitutional transfer of power.

Inside, it felt like the Roman siege of the Temple in Jerusalem. We did not know how the day would end.

What we knew: Angry white supremacists were incited and invited to break into the Capitol by a president. Sedition — no more, no less.

The importance of the first election since that dark January day can’t be overstated. It’s a stress test for the body politic’s health.

So, it must be fair and square, after faith in our age-old system was shaken in front of our faces. It’s an imperative to show that we can meet at the polls as peaceable citizens.

Speaking of that, the Greek prime minister gave a rousing address to Congress, invited by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. Democracy, invented in ancient Greece, “remains the most profound leap of faith in human history,” declared Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

Authoritarianism is now testing its strength, he added.

Pelosi clearly thought the divided House needed a refresher of what it’s all about.

On 2022 Tuesdays, let the best men and women win. Trump’s proxies must be defeated and done.

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Jamie Stiehm may be reached at JamieStiehm.com. Follow her on Twitter @JamieStiehm. To find out more about Jamie Stiehm and other Creators Syndicate columnists and cartoonists, visit Creators.com