The coming storm… for the GOP
There is a feeling among Democrats and certainly those of us on this site, that this election is too important to lose. And it is, but not just for Democrats. the GOP is perhaps in a more dire state. While we are wrangling now about our nominee, victory for Democrats has several paths- not so much for the Republicans. As has been brought up by many on these sites, Joe Biden had an awful debate. His performance called into question his electability, not his message. He may be a wounded candidate, but if he decides to remain in the race, he can win. Biden’s message in the main is far more preferable than the one being shrouded and hidden by the GOP. In any comparison of voters’ druthers, the Democratic Party platform that will be unveiled formally at the convention wins overwhelmingly over the platform the Republicans refuse to formally adopt which is contained in whole in Project 2025. The Republicans, on the other hand, with the wind seemingly at their backs, are still refusing to acknowledge the winner of the election without their incessant chant about it being “free and fair., Wow! If it isn’t, guess who my first guess is to try to cheat and steal the election. Yeah, the guys with the red hats who stormed the Capitol on J6.
In a recent Navigator poll released in early July, respondents were asked about Project 2025 which has had limited exposure up to this point in time. The results are encouraging for any nominee the Democrats choose. if messaged correctly, Dems may be able to run the table as voters become better acquainted with the main tenets of the Republicans’ 2025 fever dream:
- Miami Herald, “As Americans learn more about Project 2025, they become more opposed, poll finds,” by Brendan Rascius
The upcoming Republican Convention scheduled this month in Milwaukee will be a virtual minefield of disasters-in-waiting for the GOP. The party is without a backbench of able spokespersons to carry their message as is obvious by the lackluster group of vice-presidential candidates being vetted by Trump. The MAGA movement has hollowed out the party’s future by demanding loyalty to its traitor-in-chief. Each of the potential VP’s carries baggage that in a normal party would render them unqualified or hopelessly damaged beyond repair. Some, like Marco Rubio and J.D. Vance, will require an Ozempic prescription to relieve them from the weight of eating their own words — the unflattering depictions they had said in public of the man they now pray will make them his warm bucket of spit. His last placeholder got himself nearly hanged for the sin of being loyal to his oath to the Constitution. The MAGA crime code counts disloyalty to Trump a capital offense.
As Dems perseverate over Biden’s age and public performance, this month Republicans organizers will proudly refuse to seat the truth at their convention. As a matter of fact, for the Republican base watching the convention “show,” truth, as unwelcome there as a skunk at a picnic, will not be in attendance. One thing the debate did provide for Democrats later use was the list of lies that Trump must maintain as he presents his case at the convention. The hope is that independents tune in and are turned off. Those in the hall will not care, but polls indicate that for independent voters, the more they get to know their nominee and see him in action, the less they like him and what he stands for.
Democrats will be voting for a candidate based on democratic principles. The Democratic nominee will be espousing values and policy positions that are popular among a majority of the electorate. The policies and values represented by Trump and a small minority of extremist party apparatchiks who are responsible for Project 2025, when polled are losers. If there is a silver lining to the debate perceptions it is that more voters will be watching and listening to the GOP positions and comparing them to what Democrats will be offering. There should also be greater scrutiny of Donald Trump’s performance during the week, a man who is a potential 24/7 grenade in the GOP FOXhole, and one whose mental acuity is in question at any age.
As the election nears Trump’s burden is greater than the Democratic nominee because of the unpopularity of the GOP policies and the need for them to distance themselves from and mitigate their most authoritarian issues. Democrats will need to keep them front and center in their messaging. And for those who are now angry with the MSM, they may well become our biggest ally as the outrageousness of the GOP’s candidate is on its scenes and pages for everyone to evaluate.
A key indicator of the direction of this election will be the size of the post-convention “bump” each party receives. Democrats going last have the advantage. By that time, if Biden remains at the head of the ticket, the attention will likely shift from his age to this election’s impact on the ages. Project 2025 and Trump’s incendiary rhetoric promise years of chaos and disunity as voters begin to weigh the Democratic Party’s longstanding positions on foreign and domestic policies against the GOP’s. While their movement depends on a singular leader whose backbench has all the personality of a Mar-a-Lago cheeseburger, the Democratic Party can point to an embarrassment of qualified leaders-in-waiting.
It is unlikely that the election will turn on a few nights in July and August. Hopefully, one night in June can be forgotten or dismissed as aberrant. In politics especially, talk is cheap and time is focused on today. The coming months will reveal in a barrage of pictures and words a well-funded advertising campaign that Democrats have been preparing since January 6, 2021. It will give voters a clear-eyed view of what the GOP is promising as our future, and an ugly reminder of Trump’s first term. The comparison should be daunting. The Democratic Party’s support of our economic and social gains of the past half-century will be compared to the GOP’s record of fiscal irresponsibility and attacks on the social safety net will become apparent. Done well, memories will be revived and consciences will be awakened. November will be a test of America’s inner voice- the tiny one that won’t be stilled As much as Donald Trump promises to be their retribution, they should all fear the quiet resolve that is building up in our nation’s collected memories:
There is no witness so terrible and no accuser so powerful as conscience which dwells within us.
I know, I know, for this to be true you need a conscience, but Sophocles here is speaking for the rest of us- not them. There is a storm brewing and we should be in its wake.
Originally published at https://www.dailykos.com on July 12, 2024.
