I saw part of last night's campaign rally in Kansas where President Trump spoke. It seems pretty clear that the President is moving to nationalize the November elections. Normally, midterm elections hinge more on local issues and less on national ones. Which candidate can do the most for this state or that district? It's rare when national issues predominate. The last time the Republicans successfully nationalized a midterm was in 1994 when the Contract With America was put front and center in every congressional race and the GOP took control of Congress for the first time in 40 years. Some say that 2002 was another nationalized midterm, but that's not really correct. The GOP certainly ran on an anti-terrorism platform, but the Democrats did also. The divisions over the Iraq War didn't really surface in many places until years later. Some also see 2010 as a nationalized midterm. Certainly, opposition to Obamacare and huge deficits gave rise to the Tea Party, but much of the GOP's gains in 2010 were really just a bounce back from the Democrats' gains in 2008 when the historic nature of the Obama candidacy combined with the financial crisis gave the Democrats a huge boost.
The national issue this time, though, is something very different from the prior examples. Putting it in positive terms, the Republicans are running as the defenders of the Constitution and traditional American values and concepts like the presumption of innocence and abhorrence for mob rule. Putting it in negative terms, this is the first election in a long time when the Republicans are running on a platform that in essence says in part, "We're not the Democrats."
That sort of campaign is something that the Democrats trot out every two years. The Democrat candidates scream that Republicans are sexist, racist, homophobes, xenophobes, anti-immigrant, anti-Semitic, Islamophobic haters. The list keeps getting longer each time they use it. The problem, though, is that except for the committed base of the Democrats, the falseness of these claims has become apparent. For example, the Democrats shout that President Trump is a racist. Nevertheless, the economic condition of African Americans has been improving rapidly under Trump, something that did not happen during the previous eight years under Obama. That's clearly not racist. People notice truths like that.
The Republican "we're not them" campaign, however, is somewhat different. The GOP is not falsely accusing the Democrats. Instead, the Democrats first demonstrated that they would do and say anything to get their way. The Kavanaugh hearings showed senate Democrats and their media allies to be willing to smear a good man to keep him off the Court. When Dr. Ford sent her allegation to senator Feinstein, it was not investigated or share confidentially with the committee (as would normally have been done.) Instead, the Democrats set it up to be a last minute bombshell, thereby hoping to derail Kavanaugh with this surprise. Dr. Ford's desire for anonymity was ignored. The Democrats made clear that they "supported" women and victims except when it might be useful politically to exploit their pain. But that wasn't enough. The Democrats then came forward with ridiculous allegations and played them up as if they were real. Just think of Julie Swetnick and her lawyer Avenatti who told the nation that when in high school Bret Kavanaugh organized gang rapes of drugged women. Kavanaugh's daughters had to hear that their father was an accused repeat rapist. People recoiled at these blatantly and obviously false allegations. But this too was not enough. We then had Democrat office holders actively encouraging the crazies in their ranks to confront, harass and attack Republicans. Peaceful political disagreement was no more to be the rule. Maxine Waters and others wanted Republicans to have no peace. It escalated to a point where a few days ago, a Republican congressman was assaulted in his congressional office by a mob of screaming Democrat storm troopers. The Democrats made clear that no move was too low for them. The rule of law no longer applied to them.
This conduct by the Democrats makes the Republicans issue much stronger than it is when the Democrats use it in reverse. The Republicans have truth on their side. The nation has seen that the Democrats just cannot be trusted with power.
In the Kansas rally, the President pushed this issue much more strongly than I have seen it done previously. We may be in the midst of a massive shift in the electorate as a result.
UPDATE: Here's a bit of proof that shows just how crazy the Democrats have gotten. It's a tweet from Ariel Dumas, one of the writers of Steven Colbert's Late Show on CBS. Think how the average American voter responds to this stuff.
The national issue this time, though, is something very different from the prior examples. Putting it in positive terms, the Republicans are running as the defenders of the Constitution and traditional American values and concepts like the presumption of innocence and abhorrence for mob rule. Putting it in negative terms, this is the first election in a long time when the Republicans are running on a platform that in essence says in part, "We're not the Democrats."
That sort of campaign is something that the Democrats trot out every two years. The Democrat candidates scream that Republicans are sexist, racist, homophobes, xenophobes, anti-immigrant, anti-Semitic, Islamophobic haters. The list keeps getting longer each time they use it. The problem, though, is that except for the committed base of the Democrats, the falseness of these claims has become apparent. For example, the Democrats shout that President Trump is a racist. Nevertheless, the economic condition of African Americans has been improving rapidly under Trump, something that did not happen during the previous eight years under Obama. That's clearly not racist. People notice truths like that.
The Republican "we're not them" campaign, however, is somewhat different. The GOP is not falsely accusing the Democrats. Instead, the Democrats first demonstrated that they would do and say anything to get their way. The Kavanaugh hearings showed senate Democrats and their media allies to be willing to smear a good man to keep him off the Court. When Dr. Ford sent her allegation to senator Feinstein, it was not investigated or share confidentially with the committee (as would normally have been done.) Instead, the Democrats set it up to be a last minute bombshell, thereby hoping to derail Kavanaugh with this surprise. Dr. Ford's desire for anonymity was ignored. The Democrats made clear that they "supported" women and victims except when it might be useful politically to exploit their pain. But that wasn't enough. The Democrats then came forward with ridiculous allegations and played them up as if they were real. Just think of Julie Swetnick and her lawyer Avenatti who told the nation that when in high school Bret Kavanaugh organized gang rapes of drugged women. Kavanaugh's daughters had to hear that their father was an accused repeat rapist. People recoiled at these blatantly and obviously false allegations. But this too was not enough. We then had Democrat office holders actively encouraging the crazies in their ranks to confront, harass and attack Republicans. Peaceful political disagreement was no more to be the rule. Maxine Waters and others wanted Republicans to have no peace. It escalated to a point where a few days ago, a Republican congressman was assaulted in his congressional office by a mob of screaming Democrat storm troopers. The Democrats made clear that no move was too low for them. The rule of law no longer applied to them.
This conduct by the Democrats makes the Republicans issue much stronger than it is when the Democrats use it in reverse. The Republicans have truth on their side. The nation has seen that the Democrats just cannot be trusted with power.
In the Kansas rally, the President pushed this issue much more strongly than I have seen it done previously. We may be in the midst of a massive shift in the electorate as a result.
UPDATE: Here's a bit of proof that shows just how crazy the Democrats have gotten. It's a tweet from Ariel Dumas, one of the writers of Steven Colbert's Late Show on CBS. Think how the average American voter responds to this stuff.
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