Democrats may be in disarray, but that’s not enough to save Republicans from electoral catastrophe this November.
Team Donkey is reportedly struggling to agree on a cohesive message ahead of the midterms.
It’s a “raging debate,” according to Semafor, with some Dems advocating a vacuous, relentlessly anti-President Trump approach, while others push to campaign on a detailed policy agenda.
Both options come with big drawbacks.
Trump’s approval rating has dipped, but swing voters will need more than the same old #Resistance histrionics to turn up at the polls for Democrats.
After all, many of Trump’s signature policies — including the deportation of criminal illegal allies — remain overwhelmingly popular, according to a new poll.
As Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) has put it: “You can’t just be anti-Trump, you’ve got to be for something.”
On the other hand, the “something” her party has on offer may be worse than nothing.
Democrats grow more radical on immigration, gender issues, economics and just about every other major issue by the day.
Reminding voters of their sprint to the left is a grave risk.
So they’re in a tricky spot — but historically, the GOP is in even more of a pickle.
“When somebody gets elected president, that party always loses the midterms,” Trump himself has mused. “Even when you have a good president.”
To stand any chance of defying the odds, the GOP, not the dithering Dems, must present the voters with a positive vision for the future.
Thirty years ago, Newt Gingrich offered a “Contract with America.”
Republicans today should offer a vote of confidence.
Call it the Believe in America promise: a pithy, unifying and comprehensive theme that starkly contrasts with their opponents’ messaging.
Democrats have spent years running down the country as a racist, sexist, out-of-date experiment in greedy evildoing.
Michelle Obama wasn’t proud of this nation until it elected her husband president.
Barack Obama launched an international apology tour as soon as he took office.
Joe Biden routinely presented America as teetering on the brink of a fascistic Jim Crow takeover.
And ever since Biden’s exit, his party has doubled and tripled down on overt anti-Americanism by cozying up to the likes of Hasan Piker and coalescing behind candidates like Graham Platner.
“Believe in America” is a message the middle of the electorate can get behind — because it’s clear to all that Democratic elites don’t share such faith.
It also mitigates the GOP’s greatest vulnerability: the ongoing war in Iran and its economic ripple effects.
Decapitating the Iranian regime and degrading its military threat was a geostrategic triumph.
But its associated price shocks and the media’s ceaseless demoralization campaign have taken a toll on public support.
Republicans can’t run away from the conflict, so they must defend it — and reframe the debate.
Contrast Biden’s abject surrender of Afghanistan to the Taliban five years ago to the undeniable tactical success the US military is achieving in Iran under Trump.
The first was a declaration of American impotence; the second, a demonstration of American resolve.
Finally, “Believe in America” provides a frame for Republicans’ broader philosophy and policy agenda.
While progressives believe Americans need to be forced into making the right decisions, conservatives trust their countrymen to innovate and create.
Trump’s deregulatory efforts have been an economic godsend; congressional Republicans must follow his lead by promising to rid the country of its most burdensome regulatory shackles.
Trump has used executive orders to strike blows against leftist education policies and unpatriotic indoctrination in our schools and public spaces.
That’s only a start; Republican lawmakers should set national standards for civic education, so our children will learn what makes America exceptional.
And the GOP must level with the public about inflation, the defining issue of the post-pandemic years.
Rising prices destroyed Biden’s presidency, and threaten to return Democrats to power now.
Yet few are willing to point to the ultimate culprit: the federal government’s profligate spending.
It’s well past time for Republicans to openly identify the monster responsible for devaluing consumers’ buying power — and to slay it.
Their opponents will howl if any program loses so much as a dollar in funding, but Americans know it’s not the bureaucrats or the behemoth government that make this country great; it’s the people.
Democrats are explicit about their jaded view of the United States’ role in the world.
Their agenda implicitly betrays their contempt for their fellow citizens.
Republicans ought to spend the next six months making the case for American greatness at home and abroad.
Not just as a matter of political strategy, but because it’s righteous.
Isaac Schorr is a senior editor at Mediaite.
This story originally appeared on NYPost
