Sometimes all the pundits, the poll watchers, and the super intelligent minds within a party are just wrong. Sometimes the message can be so tone-deaf, or go so far over the top that the effects are opposite of what was intended. This is what is happening in politics today. We see it in so many ways.
The Kavanaugh hearings were the clearest example of a tactic gone off the rails. Over-dramatics, false narratives, and frankly, idiotic grandstanding (“I am Spartacus”) removed all doubt from viewers as to what was really going on. You would have to be very much mentally deficient to not see through the bluster.
The Democrats on the judicial committee were in lock-step with their mantra. It became clear before the hearing even started what the game plan entailed. Delay as long as possible. Resist and obstruct any nominee that the Trump administration put forward. The tactics had some merit at first, but the Democrats played that hand way too hard and far too long.
Poor Tactical Decisions
Then the senators launched the great Democratic tactical nuke round that fizzled. That nuke round was Senator Dianne Feinstein’s revelation of the sexual conduct allegations. Not believing one accusation as enough, they watered down their attack with a second. When that did not get the traction they were looking for —and still not believing they could be on the wrong path— they tried for a third. This time they pulled out all the stops and used the porn star lawyer to make unsubstantiated allegations of the judge running a gang-rape ring and annihilated all credibility. Really? If the first accusation had any merit, the Democrats shipwrecked their own plan by going over the top with things that even the most ardent democratic supporter didn’t buy.
What they have forgotten is that many —I’d like to say most— on the left still believe in the rule of law. Most know that you are innocent until proven guilty, not the other way around. That was something those driving this mantra missed, and because of that, they made damaging decisions that hurt their efforts.
Terrible Associations Remember, before the hearings there were a number of Democrat politicians calling for what can be taken no other way than an encouragement for violence and disruption. The Democrat party even aligned itself with the splinter groups like Black Lives Matter and Antifa. Department of Homeland Security formally classified Antifa activities as “domestic terrorist violence,” but many in the Democratic Party still support or passively accept that Antifa is helping their cause. That goes back to the old cliché that the “Enemy of my enemy is my friend.” Antifa primarily protests against anything and everything Trump, conservative, or considered on the right. But this line of talking points was not confined to the hearings.
(Credit: Adam Jones/Wikimedia Commons)
Few in the U.S. approve of Antifa and their tactics. They are a scary and dangerous group whose ideas and tactics are as anti-American as they can be. Few in the U.S. accept that a person should be destroyed by mere accusation and not by actual proof. Few in the U.S. approve of the grandstanding and lunacy that was displayed in the Congress and even more so in the press.
Speaking of the press, many if not most in the U.S. feel there independent, objective news doesn’t exist much anymore. The days of CNN being trusted or the other networks having a real journalist that reported the news without bias are long gone. Most normal people no longer believe the press to give anything of value other than the weather, and we all know the weather report is seldom correct.
Enter stage left, because they would never come in from the right, are the “has-been politicians.” Clinton (both of them) Holder, Pelosi, Kerry, Biden and a host of others, even including former President Obama, are all chiming in that the U.S. will come to an end if their party doesn’t take back control. Add to that the fired or ousted department officials: Comey, Brennan, McCabe, Strzok, Page, and the list goes on. These ousted officials are all espousing their completely unbiased opinions. Give me a break, please.
Then, top that with those learned and completely everyday people leading “ordinary” lives out in Hollywood. As they chime in with their learned opinions, they try to speak for what they think we should believe. They would do better paying more attention to what they do best: pretending to be people they are not with words carefully scripted for them.
The entire program of the Democrats is that under Trump, and by association, the Republican Party, the U.S. has gone to hell in a handbasket.
The Reality of the State of the State
As I look at the state of the state, I see a different picture. Unemployment is lower than anytime I can remember. Taxes actually got simpler. Trade is working. The economy is humming. We are energy independent. ISIS is all but obliterated, something the last administration did not address or even recognize as a viable threat. New trade agreements are being put in place. NATO is paying their fair share. More judges have been appointed by Trump than other presidents, including Obama, during this same period of being in office. This is not an all-inclusive list of the achievements of the current administration.
Let us not forget about political prisoners being returned to us because of the hardline approach that has been taken by this administration. The most recent evidence of that is the return of Pastor Andrew Brunson who on October 7, 2016, was imprisoned in Turkey and became a political pawn. The Trump administration’s use of sanctions, which put the Turkish economy in a tailspin, brought Pastor Brunson home.
And who would have thought that there could be movement in North Korea? This calculated use of brinkmanship has brought that isolated and antagonistic empire to the table for the first time in history, which might realistically have results.
The Democrat Party Line
What has the tactic of the Democrats actually done? It has turned off a good number of people. Of course, those that would always vote for the left have not shifted. It would make no difference about anything, their minds will not be swayed, and the Democratic Party is listening too closely to those they already have in the bag. They should be reaching out to those independents, those centrists and those that are on the fence, but instead they are pushing them away with both hands.
Hard for Democrats to counter, they go back to their same old line. Everything is terrible; the sky is falling and worse…the people need to rise up and fight against the government. We even see this inside our own governmental agencies, namely the FBI and the Justice Department.
When I ran for office, I ran as a Democrat. Not a far-left Democrat but rather more of a centrist, who is a fiscal conservative, and a social liberal. I ran as a patriot that fought for, defended, and would stand up for the country again. I saw many good things in the Democratic Party, at least in those that had not lost their minds in the rhetoric. But what I now see is different. There is no more middle ground. No Democrats are willing to step away from the far- left party line.
Democrat of California, Senator Dianne Feinstein (Credit: United States Senate/Wikimedia Commons)
Democratic Tactics Get Results—Sort Of
After the Kavanaugh hearings, the media, especially the left-leaning cable networks as well as the print media, all said the hearings would be a turning point. The hearings would incite the voter base against the evil Republicans. What those hearings did for me was convince me the Democrats have lost their collective minds. They showed me the Democratic Party did not stand for what I knew the U.S. was and should be. They were the antithesis of everything I believed. Their antics convinced me to never vote for a Democrat again.
Their tactics failed. They changed a mind and pushed a voter off the fence, just not in the direction they were hoping.
By the way, has anyone seen my red MAGA hat? I seem to have misplaced it.
