The Republican Party is at a crossroads. How’s that for a trite opening?
The midterms obviously weren’t as bad as the press or nervous types in the GOP said they were. Gained in the Senate. Lost normal amounts in the House for a first midterm in a Republican administration. Won most of the marquee races. On good track to re-election. Not bad.
The economy is humming, foreign foes are worried, and allies privately respect us. Though they yelp against the president like purse poodles for domestic political profit. Black and Latin unemployment is at an all-time low and we should be able to make political hay of it. Trade is perceived to be fairer than in the recent past, as many in the nation prefer a trade negotiator that has actual business acumen, not politicians whose only experience in this regard is trading their votes for campaign contributions. Not bad at all.
Immigration cuts our way, as the Dem blind spot to it plays badly with a national audience. But beware: their real immigration goal has little to do with the other forty-nine states. It is about Texas. If they turn that blue through immigration and fraudulent voting —and they tried hard this last bout— the GOP will never hold the White House in the foreseeable future. It is the ultimate domino.
So, with serious caveats, it’s a GOP-leaning landscape.
With it we could have done better this time and can do better next time. Here’s how:
Welcome to the New Normal: If you haven’t already, understand that traditional conservatives are at war with the left as Clausewitz might say, by other means. And with Antifa, sometimes by the usual means. That war with the Democratic Party and its institutional allies, not with all of its supporters, means they will use any method to achieve their goals. That goal is to bring about authoritarian socialism in the United States. If you doubt that dire analysis, look at the new crop of Democratic members of Congress. Many of them openly profess socialism and, given the history of the modern Democratic Party and the left when it comes to supporting free speech, you can bet dollars to doughnuts the first chance they get they will try to squelch yours. Such is one of the marks of an authoritarian regime. Once in office, many more would become apparent.
They will attempt to steal every close election by illegal and unethical methods, believing Stalin’s dictum that it doesn’t matter so much who votes, it matters who counts the votes. If they lose in that venture, they will cry sexism, racism, etc. and sue. The press will echo any charge they make, no matter how petty or absurd. Most Dem operatives are not like the GOP, who go back to their bass tournaments or country clubs to have a real life after the hubbub of the political season. For these Dems, that season never ends because many of them have no life other than politics and the government perks they hope it will bring to them. They are like sacrilegious warrior monks. The lure of music, art, family, does not attract them. Only the acquisition and retention of power, and thus money and influence, does. This trait is not unknown in the ranks of GOP pros. But it is leavened by their propensity for functional alcoholism and skirt chasing, noble and apropos pastimes both.
Thus every general election day the RNC and NRCC needs to have hundreds of lawyers trained in election law on alert to deal with the nationwide election rigging of the bad guys. The wolves need to be standing at Reagan and Dulles, briefcase and lupine ethic in hand, awaiting tickets to a locale of mischief. We also have to look at the suspicious results of many recent races that flipped to the Dems and warn our voting base: You’d better show up. If it’s close they’ll steal it.
But even more importantly, we must bring the battle to the enemy. This is not a democratic game of fairness and civics anymore. So we need to use some of the devil’s tools to do the Lord’s work. Challenge their wins. Take them to court. Scream illegality at their slightest misstep. Before Election Day buy the ads, you must purchase the message as you can’t trust the press to give you coverage on this, that shout election theft in any race that looks close. Saturate the air with them starting Wednesday. Brutally beat the Dems at their own game and get in front of their inevitable same message of election fraud. To paraphrase The Untouchables, “They put one of our guys in the metaphorical hospital, we put one of their guys in the morgue.”
Forget Merit: Most Republicans believe in an ordered world where good behavior and hard work achieve goals. Those Republicans should get out of politics.
We live in a political world of perception where any subjective reality is real if voters can be convinced it is. Thus we will not win because we have better candidates or principles. If we win it will be because we had a better campaign operation and battle plans. Today, and perhaps always, the product does not sell because it is superior. It sells because it has a superior marketing campaign aimed at the right customers. This is reminiscent of the style and genius of the demigod Rosser Reeves, who many believe is the model for Don Draper. He came up with, though putting into a contextual framework what others had been practicing for years, the USP, or Unique Selling Proposition.
Reeves understood that what makes a product sell, and candidates are really just animatronic political products, is not necessarily quality, but the thing that makes it different from other competing products. He proved that in his legendary Anacin spot that had a large part in tripling the headache medicine’s sales in seven years. In politics that means doing enough research to ascertain the one main point, you can go with up to three as voter attention spans will not tolerate more, the candidate and a solid majority of their clientele (voters) agree on and that the opposition candidate does not. Then you hammer it and hammer it and brazen out any criticism by the opposition. In fact, as opposed to normal GOP practice, when the other guys and the press squeal the most you double down, not back off. You don’t stand down because logically your opponents will loudly loathe anything that is successful for you and detrimental to them. Too many in the GOP run at the slightest whiff of grapeshot, terrified that a nasty word towards them in the Old Gray Lady or the Washington Post will upset their butlered breakfast. The president comprehends this and turns the tables, thus using the concept in its most effective manner. And, most entertainingly, he makes it personal. He loves a political dagger fight on the unfenced roof of a skyscraper.
GOP operatives at the trench warfare level in the states and counties also understand it, as politics is always up close and personal for them. More bayonet warfare there than the gentlemen’s duel beloved of the DC crowd who win or lose, because of their background and contacts not to mention their synergistic corporate clients, will still get paid and be hired to screw the pooch yet again. It’s the old GOP curse. They’d rather lose gracefully without getting their hair mussed than win a dirty fight. But, as Dems constantly prove, we live in a dirty political world. Which means, when in Rome wear a toga.
Much of this will mean a basic attitudinal change on the part of the GOP. If you’re a regular reader of this column, perhaps on your part. To risk redundancy, this is not Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. It is Wag the Dog.
These are only several suggestions to improve our lot in the game. There are more ways to do it involving Republican targeting, confirmation bias, and our relations with the press. I’ll cover those in my next piece…
