Purple Pennsylvania

Joy Reid as a leftist straw man

When I see things like Joy Reid's completely unhinged leftism, I think to myself, she has to be a plant on the left, designated to push the Overton window further left in the most subtle way possible. Regular Democrats and mainstream media can say "well we need to do something, not as radical as Joy Reid, but we must do more than we are doing."  It's a way to control both sides of the conversation; Joy Reid (and I am using her as just one example) is too far left, the Democrats are in the middle and the Republicans are too far right. It's both ingenious and insidious.

Then I think to myself, "shouldn't Republicans be doing the same thing?" Give ourselves a straw man to disavow.

I always catch myself though, the problem with Joy Reid (as the example, not the singular straw man leftist) is that whatever phony far leftists the left may have set up, they became the mainstream of the party. They took over; they won the conversation among Democrats. It's too dangerous. I consider myself very conservative but I do not want to see the right repeating the same mistakes that the left did; where defunding the police was a serious policy position. Radical conservatism would be as bad as radical leftism.

Reblicans smartening up (finally)

Republicans using smart power, or rather, their limited power, smartly. They're tying non-citizen voting to a continuing resolution bill.  Smart. 

Who are these MAGA Republicans of whom you speak?

Tulsi Gabbard is based.

Trump IS the ground game

In the Obama years, I used to bemoan the fact that the Republican party seemed to have very little ground game. Despite that issue, Trump was able to win in 2016. Why?  Because Trump is the ground game. While the GOP has been slow to improve, Trump has picked up where he left off in 2020.  It's working better now than in 2020 because people have seen the disaster that is Let's Go Brandon and are awakening, or at least open to the notion that Trump was not as bad as we were told.  Trump is maximizing that opportunity, by going to places where Republicans have previously written off as unwinnable.  

He's not only being the ground game, but doing something even more important; he's expanding the map. You win by playing offense, not defense - especially when playing defense with a weaker hand; the GOP HAS to expand the electoral map. Trump is doing that with remarkable effectiveness.  It's forcing Democrats to play defense.  It's forcing some Democrats into denial.  It's forcing some Democrats into indifference. It's causing some Democrat voters to switch sides.

Senate projection - still tight

The Republicans have a fantastic shot at re-taking the senate, but so far, only by the slimmest of margins. Much, much more needs to be done based on this particular latest projection. Not because Republicans haven't made inroads or because the Democrats haven't alienated enough voters yet, but because a slim majority is not going to be enough to govern effectively for the next four years. We need enough votes to counteract the sitting RINOs ability to derail a Trump second term with mere stagnation.

Democrat law in Pennsylvania might backfire, help Republicans.

If you know the playing field, you can better compete.  Pennsylvania Republicans seem to be benefitting from that.  Democrats passed an automatic voter registration bill into law. It's capturing REpublicans at a 10-1 ratio over Democrats so far. This alone won't deliver them the state the way say a sudden 300,000 appearing votes might, but it's a start.

Polling wow!

Republican identifying voters outnumber Democrats according to Gallup? Wow.

In-house House fight among Republicans

Matt Gaetz vs. Kevin McCarthy: a civil war among Republicans over spending.  There's a good fight to be fought here but Republicans fighting Republicans in these times is not good for the country.  This is a tough one but regardless, it's going to happen.

Explosive whistleblower testimony coming soon

Incoming bombardment that will surely damage Let's Go Brandon, Democrats and hopefully the deep state as well.

Can Republicans win the 2024 popular vote?

Does it matter?  Technically no, but in terms of morale, in terms of public perception, it kinda does.  So is it possible? Red Eagle Politics opines. 

Republicans doing Democrats' dirty work now

The DOJ investigation into Hunter Biden is what it is.  What the Republicans need to do is hold off until closer to the election to ensure this sticks to the eventual Democrat nominee.  Maybe now is the time to start that, I don't know.  My point is too soon is just as bad as too late.

The Right Angle take on the congressional goings-on

Bill Whittle et al. discuss the GOP house speaker voting (Kevin McCarthy inside-the-beltway vs. fresher, non-insider Republicans).

The status quo is not the answer, and this is why I'm truly disappointed with the likes of Fox and Sean Hannity who are promising that this time McCarthy will live up to his commitments and everyone with concerns should just shut up.

After 15 rounds of voting however, McCarthy has won. Color me skeptical concerning positive change.

5 million more votes

I discussed this earlier, when the total votes advantage for Republicans in the midterms was just over 4 million.  Now it's 5 million.  Tim Pool and Dave Rubin share their takes.

Existential 2024 Dangers

With the White House going after president Trump (yet again) as a response to the Republican congress pursuing the Hunter Biden laptop investigation as a backdrop, Republicans not only a presented a great opportunity for 2024, they also face existential dangers in trying to retake the senate and the White House as well as expanding their lead in congress.

Backlash

The backdrop of the White House going after president Trump is only the beginning.  Come January Let's Go Brandon and the rest of the Democrats, along with a gleefully willing media, big tech, entertainment industry and establishment Republicans are going to push back, harder than ever.

It won't just be directed at president Trump.  There will be a hue and cry that as the recession gets worse, it's only the Republican congress that is standing in front of the Let's Go Brandon led effort to fix the situation.  They are obstructing help will be the one-note chorus.  They want the suffering to continue.  They have no ideas and are standing in the way of great Democrat ideas. Blah. Blah. Blah.

It's stupid because the Democrats will not compromise and they will not face the culpability of having created the mess (remember the Russian gas hike phoniness?).  But despite the stupidity and despite the universal and correct cry from the right that more of the same policies will not solve but merely worsen the situation, that message will not get through the miasma of leftist shills and Republicans could be stuck with  100% of the blame for the worsening economy and global issues.

Worse still, they could actually contribute to that message unintentionally.  While proposing many ideas in congress that will inevitably be stalled in the senate, before ever reaching a potential Let's Go Brandon veto, they will investigate the Hunter Biden laptop.  That presents an obvious narrative to the left: "the Republicans have no ideas and so are focusing on a non-scandal to distract voters."

Which brings us to their other issue.

Failure

The Republicans are going to be hard pressed to show much success with a bare majority in Congress and a minority in the senate.  They will have no major legislative successes to proclaim come 2024. That will be a boon to Democrats but it will also potentially create apathy among conservative voters.  You can see that narrative already trying to take hold with the left's accusation that Trump has lost his energy.  They want us to feel hopeless.  Failure will only reinforce itself in a circular feedback loop.

Where this becomes exceptionally problematic for Republicans is in the election fraud area.  Democrats with their early voting schemes, ballot harvesting schemes, etc. have opened up significant doubt on the right about electoral fairness.  In losing governorships, in losing much of the ability to do something on a state by state basis about voter IDs, poll watching etc.,  the Republicans have painted themselves further into a corner. Despite voter shifts to the right in the 2022 midterms, the red wave did not materialize thanks to a concerted effort on the left to ensure days and weeks of vote counting uniformly benefitted their chosen candidates.

While some Republicans seem content to  allow the left to win as long as their own fiefdoms survive (ahem, Mitch McConnell), conservatives cannot let that happen. The Republicans in the senate have already ceded some of that fight by allowing current leadership to continue.  That means the fight to overcome the rolling failure must be conducted outside of Washington D.C. It must be conducted in state houses, it must be conducted in courts, it must be conducted in communities.  Citizens must take action at local and state levels. Failing that, 2024 will be a true failure for Republicans and more importantly, for liberty and justice for all. 

Well, finally.

 It took long enough for Republicans to win congress.  Now what?

Let's Go Brandon's worst moment?

Let's Go Brandon made an undefendable political hack speech in front of marines where he calls his MAGA political opponents extremists who threaten the nation.  It was vulgar, vile and villanous. It's beyond stupid in it's incorrectness. It deserves ridicule as does its deliverer. 

We're not there yet

But it's getting close to Republican's being able to hold a Constitutional convention of states. If they do so, it will be interesting to see what they can get done.

Hey GOP, just do it anyway

Many conservatives and many Republican party members want there to be term limits for Congress and the Senate. This would stop us from being continually faced with Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer and the likes of Mitch McConnell. The problem is the political willpower to get it done as a legislative change or even better, a Constitutional Amendment.

Fair enough.

So here's an idea; just make it a GOP party rule.  No one can join the party as any type of representative unless they are willing to agree and adhere to the party rule.  You break the rule you lose party membership and lose any committee standings you might have.  Simple.

It doesn't solve the problem of us having to look at Nancy Pelosi's face on the news most every day.  Not initially anyway.  But it does accomplish a few other things.  Firstly it keeps new blood in the GOP on a regular basis, which strips from Republicans the opportunity to become self serving insider opportunists.  That in turn makes the GOP look more fresh than the Democrat dinosaurs they are facing off with, that might pressure Democrats into adapting a similar idea.

Of course the danger is that they  might try to leverage it to argue we should do the same with court appointments.  Maybe as part of a deal on a Constitutional amendment. But that is a hurdle for another day.  So too might be using it to clean out the executive branch leadership positions like the IRS, FEC, HHS, the Pentagon, etc. of political hacks on the left.

There is no significant downside to making it a GOP only rule for now.  That is unless you are an establishment Republican who is benefitting from the status quo.  But here's the rub on that - it will confirm who needs to be rooted out of the party.

If only...

A red tsunami in 2022?  Hopefully, but I think it's seriously wishful thinking.  There are entrenched Democrat districts, there's cheating via vote harvesting and other nefarious methods.  Nonetheless, it's still something to work towards and the signs are indeed pointing towards a good outcome for Republicans.