If Republicans don’t toughen up and go on offense, they could let a wonderful opportunity pass them by in November. Right now, Democrats appear to be pushing the narrative and Republicans seem to be sitting idly by and absorbing each punch. That is not a winning formula.
Most recently, the Biden administration authorized the DOJ to raid the personal home of a former president for purely political purposes. The administration also passed a bill cancelling some student loan debt, which will drastically hurt many Americans by way of increased taxes. Democrats have also launched various ads attacking Republicans and/or Republican candidates.
The campaign against Republicans is just getting started. As reported by The Hill, President Biden will deliver a prime-time speech from Philadelphia on Thursday where he will warn Americans that their rights and freedoms are under attack. According to a White House official,
He will speak about how the core values of this nation — our standing in the world, our democracy — are at stake. He will talk about the progress we have made as a nation to protect our democracy, but how our rights and freedoms are still under attack. And he will make clear who is fighting for those rights, fighting for those freedoms, and fighting for our democracy.
While Democrats are aggressively pushing forward, unifying, and spreading false messages, Republicans continue to play nice and refuse to strongly push back. For example, despite the unsubstantiated raid on Trump’s personal residence, some Republicans failed to strongly condemn the unprecedented action. Moreover, some “conservatives” in the media have seemingly blamed former President Trump for the Democrats’ recent “surge.” For example, Brit Hume recently tweeted, “Republicans need to understand that while Trump motivates a significant segment of the GOP base, he motivates ALL of the Democrats’ base, and a large portion of independents who might otherwise vote GOP.” Another example from The American Conservative can be found here.
Rather than placing blame on the former president, whose name is not on the ballot in November, Republicans would be better off focusing on the issues. While Biden will likely blame Republicans for the nation’s many disasters on Thursday, Republicans must set the record straight with conviction and in absolute terms.
This should not be difficult. After all, modern-day Democrats, not Republicans, are a threat to democracy and to Americans’ rights and freedoms. Joe Biden, a Democrat, weaponized the DOJ to raid the home of his likely 2024 political opponent. Joe Biden and the Democrats tried to federalize the nation’s elections. Joe Biden and the Democrats sought to eliminate the Second Amendment and to allow abortion-on-demand up to the point of birth (and afterwards in some states). Joe Biden and the Democrats support efforts to “sexualize” young children, take away opportunities from women in sports, and to turn the nation’s public schools into places where teachers indoctrinate children with or without parental consent. Joe Biden and the Democrats want to erode and/or eliminate the powers of the individual states by way of unconstitutional executive orders and/or efforts at codification. They also want to mandate vaccines, business closures, and masking under the pretense of a Covid-related national emergency. Americans need to understand the reality of these issues in clear and unequivocal terms.
Republicans must also expose the Democrats’ economic failures. While Biden touts the recent decrease in gas prices as some sort of success story, many experts dismiss the notion that his policies are the reasons for this decline. According to CNBC:
Industry experts said the White House has had a limited impact on the recent decline in prices, pointing instead to fears of a recession as the Federal Reserve raises interest rates, a slight pullback in consumer demand due to earlier high prices, and an uptick in global production.
Republicans must also remind Americans about inflation and its impact on their daily lives. Under Biden, inflation is at record levels due to supply issues and reckless spending. While Biden and the Democrats claim that the Inflation Reduction Act will help with inflation and will help reduce the cost of various medications, some experts disagree. According to a recent article written by Adam A. Milsapp in Forbes:
The Democrats claim their reconciliation bill, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), will slow inflation, but this is unlikely. As I wrote previously, the bill’s health care and green energy subsidies and tax credits are more likely to increase prices than decrease them since nothing in the bill makes it easier to actually produce more health care or green energy. Supply needs to outpace demand for prices to come down, but the IRA encourages the opposite.
The other supposed inflation “cure” in the IRA, price controls for drugs, would just hide costs from consumers since price controls do not change the underlying cost of producing, marketing, or selling drugs. Price controls also reduce the profit incentive that drives innovation, and research shows that the IRA’s price controls would lead to fewer new drugs coming to market.
In essence, Republicans need to hammer Biden and the Democrats on the economy. As reported by The Heritage Foundation, the Democrats’ policies, including their reckless and irresponsible spending, have resulted in a recession. Americans can’t afford to put food on the table, they need to choose between paying their rent and prescription medications, supplies are low, prices of basic necessities are high, and Americans are suffering. EJ Antoni, a research fellow for regional economics in Heritage’s Center for Data Analysis, recently explained the meaning of a recession:
Well, what a recession is essentially is just when the economy is shrinking instead of growing. So over time, we want that pie to grow. And whether or not you have more people, ideally you do have more people, but whether you do or not, you have a bigger pie that you can divide among all those people. In other words, people are going to be better off. We’re literally going to have more stuff that everyone can share in this economy. So when we have a recession, we have exactly the opposite of that. The pie is shrinking, which isn’t good because now we have less stuff and you may think, okay, well, so what? Stop being so greedy. I’m not just talking about luxury items like yachts, I’m talking things like medicine, food, energy, things that we need to survive. This is not simply a matter of people being better off, like the wealthy getting to do things they want to do. This is about a higher standard of living, a better quality of life and longer lives for the average American.
Rather than allowing the Democrats to control the narrative with false and misleading ads and speeches, Republicans need to go on offense by specifically and strategically explaining how the Democrats’ policies have devastated Americans and America and how Republicans will improve their lives and America’s image around the world. Republicans will not accomplish by blaming Trump for the Democrats’ apparent unity or by passively sitting by and assuming that voters will blindly support them in November. It will take aggressive campaigning and a willingness to push back against an unrelenting party.
Hopefully, Republicans are up for the challenge and do not let a wonderful opportunity go by the wayside come November.
