As always, the contents of this blog constitute a compendium of multiple media reports supplemented by my personal opinion where indicated.
In my view, it is an absolutely brilliant strategy. Of course, I am referring to the GOP’s decision to assemble for a midterm elections convention. The focus will be on the various races in which the Repubs are behind or in a toss-up. It is the first of its kind, and I predict it will become a staple prospectively.
Most of the credit for this idea goes to President Trump, who is the driving force behind anything Repub. What is the objective? Quite simply, the Repubs and Dems are embroiled in a battle for the sole of America. The Repubs want to continue the 250-year direction of the country, whereas the Dems want to fundamentally change it, that is, tear it all down and rebuild it as a far left communist state. More on this below.
In these midterms the Repubs are not only going against the Dems, they are also fighting history. As we all know, typically the party in power almost always loses congressional seats in the midterm elections. Since 1934 the party holding the presidency has lost seats in one or both of the chambers of Congress in every midterm election except for 2002. Some of the losses were small; some were substantial. The reasons varied from election to election, but the central fact is that they lost seats.
Currently, the Repubs have very thin majorities in both chambers – 53-47 in the Senate and 218-214 in the House. To secure a majority, the Dems need to gain a net of just four seats in the Senate and three in the House in November’s elections. Given the highly contentious political landscape they cannot afford to lose control of even one of them, much less both. If they do, President Trump would instantly become a “lame duck,” his programs would likely be thwarted, nothing of consequence would get accomplished, and we could once again be subjected to endless and pointless investigations and another impeachment. That would be bad, but even worse the neo-communist radicals would have attained a toehold in the federal government.
Most of the 22 seats the GOP is defending are in states that President Trump won by comfortable margins in 2024. But, the unpopular war with Iran, the price of oil and gas, inflation, and persistent other affordability issues have helped render several Republican-held seats increasingly competitive.
These are the 12 key Senate races to watch:
- Maine- Susan Collins (R) vs Troy Jackson (D). The Cook Political Report and the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics rate this race as a toss-up.
- Michigan – Abdul El-Sayed (D) vs. Mike Rogers (R) – The Cook Political Report and the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics rate this race as a toss-up.
- Ohio – Jon Husted (R) vs. Sherrod Brown (D) – The Cook Political Report and the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics rate this race as a toss-up.
- Dan Sullivan (R) vs. Mary Peltola (D) and others – Another candidate with same name as Repub Dan Sullivan has entered the race, which has confused matters. The Cook Political Report and the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics rate this race as a toss-up.
- Texas: Ken Paxton (R) vs. James Talarico (D) – The Cook Political Report and University of Virginia’s Center for Politics rate this race as a toss-up.
- Iowa: Josh Turek (D) vs. Ashley Hinson (R) – The Cook Political Report rates this race as a toss-up, while the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics ranks it as leaning Republican.
- Georgia – Jon Ossoff (D) vs. Mike Collins (R) – The Cook Political Report rates the race as leaning Democrat, while the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics rates the race as likely Democrat.
- New Hampshire: Chris Pappas (D) vs. John Sununu (R) – The Cook Political Report and the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics rate this race as leaning Democrat.
- North Carolina: Michael Whatley (R) vs. Roy Cooper (D) -The Cook Political Report and the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics rate this race as leaning Democrat.
- Minnesota: Peggy Flanagan (D) vs. Michele Tafoya (R) -The Cook Political Report and the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics rate this race as likely Democrat.
- Kansas: Roger Marshall (R) vs. Adam Hamilton (D) -The Cook Political Report and University of Virginia’s Center for Politics rate this race as likely Republican.
- Nebraska: Pete Ricketts (R) vs. Dan Osborn (I) – The Cook Political Report and University of Virginia’s Center for Politics rate this race as likely Republican.
- That amounts to five toss-ups, three leaning Repub and four leaning Dem. Polling for the House races was not available. I know it’s early, and two months is a lifetime in politics, but to quote the late Yogi Berra: “It gets late early.” In my view, Repubs have good reason to be concerned.
These DSA/neo-communists are not “liberals,” nor are they “progressives” as they would have voters believe. Those labels are way too tame. Some of them are far left “socialists,” but many others are dyed-in-the-wool “communists.” They are not looking to negotiate with those who advocate different political views. They are not interested in compromise. They are not even looking to replicate the socialist systems of, for example, Sweden and Denmark. That would be bad enough but they want more. They have already taken control of the Dem Party since the Dem leaders, Schumer and Jeffries, as well as the moderate Dems have been afraid to challenge them. Their ultimate goal is to seize power and control over every facet of Americans’ lives. They want to control food distribution, child-rearing, medical care and wealth distribution, among others. They will confiscate private citizens’ wealth and property, like one’s home and car, and redistribute it to those deemed “needy.” This will not occur right away. It will happen so gradually you will not even notice until it is too late.
Look at the history of Soviet Russia. At the time of the Russian Revolution there were only about 24,000 Bolsheviks in Russia out of a total population of roughly 18 million, but they were aggressive, vicious and well-organized. We all know what happened.
If you think it can’t happen here, think again. Just a few years ago would you have thought that NYC with the largest Jewish population of any city in the world outside of Israel woud elect an antisemitic, anti-Israel, communist mayor? Could you have envisioned dozens of neo-communists running for office and/or being elected? I think not, but here we are.
They hate America and the American way of life. They want to tear it all down and rebuild it in the manner of Soviet Russia, Communist China and Cuba. Some of their more outlandish goals are to abolish the office of the President, the Senate, the electoral college, the Pentagon, and ICE, open the borders to one and all who want to emigrate, curtail the powers of the Supreme Court and the police, release all prisoners, allow boys and men to compete against girls and women in sports, and much much more. They hate Jews and Israel. They want to cease granting any foreign aid to Israel, which is our most reliable ally in the critical and unstable ME.
It appears that not all the DSA candidates are hardcore extreme radicals. They may not all espouse all of the most inane elements of the DSA’s platform, but I maintain that all of them, by going along with and not condemning nor even challenging the more radical wing are tarred with the same brush.
CONCLUSION:
Regardless of the aforementioned history that the Party with the president in office gets “smoked” in midterm elections, based on the issues there is no way these elections should be this close. It defies all logic. The Dem s’ primary issue is their blind hatred of President Trump. They criticize, but they do not offer any sensible, viable alternatives. For instance, they continually criticize his prosecution of the Iran War ignoring the fact that the overriding issue to deprive Iran of nuclear weapons has been achieved. In my view, that was a life and death issue. If Iran were to possess a nuclear weapon it would very likely use it, and even if it didn’t we would all have to live under the threat that it could do so at any time.
The Dems are attempting to “put Trump on the ballot” figuratively. Enough already! Personal opinions of him are not as important as his policies and accomplishments, which I have detailed in previous blogs. Current polls have disclosed that Trump’s approval ratings are low, but this is not a popularity contest. It is fair to dislike him on a personal level, but one cannot reasonably criticize his policies. Although he is not literally on the ballot, in my opinion his policies are. He deserves another two years to continue them.
By their own words and written statements the Dems are on the wrong side of a myriad of 80-20 issues. The only sensible explanation for all the close races is that the voting public is unaware of how radical they really are. Furthermore, in order to win their elections they are beginning to portray themselves as more moderate than they really are. They are “walking back” previous statements and deleting or modifying previously-posted comments. This gaslighting has worked in prior elections. Don’t let them get away with it now. Their true beliefs are on the record. Spread the word.
I will stipulate that the mainstream media has aided and abetted the Dems in disguising their true beliefs, but it is also true that the Repubs have done a poor job in exposing them. Now, post-Labor Day, the electorate will commence to focus on the elections. Now is the time for the Repubs to swing into action.
This election is the most critical one in my lifetime, maybe ever. Repubs need to wake up and focus. They need to disseminate the Dems’ true policies to the voting public and ask them if they are in favor of these outlandish, radical positions or not. Like I said, if voters were cognizant of the true facts these elections would not be close.
Moreover, they need to get out the vote. Turnout is usually a major factor in elections. Typically, in off-year elections the turnout rate is only about 40% compared to about 60% in presidential elections. That will not be acceptable. The Dems are well-organized, well-funded, determined and laser-focused. The Repubs must match that intensity or else we will all be headed to disaster.
We Built It Blog by Larry Jacob 