Republican strategists all agree that for the GOP to perform well this November, preferably both in the House and the Senate, they must hammer Democrats on all the issues and stop wasting time on petty internal politics.
Speaking on Fox News’s “Hannity” this Friday, former RNC chair and White House chief of staff Reince Priebus said specifically that it’s all about zeroing in on the “80 percent winners.”
“Republicans have to stick to the 80 percent winners. It’s what Newt Gingrich used to teach at GOPAC all the time. Do you believe we should secure the border, protect the American worker, and our children — yes or no? Yes! Do you think that violent criminals that have committed felonies that hurt people should be let go and on cashless bail so they can run their car through a Waukesha County parade? The answer is no,” he said.
“And should parents have a say over their kids’ education and whether teachers should be teaching kids incessantly about, you know, transgender issues across the board? The answer is no, they shouldn’t — parents should have a say. So if you stick to the 80 and keep it simple in this environment with this president that screwed everything up, the Republicans should not be losing anywhere, and I don’t think they will. I think it’s going to be a great year.”
Will it, though? Republicans’ lead in the generic congressional ballot has dropped from a high of roughly 4 percent in the spring to a tie as of the morning of Aug. 20th.
Moreover, forecasts now show that while Republicans are still poised to take the House, they’ll most likely not take the Senate. But why not?
Speaking on Fox News’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight” Thursday evening, former Trump administration official Stephen Miller said the problem is that many Republicans — particularly leaders like the Senate’s Mitch McConnell — are wasting time pursuing petty internal politics instead of hammering Democrats on what Priebus has termed the “80 percent winners.”
“Joe Biden is the most unpopular president in American history. We should be looking at the largest midterm victory for Republicans likewise in American history. And instead, the forecasts are shrinking every single day. Why?” he asked.
“Because Mitch McConnell isn’t interested in running a national referendum that says elect Republicans, and in January we seal the border, we reform law enforcement to go after criminals, not Republicans, and we end the war on America’s children. No. What he wants to do is hand-pick candidates that he thinks will like Mitch, and Mitch will like them. And if that means we have 48 seats or we have 49 seats, so be it.”
He continued by arguing that the GOP’s failure to capitalize on the Democrats’ disastrous policymaking is “the greatest self-inflicted wound we have ever seen,” and that if Republicans simply went out every day and promised to reverse the Democrats’ policies on illegal migration and on crime, among other issues, they’d easily come out on top.
“If Republicans went out every day and said … if you elect a Republican majority, we will go in in January, and we will take the first funding bill, and we will attach to it a requirement the border be shut and a requirement that the FBI stop attacking their opponents and start locking up and breaking apart organized crime in America … you will win a landslide like you have never seen before,” he said.
“But nobody wants to step up and even make that promise,” the exasperated former Trump administration official added.
Part of the problem, he continued, is that too many Republicans have been drinking pollster Frank Luntz’s Kool-Aid.
During his days as a congressional staffer, Miller explained, he used to attend “these presentations” by Luntz on how Republicans can win.
“So what they do is they sit you down and they say, well, we ran a [poll], and it says that controlling wasteful Washington spending polls at 95 percent, to which I would say, you know what else polls at 95 percent? I like cotton candy. I think airplanes are really neat and super cool,” he said.
“None of that gets anybody elected. What gets people elected is pushing messages where there’s nowhere to hide: I’m for putting violent criminals behind bars, I’m for deporting illegal aliens, and you’re not, so I win, and you lose. That’s how you win elections.”
Especially against a party, the Democrat Party, that seemingly has no clue.
According to Fox News journalist Peter Doocy, their midterm election strategy is to argue that President Joe Biden is the greatest thing since sliced bread.
“They’re going to argue that in under two years, President Biden is already on a shortlist of all-time great leaders,” Doocy revealed Thursday on Fox News’s “Special Report.”
Listen:
That’s a helluva strategy, especially for a president whose approval rating has been stuck in the lower 40s and upper 30s for months now …
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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