Republicans and Right-Wing Media Grasping for Straws
Not sure how to deny the good news of Biden's America, the search for new fronts in the cultural war is a 24/7 operation.
The economic news rising above the din is not just good, but it’s the kind of data most incumbent presidents would use to easily win a second term. My statement, however, while factual and backed up by American history, is also from a different era — one when the right in America was genuinely concerned with solving some of the nation’s problems.
It’s 2024, and the right in America cares nothing about making America better. Concern number one for the majority of Republicans and the nation’s conservatives is the attainment of power to make the country officially whiter — more Christian. Nothing else is problematic to them, and “problems” only appear on their radar when those issues can serve as fuel for their incessant fires of hate-filled lies.
The search for something that can serve as the next-great rallying cry for Republicans goes unabated. Trump launches trial balloons at his rallies of stupidity daily. Standing in the way as if to suggest he is listing to starboard, Trump, in his most Mussolini way, lets a balloon fly: “So, how about those electric cars? Biden wants to ban cars and make everyone ride in an electric one that looks like those LED light bulbs. You can only drive like 50 miles before you have to recharge. Is that freedom?”
“Noooooo,” the herd brays and kicks.
The transgender/former-boys-in-girls-sports call to action has lost some of its thrill. It’s like the Lightning Loops rollercoaster I used to ride at Great Adventure in Jackson, New Jersey, as a kid. The whole winter, we listened to the advertisements and slept restlessly, imagining zooming backward and upside-down, and then, after being paralyzed with fear the first three or four times, eventually, you figure it out. The fear resides, and the Lightning Loops remains a scary ride, but one no longer capable of making you lose sleep.
Something similar has happened to many of the “calling card issues” that Trump hoped to lie about to paint the picture that Biden is the worst president in our history. While still high, inflation is under control, and the effectiveness of Biden administration policies have become the example for most of the world on how to deal with this post-pandemic reality. Gas prices, which will go up a bit due to seasonal demand, have dropped considerably, and much of the air has been released from that balloon. Issue after issue is losing steam.
One of the most significant issues, border security, was hijacked when Democrats put forth a bipartisan proposal that everyone in the know praised. The simple and undisputable fact that Republicans in Congress voted against the bill remains, however, a major thorn in their side. They voted against the bill they claimed was the most important thing for helping Americans because Donald Trump said passing it would hurt his chances of being elected. This was a balloon that Trump let fly, and then he shot it down with a paperclip launched from a rubber band.
Right-wing communication professionals are trolling the waters. They are showing up at Friday night football games, pancake breakfasts, car washes, and any other place where they might be able to uncover some minuscule clash between left and right that can be turned into the next “Bakhmut” on the front of America’s ridiculous culture war. Thanks to their insistence that the federal government should have the last say over what a woman can do with her body, abortion was handed to Democrats as the kind of call to action Republicans haven’t had in decades. Without breaking a sweat, we will use this issue without ever being able to exhaust its source of power.
With the Ukrainian army on its heels thanks to the pro-Kremlin policies of the Republican Party, more issues are being wrapped up and left on our collective stoop. We will use this one, too. Marjorie Taylor Greene and the other Putinist from New York, Elyse Stafanik, tried to turn the murder of Laken Hope Riley into a national call to arms — “See, those illegal heathens are killing innocent Americans, and Democrats want to protect them!” Maybe that worked to get some heads nodding at the most recent Trump rally of stupid, but it hasn’t turned into an anti-abortion kind of issue yet.
Republicans are unrelenting, however, in turning non-issues into major issues. It’s hard to combat ignorance. It’s easy to get stupid people riled up with comments like, “Yo momma!” Remember when arguing as a kid? You might come up with the best, more creative crack, but all it took was one “yo momma!” and that was the one that got the crowd of 11-year-olds hooting and hollering. This is precisely what Trump and the right-wing do, and they are really good at it!
They distract and divide.
Will they come up with some really insanely stupid issue between now and election day? Yes, undoubtedly. We need to stick to our guns, keep beating the abortion drum, and do what is right, and victory will be ours in November.