Tag Archive: Republican Party

Nikki Haley is losing to Trump but helping Democrats

Written on February 23, 2024 by in Democratic Messaging, Republican Messaging

Nimrata “Nikki” Haley, taking on Trump

Nimrata “Nikki” Haley lags far behind Donald Trump for the 2024 Republican Party presidential nomination. In terms of state primaries and caucuses, while it’s still very early, Trump has won both the Iowa caucus and the New Hampshire primary, the first time that a Republican candidate has swept both contests since these states began leading the election calendar in 1976. In Nevada, things got weird with both a primary (pursuant to state law) and a caucus, because state Republicans wanted one just for Trump. There, Haley ran only in the primary and lost to “None of these Candidates.” Trump ran only in the caucus and won all the Nevada delegates, bringing his total thus far to 63 delegates compared to Haley’s 17.

As for the polls, Haley now trails Trump by as much as 60 points in the aggregate. Even in Haley’s home state of South Carolina, where the primary is being held tomorrow (February 24), she is approximately 30 points behind Trump in the polls. It seems that today’s Republican Party is indeed a Trump cult.

It appears, therefore, that Haley has only one slim chance to defeat Trump: he would have to withdraw either for legal or medical reasons. However, Haley says that, even after a likely defeat in South Carolina tomorrow, she has no plans to quit the presidential race, and wants to fight on at least through Super Tuesday, March 5, when some 15 states (plus American Samoa) hold their Republican presidential nomination contests. For that, Democrats should be very grateful, because Haley has been hammering Trump on the campaign trail. Check out some of Haley’s attacks on Trump after the page jump:

Continue Reading »

0 Comments - Leave a comment!

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

President Biden scores decisive New Hampshire Democratic primary write-in victory

Written on January 25, 2024 by in Democratic Messaging, Republican Messaging

President Joe Biden, on a primary roll

With some votes still left to be counted, President Joe Biden won the New Hampshire 2024 Democratic presidential primary this past Tuesday without even having his name on the ballot. Biden captured 64 percent of the vote, with a margin of victory of approximately 45 percent over the second-place finisher. What is really remarkable is that all of President Biden’s votes were write-ins. That’s because, as we indicated a few weeks ago, at the urging of President Biden and his campaign, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) voted to request New Hampshire and Iowa to move their primary and caucus, respectively, to a later date, after that of South Carolina (which holds its Democratic primary on February 3), in order to “increase diversity” early in the process. However, while Iowa agreed to move its Democratic caucus to March 5, New Hampshire refused to do so. As a result, President Biden did not place his name on the ballot for the New Hampshire primary, thus only write-in votes would count for Biden.

Normally, there would have been approximately 33 Democratic delegates at stake in New Hampshire. However, due to the dispute with the DNC, no Democratic delegates will be allocated to any candidate in this year’s Granite State primary. As for the remaining states, it will take roughly 1,965-1,970 delegates (different sources give slightly different numbers) to win the Democratic presidential nomination this year.

Continue Reading »

0 Comments - Leave a comment!

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Today’s Snark: Vivek Ramaswamy hit by the truth

Written on September 8, 2023 by in Republican Messaging, Today's Snark

Last Sunday, Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy was delivering a stump speech in New Hampshire in front of a large sign with the word “TRUTH” written on it. Perhaps due to a gust of political hot air, the sign fell over on Ramaswamy. Yes, Vivek was hit with the Truth. No doubt, the Truth hurt.

In this case, the truth is that Ramaswamy has no chance to win the 2024 Republican Party presidential nomination. Vivek is merely the flavor of the month, similar to Herman Cain (remember him?) in the 2012 Republican presidential nomination contest. Indeed, it appears that Ramaswamy’s poll numbers peaked on August 25, after two days in the spotlight following his annoying Republican debate performance. Accordingly, Vivek is really the flavor of last month, and, like that “Truth” sign, is likely tumbling down as we speak.

0 Comments - Leave a comment!

Tags: , , , ,

Republican debate preview: will Chris Christie take down Trump?

Written on August 15, 2023 by in Uncategorized

Chris Christie campaigning in Iowa in 2016

Next Wednesday, August 23, the Republican National Committee (RNC) of the Republican Party will host its first 2024 presidential primary debate, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. To qualify for the debate, candidates need to meet three requirements:

–First, candidates must attract at least 40,000 unique donors, with at least 200 unique donors per state. Less popular GOP candidates have used gift card offers, concert tickets and more to reach the threshold.

–Second, candidates must score at least 1% in three national polls that meet the RNC’s requirements, or at least 1% in two national polls and in two polls from separate early voting states.

–Finally, candidates must sign the RNC’s pledge to back the eventual Republican nominee, no matter who wins the primary.

Continue Reading »

0 Comments - Leave a comment!

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Ron DeSantis is crashing: does that help or hurt Democrats?

Written on April 21, 2023 by in Democratic Messaging, Democratic vs. Republican Presidents

Ron DeSantis (center), riding higher in 2021

Florida Governor and would-be 2024 Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis has had a very bad week. First, on Monday, DeSantis continued his war against The Walt Disney Company, threatening to build a state prison or competing theme park next to Walt Disney World. Thus far, DeSantis has been on the losing end of his fight against the very well-lawyered Disney, which began when the gay-friendly Disney criticized DeSantis’ new “Don’t Say Gay” law. And this latest statement by DeSantis seems petty, as well as possibly unconstitutional.

Then, on Tuesday, DeSantis traveled to Washington, D.C. to gain support from Republican members of Congress for his all-but-announced presidential campaign. But instead, three Florida Congressmen took the opportunity to endorse DeSantis’ main rival, Donald Trump. Moreover, in one especially embarrassing instance, Rep. Lance Gooden of Texas literally walked out of a meeting with DeSantis and announced that he is endorsing Trump for President.

Given that DeSantis and Trump are the two clear front-runners for the Republican presidential nomination (with Trump ahead and gaining in the polls), there is little doubt that DeSantis’ troubles benefit Trump. Indeed, Trump piled on DeSantis on Tuesday by attacking his incompetence in the Disney matter, writing, with either typical name-calling or a typical Trump spelling mistake, “DeSanctus is being absolutely destroyed by Disney.”

The question is, do these DeSantis failures help or hurt the Democrats for the 2024 presidential election?

Continue Reading »

0 Comments - Leave a comment!

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Florida and the myth of Republican “smaller government”

Written on March 16, 2023 by in Good Government, Republican Messaging, Republican Myths

Republican idea of smaller government

At least since the days of Ronald Reagan, the Republican Party has tried to brand itself as the party of “smaller government.” Sometimes they add “and lower taxes.” Indeed, Republican anti-tax activist and Reagan ally Grover Norquist once famously stated that:

I don’t want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub.

Presumably, such an identification tests well among GOP faithful, including today’s MAGA base, who sadly vote against their own self-interests based on race-baiting and other cultural hot-buttons such as abortion and guns. As an initial matter, however, plenty of polls indicate that most Americans don’t want small government. Rather, they like a full-size, robust “good government,” as we like to call it. That includes, for example, Social Security, Medicare, good highways, public schools, the U.S. Postal Service, a competent FEMA to assist with major emergencies such as hurricanes, universal background checks for gun sales, and more. Likewise, most Americans oppose federal government shutdowns, and correctly blame Republicans when they occur.

But even if most Americans wanted smaller government, the Republican myth that they are the ones who deliver that is false. A perfect case in point is Florida, which is almost entirely Republican-run under Governor (and likely 2024 GOP presidential candidate) Ron DeSantis, along with a state Senate that is 70 percent Republican and a state House that is similarly 71 percent GOP. In Florida, far from the Republican myth of “smaller government,” the GOP state government is huge and extremely intrusive. Here are some examples:

Continue Reading »

0 Comments - Leave a comment!

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Republican Repetition and the “Fargo” TruCoat scene

Written on November 19, 2021 by in Democratic Messaging, Messaging Maxims, Republican Messaging

Republicans sell politics like selling cars

In one of the early scenes in the Coen Brothers’ 1996 film “Fargo,” car salesman (and central figure) Jerry Lundegaard has an exchange with an irate customer and his wife about the unwanted installation of TruCoat on the car they ordered. Here’s part of the exchange, the video for which is linked above:

CUSTOMER
We sat here right in this room and went over this and over this!

JERRY
Yah, but that TruCoat –

CUSTOMER
I sat right here and said I didn’t want no TruCoat!

JERRY
Yah, but I’m sayin’, that TruCoat, you don’t get it and you get oxidization problems. It’ll cost you a heck of lot more’n five hunnert –

CUSTOMER
You’re sittin’ here, you’re talkin’ in circles! You’re talkin’ like we didn’t go over this already!

JERRY
Yah, but this TruCoat –

Not surprisingly, as the scene ends, the salesman has worn down the customer by sticking to and repeating his agenda, and the customer grudgingly pays for something he did not want. This sales tactic is very similar to the Republican Party’s successful use of repetition in the political arena to get what they want, even when most of us do not agree with it.

Continue Reading »

0 Comments - Leave a comment!

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Push back on right wing narratives with your own

Written on December 4, 2020 by in Democratic Messaging, Fox "News" Watch, Good Government, Republican Messaging

COVID precautions are one area of competing political narratives

Republicans, with the help of Fox “News” and the Trump administration, are very good at creating and repeating political narratives. Here are a few that you will hear, in one form or another, over and over again:

–Government Bad/Corporations Good

–California and New York Bad

–Unions Bad (except Police unions)

–Scary Brown People (subsets include Blacks = “Thugs,” Hispanics = “Illegals,” Muslims = “Terrorists”)

–Oil Good/Clean Energy Bad

–“You’re on your own”

Moreover, Republicans love to be the aggressors and bring up these narratives all the time, whether at the dinner table, the supermarket aisle or elsewhere. So what to do when Republicans voice their Fox right wing narratives? Well, Republicans shouldn’t have all the fun. We should respond to their right wing narratives with our own narratives.

Continue Reading »

0 Comments - Leave a comment!

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

President Barack Obama is making Donald Trump look really bad

Written on May 21, 2020 by in Democratic Messaging, Democratic vs. Republican Presidents

Last weekend, President Barack Obama gave a pair of stunning speeches by video to this spring’s high school and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) graduates, respectively. The speeches were full of all of the things so many voters love about President Obama, especially his intelligence, empathy and Democratic themes of positivity and progress. Likewise, Obama touched upon the theme of empowerment for which he is known, telling the graduates that they need to vote and otherwise be involved in their communities and society in order to create the positive changes they desire. What may have been most jarring to Americans and others around the world was the contrast between President Obama’s intelligent, articulate, positive and unifying speeches, and the very different kinds of remarks that Donald Trump has been making. Below is the video of President Obama’s speech to the high school graduates:

Continue Reading »

0 Comments - Leave a comment!

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Would Republicans vote for a Democratic House majority?

Written on October 23, 2018 by in Democratic Messaging, Democratic vs. Republican Presidents, Republican Messaging

“Stand on Every Corner” protest, St. Paul, MN

This year, several prominent Republicans have either left the Republican Party altogether, or at least have called for fellow Republicans to vote for Democratic candidates in this year’s midterm elections. In June, conservative columnist George Will called for Republicans to vote Democratic this November, primarily to punish Congressional Republicans for not exercising their constitutional powers to stand up to Donald Trump. At about the same time, longtime Republican strategist Steve Schmidt announced that he was leaving the GOP, citing the Trump administration’s cruel family separation policy. Schmidt was followed earlier this month by former U.S. Congressman David Jolly of Florida, who announced that he and his wife have left the GOP. And Republican pundit William Kristol heavily criticizes Donald Trump and seems to be implicitly cheerleading the Democrats in the upcoming elections, with tweets such as:

There are more examples of Republican defections to varying degrees. So the question is, can and should Democrats realistically call upon Republicans to vote for Democratic candidates, at least for their U.S. House Representative, in the midterm elections?

Continue Reading »

0 Comments - Leave a comment!

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

« Older Posts