when one side demonizes a President they don’t like, that drives up participation of voters who flat don’t appreciate being called the vilest names by far-left socialist Democrats
I’ve been thinking…
It should be clear to you, if it weren’t already, that this mid-term election is in large measure a referendum on President Trump.
Yes, local issues matter and if they hold sway, the economy, improved job prospects, fewer regulations, a stronger better foreign policy, and resolve to confront illegal immigration, then Republicans should win going away.
Some people lament that President Trump is “the issue” with many people. But I am not one of them. I think his role may well be decisive for many Republicans winning this coming Tuesday.
I am also struck by his commitment to run hard in support of Republicans.
In 2001, then President Bush did next to nothing to help Mark Early in Virginia. The same was true with Jerry Kilgore in 2005. But Trump is out there working as hard as any Republican President I can recall in recent history.
In a fashion, it’s similar to what Harry Truman did in 1948. During his 33-day whistle-stop campaign across the nation on his train “The Ferdinand Magellan”, he campaigned hard against Republicans in Congress.
At one stop his VP running mate Al Barkley encouraged Truman “Mow ’em down, Harry”. Truman responded “I’m going to fight hard. I’m going to give ’em hell.”
Truman’s rhetoric was hard and biting, even by today’s standards. The Republican’s, he said had “stuck a pitchfork in the farmer’s back”. He said the other party was “deaf to the voice of the people” and “bloodsuckers”, a reference to the supporters of Republicans. He said, “These Republican gluttons of privilege are cold men”. (Kind of like what Democrats said of Justice Kavanaugh.) His strategy—as his biographer David McCullough has written—was “(A)ttack, attack, attack, carry the fight to the enemy’s camp.”
Sound familiar?
It turned out to be effective. So too President Trump is pointing to the obstructionism of Democrats in Congress and has been as hard hitting as Truman ever was, causing the snowflakes in the media great distress.
Combined with the Democrat’s awful tone and bitter hatred of the him, Trump is rallying his voters to get out next week in the same manner Truman did 70 years ago.
Whether that’s sufficient to overcome the so-called “blue wave” remains to be seen. In 1948, the press and the polls said Truman was headed for certain defeat.
But my guts tell me that when one side demonizes a President they don’t like, and then go on to also demonize his supporters, that drives up participation of voters—particularly like Trump ones—who flat don’t appreciate being called the vilest names by far-left socialist Democrats and their acolytes in the media…
Red wave coming?
Scott Lingamfelter is a former member of the House of Delegates and a retired colonel in the U.S. Army.
