It’s pretty much the entire game plan for Republicans. Fear of Democratic Socialism. With many analysts predicting the House will be captured by the Democrats, the specter of socialism is the last-gasp stratagem in the effort to forestall a political sea change that could also tip control of the Senate.
Ilhan Omar, Abdul El-Sayed, the flim-flam Minnesota Somalis. These are the fear inducers; horrors the GOP hopes will block a leftist apocalypse. Mamdani too, securely elected, having supplanted Bernie Sanders as the grand poohbah of Marxist aspirations.
AOC—a Medusa looking to turn the living organism of American capitalism into an antiquated stone. Senate candidate James Talarico, decrying meat as murder… in Texas? Scraping the bottom of the barrel we find Alaska Democrat Senate hopeful Dan J. Sullivan, running unaffiliated alongside moderate Democrat Mary Peltola on the name he shares with incumbent Republican Senator Dan Sullivan, allegedly planted as ballot-doppelganger to scare-up a wheel of confusion.
Every midterm, and every presidential election, there’s a warning: this is the most important of our lifetimes. It behooves all candidates to stress the dire consequences if the opposing party takes control. Rationality cautions that Democratic control of Congress will not turn the United States into a globalized Cuba. Even if every “socialist” wins on November 3rd, we’re still a politically moderate country, years away from the leftist totalitarianism the GOP’s warning about.
But inroads are inroads, and positions of power contain power. With Democrats edging out Republicans in Congressional polls (the veracity is in question for both parties), a dread about the potential subsummation of sensible Republicanism, not to mention President Trump’s vision, mission, and efficacy, is afoot.
With Trump barnstorming red, purple, and blue states under the banner: “Pretend I’m on the ballot,” the predictions marketplace runs a gamut from Clinton strategist James Carville’s evocation of a blue wave “shellacking” to 1994 takeover artist Newt Gingrich’s cautiously, nauseous optimism.
Nobody really knows.
Trump avers that the political downside—fuel costs and the resultant rise in everything tied to fuel—never once impacted his decision-making process with regards to confronting Iran and the terror network operating as Iranian proxies. “Pretend he’s on the ballot and suck it up.” might serve as the core message coming out of the White House. Complicating Trump’s message is his campaign pledge to avoid getting involved in foreign, specifically Middle Eastern, wars.
Will enough voters across the spectrum forgive that broken promise?
Across conservative media, a monster has been unearthed in the form of the DSA. Should this centralized creature attain power, say the MAGA and affiliated voices, the gas uptick will seem like chump change.