Tag: Republican Party

If Republicans Take Control of the House …

Buck Banks

“Look, back before we had all the crazies here, just some crazies. You know, every vote we took, we had to somehow defund Obamacare… That’s going to look like child’s play in terms of what Marjorie Taylor Greene is going to demand of Kevin McCarthy. They’re going to demand an impeachment vote on President Biden every week. They’re going to demand things like, you know, let’s make abortion illegal in all circumstances.”

— Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), in a CNN interview, on what will happen if Republicans take control of the House.

Democrats Have Worked Through the Stages of Their Grief — Now What?

Buck Banks

downloadIn “The Kübler-Ross Politics of 2017,” Amy Walter of the nonpartisan Cook Political Report sums up where both political parties stand now. Here’s a sample:

The shift in mood among Democrats over the last year has been as dramatic. It’s been a bit like watching someone work through the Kubler-Ross stages of grief. Democrats spent much of December of 2016 in a state of disbelief: Did that really happen? How did that happen? By early 2017 they had moved on to anger: Hillary ran a terrible campaign; Democrats had no message; the Obama coalition is unsustainable. By spring there was bargaining: We must not focus our attacks on Trump or his voters. We have to make peace with the white working class electorate who is anxious and angry and desperate for real change. Democratic leaders in Washington tamped down talk of impeachment and focused instead on “A Better Deal.”

Today, however, that reticence is gone. Democratic senators are openly calling for the President to resign over allegations of sexual harassment. Not one red state Democrat supported the GOP tax bill. The fear of Trump and his legions of establishment-hating voters has receded. Democrats are now living off the adrenaline and energy that comes with an awakening of their own base; a base that was disillusioned and dispirited in 2016. Anger is the most powerful GOTV force there is.

Republicans More Optimistic About Their Party

Buck Banks

79%

Of Republicans say they are very or somewhat optimistic about the future of the Republican Party, according to Pew Research. “In early November, on the eve of the election, 61% of Republicans expressed optimism about their party’s future. … Democrats’ optimism about their party’s future has declined by a comparable margin over the same period – though a majority (61%) continues to be optimistic. Before the election, 77% of Democrats were optimistic about the party’s future, which is almost identical to the share of Republicans who are upbeat about their party’s now.”

Democrats Have 5-to1 Advantage Over GOP in Ground Game

Buck Banks

5 to 1

Number of paid Democratic staffers versus the number of Republicans, according to an NBC News analysis of Federal Election Commission filings. “At the end of August, the most recent date for which data is available, Democrats employed at least 4,200 people working to elect Hillary Clinton, with about 800 at the Clinton campaign, 400 at the Democratic National Committee, and nearly 3,000 on the payrolls of state parties in 13 battleground states, which typically employ a majority of field organizers. … Republicans, meanwhile, employed about 880 people during the same period, with about 130 at the Donald Trump campaign, another 270 at the Republican National Committee, and roughly 480 at the 13 state parties.”

Is a Third Party Emerging?

Buck Banks

Listen to the early sounds of the 2016 presidential campaign, in which candidates of the left and the right sound almost identical populist, anti-Wall Street, antiestablishment themes, and the idea doesn’t seem so crazy. When you have Republican presidential contenders opposing free-trade agreements, and at least one backing an increase in the minimum wage; when Democratic firebrand Bernie Sanders (technically an independent to begin with) is speaking to overflow crowds; and when left and right come together to halt a prominent national-security program backed by the foreign-policy establishment—well, something is going on.

— Gerald Seib, in the Wall Street Journal (login required).