In 1922, George Bernard Shaw once described Archibald Philip Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, and prime minister for a brief time, as a man who “never missed an occasion of losing an opportunity”. Could the same be said of today’s Republican Party? And I say this as a longtime Republican.
Once again, the Democrats have offered victory to Republicans on a silver platter. The Democrats have become the party of Che Guevara. Lefty politics can only produce Venezuela and social and economic ruin. But the Republicans are plagued by Trump and his coterie of followers. With Democrats wreaking havoc on our way of life and heaping dishonor on our country’s reputation (the Afghanistan bugout), you’d think that the country is ready for the adults, the GOP, but the public may not be so disposed for another four years of R-rated presidential behavior and chaotic, impulsive policy making on the fly, and the bullying of serial insults from the office once held by Ronald Reagan, George Washington, and Abraham Lincoln.
Guess who? Hint: Mar-a-Lago.
The silver platter is born out in polls. Biden is in the dumps in a recent New York Times poll. His countrywide approval rating stands at 33%. His standing within his party isn’t much better. 94% of the party’s 30 and under youth base want somebody else to lead the party along with 64% of everyone registered “D”. Three-quarters of independents disapprove of Biden’s job performance and right/wrong track numbers show 75% wrong, 13% right. It’s a disaster for the AOC’s of the world, except for the possible return of Donald Trump.
Biden is hardly palatable in his own party but in a face-to-face matchup with Trump, he bests Trump 44 to 41 combining all registered voters. Sure, the polls have been extremely problematic: it’s “registered” voters, not voting voters; tech changes have empowered the public to not be bothered by the pollsters; and the polling organizations haven’t come to grips with an electorate that is deeply suspicious of them, their workers, and media allies. But still, they measure an overwhelming displeasure with Biden and the D’s in general. Why wouldn’t they be within the ballpark on Trump?
I suspect that 2016 should have been a comfortable win for the GOP after eight years of the sanctimonious and lefty Obama. Heck, he messed up everyone’s health care. And Hillary comes off as Marie Antoinette. Yet, by any measure, Trump turned “comfortable” into a nail-biter. Four years later, we got another one only with Trump on the losing end. Do we as Republicans want the party of Che to have another bite at the apple in 2022 and 2024?
What Trump the candidate has done to the party’s fortunes, he’s trying to accomplish with his endorsements this time around. He’s saddled the party with Senate candidates who have the surprising ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory (Oz in Penn., Vance in Ohio, etc.). Like his own campaigns, shoe-ins become tossups, all of it occurring at a very propitious time for the GOP. We might be left with desperate prayers, crossed fingers, and magical incantations to avoid a Schumer-controlled Senate eliminating the filibuster, packing the Supreme Court, concocting four new Democrat senators from two new Democrat state-fiefdoms, and the Soviet-style central planning of the Green New Deal. Manchin and Sinema may not be in a position to save us.
I’m daily praying for Trump to enjoy his family, great golf, and further business success in retirement.
RogerG