Make the Midterms About Biden
The Democrats certainly can’t run on Joe Biden’s record, which is why they’re doing everything they can to distract the American people from it.
Nothing animates the Republican base like Donald Trump. He’s the undisputed leader of the party, and he still packs ‘em in like a rock star.
Unfortunately, the former president also animates the Democrats’ base — which is why the party of Joe Biden has been desperately trying to put their guy in witness protection while keeping Trump in the headlines 24/7. Former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki admitted as much yesterday.
“Yeah, look,” said Psaki, who’s now an MSNBC talkinghead, “I think that Democrats, if the election is about who is the most extreme … then they’re going to win. If it is a referendum on the president, they will lose. And they know that.”
We agree with Psaki’s adroit analysis when it comes to Biden, but we’re sort of slack-jawed about that “most extreme” comment. After all, it’s not the Republicans who think men can get pregnant and women should be able to abort their babies up until the moment of birth. It’s not the Republicans who believe in open borders and unchecked illegal immigration. It’s not the Republicans who locked down our schools and businesses and think toddlers should be masked and vaccinated. It’s not the Republicans who preached “unity” while demonizing their political opponents as “semi-fascists” and “an extremist threat to our democracy.”
Psaki went on to reveal two other obvious problems for the Democrats: crime and the economy. “They also know that crime is a huge vulnerability for Democrats, I would say one of the biggest vulnerabilities. And if you look at Pennsylvania, for example, what’s been interesting to me is it’s always you follow the money, and where are people spending money. And in Pennsylvania, the Republicans have been spending millions of dollars on the air on crime ads against [John] Fetterman because that’s where they see his vulnerability. So yes, the economy is hanging over everything. But you do have to look at state-by-state factors, and crime is a huge issue in the Pennsylvania race.”
As for whether Trump is a drag on the Republicans’ chances of retaking the House and the Senate, that’s debatable. Yesterday, ABC’s George Stephanopoulos pointed to a new Washington Post/ABC News poll that poured cold water on the idea that Trump hurts the Republicans’ chances. “And if the 2024 race is again between Biden and Trump,” said Stephanopoulos, “48 percent of registered voters say they would support Trump while 46 percent would support Biden, a difference within the poll’s margin of error.”
In any case, what’s clear is that the Democrats can’t be honest about their policies — because they’re deeply unpopular. So, instead, they’ve been smearing, suing, and snooping on Le Bête Orange in the hope that enough voters will be fooled into forgetting about the calamity that is Joe Biden and foolishly pull a lever for the Democrats on November 8.
Between now and then, Republicans must focus the electorate exclusively on the miserable failures of the current administration. Everything else is just noise.
