Josh is right:
A lot of the energy behind the “cynical Dems behind MAGA crazies” storyline is driven by pundits who feel very, very off balance needing to say constantly that the GOP is now a sectarian revanchist party thats a threat to democracy over&over because it remains true. Again & gain.
This more or less non-story is like a pressure valve for the built up angst of bothsides journos who’ve been desperate for something to work with for months. For those who don’t like it, I respect the opinion. But I’d add these four points. First of all, in some cases where Dems were allegedly boosting MAGAs its not even true. PA Gov is a good example of this. Where this has happened is in a number of House contests, run from out of the DCCC. Second, let’s be clear what this “boosting” or “running ads for” actually means.
In every case it’s involved the DCCC running ads that say some version of, ‘This person is terrible. They’re totally loyal to Trump and want to overthrow the constitution.’ And that, we’re told, makes them irresistible to GOP voters. That makes it fairly clear where the problem is. They’re not funneling money to GOPs or running sham campaigns to advantage Trumpers. They’re IDing them. Third, have great respect for Peter Meijers vote to impeach President Trump. A very honorable decision. But he is still a vote for Kevin McCarthy to be Speaker.
He is still a vote for the GOP which is currently the party of the Big Lie and the party of Trump. That is reality. That one decision doesn’t change that. If you oppose the Big Lie and oppose the revanchist authoritarianism of Trumpism right now that means keeping Republicans out of power. That’s not cynical or “pathetic grab for some evanescent political advantage”, as this frivolous bellowing puts it. That is looking closely at what is actually happening.
The contrary argument would be, ‘How are pro-democracy Republicans supposed to reclaim the GOP if they can’t get nominated.’ This puts the whole matter in the proper relief. Democrats must not only win every election because the GOP has turned agst democracy itself.
They’re also responsible for cultivating and protecting the handful of Not Always Trump Republicans who do things like voting to impeach the President when he leads a violent assault on the Capitol to stay in office in defiance of the constitution and American people.
All of which is to say that Democrats are not only responsible for protecting the republic from Republicans. They’re also responsible for repairing a GOP that doesn’t want to be repaired. Has anyone asked why the NRCC or RNC or any other org wasn’t spending more aggressively to defend Meijer? It simply asks too much. Fourth, the goal of people who run campaigns is to win them. In a handful of House races, Democrats decided they stood a better shot against a Loud Big Lie supporter than a Quieter one. They’re almost certainly right.
They’re entitled to make that call without worrying what tsk tsking WaPo columnists or Republicans working to put the Trump GOP back in power have to say about it.
Originally tweeted by Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) on August 4, 2022.
Thank you.