It's half time in the political convention game with the Democrats concluding their convention last week and Republicans readying to start tomorrow. So what's the state of the race? First, keep in mind that the polls will tighten as we get into the first week of October and we haven't had any of the debates yet, meaning that we still have a ways to go.
With that in mind, the respective interviews with Trump Campaign Senior Advisor Jason Miller and fmr. South Bend, Indiana mayor Pete Buttegieg were instructive. The Democratic convention focused on character and the Covid crisis and was light on policy, in which Mr. Miller described it as a 'massive grievance fest,' and explained that the Republicans will present a completely different notion of what a Trump voter is from what is presented in the media. He also said that the convention will focus more on policy and their vision for the future, finishing that they would be telling a 'very beautiful story.'
The balloon that Mr. Miller was trying to blow up had already been burst at the top of the interview with Chuck Todd reminding him that 30 million people are receiving unemployment and that we're approaching 180,000 Americans dead from Covid-19. For politics and convention watchers alike it will be interesting to see how the Trump campaign addresses the pandemic because it cannot talk about the way Mr. Trump has been, painting a rosy picture when the reality on the ground is much different.
Chuck Todd didn't ask Mr. Miller about Qanon, but he did ask about the audio recordings of the president's sister and former federal judge MaryAnne Trump explaining how the president lies all the time and has no principles. He did say it was 'shameful' that The Washington Post released the recordings a day after the president's brother had been laid to rest, but we would call it 'hardcore' instead. Ultimately, these recordings will matter little as they only reinforce what everyone... yes, everyone already knows, and it doesn't matter to Mr. Trump's base.
Conversely, to the legitimate point that the Democrats were light on policy, Mr. Buttegieg explained that it was a matter of detailing the policy plans that the Democrats put forth last week, but whether or not you want this policy vision for the country. (Mayor Pete does have a way of cutting through the clutter.) More importantly, where the fmr. Vice President Biden did give detail was in his policy for combating the pandemic. To this, Mr. Buttegieg said that as long as Donald Trump is president we will not have a national strategy or leadership on this crisis. One has to agree with this point, simply for the fact that if the Trump Administration had a national strategy, they would have already instituted it.
Yet, the president tells us that the only thing that stands between the American dream and totally anarchy, madness and chaos is him. Spare us this very rare exception in this column, but that is total f**king bullshit. The dystopia that Trump describes is happening under his leadership.
And this brings us back around to something that Mr. Miller said: We'll present a different notion of the Trump voter... The Trump voter, not the Republican voter. The Wall Street Journal's senior editor Gerald Seib wrote a book about this evolution of the party from Reagan to Trump and how it's moved in a populist/ nationalist direction.
Former Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (R) said that Mr. Trump's policies have been solidly conservative citing the massive tax cut and stance on abortion as a few examples. But not on deficit spending, trade, Russia, and the country's role in the world, Mr. Seib explained and posed the question of whether Trump's Republican party is aberration or not, depending on whether he wins reelection or not.
We'd disagree with Mr. Seib as to whether it's a aberration or not because win or lose, the Republican party as we've traditionally known it [read: Reagan or Bush] is done. If Trump wins reelection, the party is solidly rooted in Trumpism. If he loses, which most likely would put the Republicans in the minority in not only the executive branch but also in the House and Senate, leaves the Trumpist Republicans free of governing responsibility putting them firmly in grievance stance, a position in which Trumpism thrives.
Either way, the Republican party is changed forever.
Panel: Kristen Welker, NBC News; Gerald Seib, The Wall Street Journal; Scott Walker, fmr. governor of Wisconsin (R)
No comments:
Post a Comment