For The GOP, The “Good Old Days” Of Branding The Democrats Are Over

I’ll be honest, I have no idea of what the straw-that-broke-the-camel’s- back moment was that made the Democrats finally sit up, look around, and decide that the time had come to finally punch the bully in the snoot. But I could sense it coming, something was just different.

I was born and raised in Chicago, and was lucky enough to be a rabid Bulls fan during their championship blitz. And many was the time when Bulls coach Phil Jackson would call a timeout with 2:12 left in the game, and the Bulls down by 7. They’d trudge to the bench with their heads down. Jackson let assistant coach John Bach set the offensive and defensive set, and then lean into the circle, hold his fist out, and quote Shakespeare, Cry havoc! And let slip the dogs of war. The Bulls walked back on the court looking like they owned the building, and every car in the lot. And 2:12 later, it was the Bulls by 5.

That’s what I saw in the eyes of the Democrats following Joe Biden’s election. Was it the pounding that the Democrats gave the GOP in 2018? I don’t know. Was it the record breaking turnout in 2020, and a 7 million popular vote victory? Again, I don’t know. But they set the tone early;

• In the days following the calling of the election, Biden was exuberant, as he should have been. He publicly snickered at Trump’s claims of Massive voter fraud, and called it an act of desperation
• Following Chuck Schumer being named Senate Majority Leader, Senate Minority Crybaby Mitch McConnell pulled a cheap parliamentary trick by refusing to turn over the committee chairs until Schumer promised to not touch the filibuster. Schumer went on Rachel Maddow’s show to laugh in McConnell’s face, and the next day he folded
• Biden insisted on negotiating with the GOP on major legislation, and time after time, gave just enough to force vulnerable GOP Senators to vote for the bills to save their own scalps at home
• Schumer and Manchin pulled off one of the sweetest double dips in history when Schumer came out and announced that the Inflation Reduction Act was dead in order to get the GOP to vote for the Chips Act, and a week later announced an agreement on a reconciliation bill to bypass the filibuster

And the hits just keep on coming. Biden is using his newfound popularity and the bully pulpit to brand the entire GOP as the far right MAGA GOP. And now Democratic combatants are picking up on it. And all of this without a peep in response from the GOP. They’re clearly punch drunk.

But here’s the McGuffin. The Democratic party, no matter how motivated, couldn’t do this alone. For all of those years of the GOP out messaging the Democrats, they could do it for one simple reason. They were a viable national political party, with plans, an agenda, and policy proposals. They could force the Democrats to fight on their turf. But the MAGA GOP has nothing but culture wars, and Stop the Steal! 

And now the pinnacle. At long last the GOP thought that they had a hill worth dying on when Biden announced his student loan forgiveness package. Angry Republicans took to the airwaves to call it a slap in the face to either Americans who didn’t go to college, or went to college and repaid their student loans. They called it a Far left socialist buyout. But the Democrats were already locked and loaded for them.

Y’all remember the PPP? That was a Covid lockdown program Biden rammed through that provided forgivable government loans to small businesses to help them stay solvent and pay their workers until things could get back to normal. But because it was rushed in order to make a difference, it was also rife with fraud, which the government is now busy clawing back.

Well, the Democrats spent the weekend going to the airwaves, and releasing a list of GOP lawmakers that had voted against the PPP, and after it was passed, sought and obtained PPP loans for their own small businesses, in some cases totalling hundreds of thousands of dollars. Talk about being hoist on your own petard.

And it should be no surprise. Earlier, the Democrats hammered away against GOP lawmakers who voted against the Infrastructure as an overpriced boondoggle, as well as GOP Governors who assailed it, only to, once the cash started flowing in, take credit for the economic miracle that was befalling their states! The Democrats called them out on that one too.

Let’s face it, for the GOP, the good old days of running rings around the Democrats on messaging are over. And for one simple reason. In order to hammer an opponent on messaging, you have to have an effective counter message, something that isn’t coming from the GOP anytime in the immediate future.