You Know It’s Bad When The GOP’s Own Messaging Goes Defeatist

I’ve been rich, and I’ve been poor, and believe me, rich is better   Sophie Tucker

No, this is not another pie-in-the-sky, exuberant article about Biden’s solid chances on November 3rd. I know when to take a break. What I am going to do tonight is to give you three direct quotes from various incumbent GOP Senators within the last 96 hours, and then show in simple common sense why what they said id so damaging to the Republican party going into November 3rd. These are all true, and you can Google them up if you like.

Just about 4 days ago, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who is not up in this cycle, gave an interview. In that interview he said that he could envision a scenario in which Trump won reelection, The GOP held the Senate, and regained the House. Yeah, and I want to marry a girl in ruby slippers, but that ain’t going to happen either. But in the next breath, Cruz went on to say, But I can also just as easily envision a scenario in which we lose the White House, as well as the Senate, in a bloodbath similar to Watergate. Cruz was speaking about the 1974 midterms, coming only about 2 months after Nixon’s resignation, where the party suffered a crushing defeat.

I have already commented on Senate Judiciary Chair Leningrad Lindsey Graham’s thinly veiled plea for campaign kaboodle in the middle of a SCOTUS nomination hearing. But he did himself one better. Today, again in front of cameras recording the event for posterity said something akin to, Look. it is becoming apparent that we might lose the White House in November. To which Democratic Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein immediately replied, Thank you for saying so, Mr. Chairman. Graham is in the fight of his life in South Carolina against Democratic challenger Jaime Harrison.

And today, GOP incumbent Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska, who is not up for reelection this year, totally went off on Trump , in an interview. He hammered him for his treatment of women, his lying, his botching of the coronavirus, and just about everything else he could think of to get off of his chest. Like Cruz, he ended his rant by saying that he foresaw an absolute GOP bloodbath in November.

Look, I’m not talking about Biden’s campaign, or the polling numbers, or anything else. But I’ve been following this shit for a long time now, decades, and is there’s one thing I learned long ago, it’s that a party always wants to present a positive, unified front publicly going into an election.

After the disastrous convention debacle of 1968, the Democrats continued to promise a Humphrey victory over Nixon in November. Even when it was apparent that Mondale would be lucky to carry his home state of Minnesota to avoid an electoral whitewash to Reagan, the Democrats put forward a positive face. The same thing with the GOP in 1996, when Dole was roadkill for a popular Clinton, as well as McCain ion 2008, and Romney in 2012. You never stop presenting a positive image.

And yet here, in 2020, within the space of 96 hours, you have three sitting, incumbent GOP Senators, publicly making dire predictions for the probable outcome of the 2020 election. This is like a fertility doctor telling his patient and her spouse, Well, we’re gonna give it a shot, but I’ve got to be honest with you, a turkey baster isn’t normally the most effective form of fertilization.

Now, there are two possible schools of thought here. The one that the GOP would like everybody to use is that these Senators are sounding the alarm, and putting out a clear clarion call for their voters to show up at the polls to stave off an almost certain electoral disaster. That’s quite possible, but it admits on face that your party is getting its ass kicked, and it has to be all hands on deck. That’s one way of looking at it.

But here’s another one, and a more real world way of looking at it. Trump has been a national nightmare. He has received almost nothing but unrelenting negative press for the last 4 years now. Casual Trump supporters have been long gone since 2018, and even hard core Trump supporters are starting to show the wear and tear of continuing to support him. Hearing from 3 sitting incumbent GOP Senators, two of which don’t even have to worry about reelection in this cycle, that the situation is catastrophic, may well in fact have the effect of taking borderline supporters of Trump, and convincing them to just stay home on election day, rather than wasting time on a lost cause.

Now look, I have no clue as to the motivations of any of these Senators. Maybe Leningrad Lindsey is just trying to scarify the residents of South Carolina into reelecting him. And maybe Cruz and Sasse, both with higher ambitions, are looking to elevate their profiles for a 2024 Presidential run, regardless of who wins in 2020. But in an administration that has reveled in shattering norms, they have shattered one I never thought I would see. I never thought that I would see sitting members of the Senate, of a party which controls two of the three political branches of government, throw up their hands and toss in the towel. This should be interesting.

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