Erick Erickson sent out an email blast this morning entitled Will Republicans Blow It? It’s meant to entice recipients to subscribe, as it’s a teaser and a link to his radio show segment on the question, but what little he did write dovetails with my expectations:
I have a well-founded fear that I probably share with a lot of you. If history is the best indicator of future events, this fear may soon materialize. The fear is Republicans blowing it in November.
Sure, Democrats are in a bad spot. Inflation is surging and Biden can’t get anything accomplished. But in order for Republicans to have a chance at taking back both chambers, they need to nominate quality candidates who can win. We’re not seeing quality candidates in an alarming amount of races.
Nevermind the mischaracterization that Biden can’t accomplish anything, as that’s a running line in Republican propaganda with no connection to reality. The real point here is the lack of quality Republican candidates. As I’m a working dude, I can’t go out and evaluate candidates, so I’ll take Erickson’s more experienced view as good information, contingent on other views.
And, as long-time readers will know, this isn’t a surprising development. The Republicans who are, or were, quality people, who took governance seriously, have either left the Party, or have gone into hiding. Many are now independents or are even forming groups dedicated to defeating the Republicans.
Meanwhile, the outliers, the folks who cling to far-right positions such as sovereign citizens, the Democrats are communists, free market absolutism, all regulation is evil, corporate profits are more important than the environment, it’s the End Times, I’m a Prophet and God told me to run, etc.[1], are streaming into the Republican Party. Not just because they’re hungry for power, although that’s certainly true.
But because they can.
Nobody is kicking them out of the Party. The folks who enforced standards, such as the importance of rationality over bigotry, are gone.
Thirty years ago, candidates for the Senate might have included people with degrees in government, perhaps diplomats with extensive foreign or military experience. These days? Football star Herschel Walker, who is literally mentally ill, is considered the leading Republican candidate for the Senate seat that will be decided this November, now held by Senator Warnock (D-GA). Or consider Senator Tuberville (R-AL), a former college football coach with no experience in government.
This is the best they can do? Yes, the Republican Party is truly going down the tubes in the clutches of amateurs who spit upon experts and don’t understand the job doesn’t end when the general election is won.
And the sad part is the Democrats, through their hubris on various issues, may end up losing in November. If Biden doesn’t announce a nominee for Justice Breyer’s soon to be vacated seat before the term is over and Breyer rides off into the sunset, we may see another SCOTUS seat occupied by yet another third-rate Republican legal personality. I think I’ll barf if I have to see Senator McConnell (R-KY) preen once again over his dishonor.
1 I do not include the anti-vaxxers as there is significant resistance to vaccination all over the political spectrum.
