Weekly Opinion Editorial
MASS COMMUNICATING!
by Steve Fair
Last week, the Republican National Committee held a Midterm convention in Dallas. Unlike the quadrennial nominating convention where the president and vice president nominees are selected, no official GOP Party business was conducted. A Midterm convention for Republicans is nothing more than political theatre.
The Democrats have held three midterm conventions- in 1974, 1978, and 1982. They used the midterm conventions to debate Party rules and their platform. The GOP convention in Dallas was an attempt by President Trump to 'get the vote out' for the upcoming November midterms. Three observations:
First, the Republican Party is fractured. The Grand Ole Party has deep internal strife between the MAGA base and the non-MAGA minority. Some Republicans disagree with President Trump's military action in Iran, his policy on tariffs, and immigration and that disagreement is considered treason by the MAGA crowd. The MAGA crowd requires complete and mandatory agreement with the president's actions. They insult and put down anyone who presents a critical assessment of Trump's deeds, labeling them RINOS (Republicans in Name Only). That presents a problem when you need RINOS to win. If Republicans continue to work against each other instead of together, expect the GOP to lose big in November.
Second, Trump appealed primarily to his base. "Pretend that I'm on the ballot. Just one more time," the president exhorted the Dallas crowd. While the president is term limited and isn't on the midterm ballot, his policies clearly are. According to the Economist, Trump's approval rating among college-educated Americans has fallen sharply in recent weeks- from 34% to less than 30%. Those are usually Republican voters, so pretending Trump is on the ballot with that demographic is probably not a sound campaign strategy.
Third, Trump's coattails could turn out to be a drag. Candidates running in down ticket races often benefit or are harmed by those at the top of the ticket. Nationally, that may not be the case this year. Here in conservative Oklahoma, candidates latch themselves to Trump like a horse to a buggy. Candidate's mailers, TV ads and social media proclaim how much more Trump they are than their opponent. But that may not work even in the Sooner state in a general election when the voters tend to not as conservative. Those pesky moderate Rs might not vote for a Democrat, but they a race blank.
Republican candidates in Oklahoma are expected to cruise to victory in November, but that is likely not the case nationwide. In many states congressional races are considered toss-ups and many political prognosticators are predicting a bloodbath for Republicans in November.
No one fires up their base like Donald Trump, but he is going to need more than just the base to retain the U.S. House. He needs the RINOs, Americans for No Prosperity, Globalists Club for No Group and many other voter groups he has insulted to triumph in November.
The RNC would have been better served spending their money on local get out the vote efforts in close congressional district races than staging a 3-day rally preaching to the choir.
But the president calls the shots at the Republican National Committee and Trump subscribes to Pappy O'Daniel's philosophy: "We ain't one-at-a-timin' here. We're MASS communicating!" Big rallies and lots of boring speeches may impress those already planning to vote Red in November, but swing voters are better reached one-at-a-timing.
Voter Engagement is more effective ONE AT A TIME!Click the headline to read this full article, Voter Engagement is more effective ONE AT A TIME!, at FAIR AND BIASED
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