And not in a good way. If you care about the future of the Republican Party you should listen to this presentation by Chris Hayes. You may not like what you hear but you should pay attention. In a nutshell, the GOP has two huge problems. Donald Trump and abortion. Both are toxic as far as elections are concerned but they keep doubling down.
GOP is Sick
Published
Tidewater News and Opinion Forum 
If you can’t win by the rules, change the rules.
My advice to the GOP is keep up the battle for abortion bans. It is a sure winner.
A judge just banned nationwide a drug used both for miscarriages and abortions. It has a better safety record over the decades than Viagra. It will die on appeal, but the Rubicon was crossed yet again. SC had almost 2 dozen legislators in the GOP sponsor a bill for the death penalty for women who aborted. Numerous states are working hard to restrict travel for abortion. These bills are really a sign on the door that says women need not move here. Doctors are afraid or restricted by healthcare lawyers from any abortion, even in egregious medical cases. They don’t need the danger of getting sued or arrested by second guessers.
But don’t let the GOP get discouraged, folks. Fight for those eggs so we can replace the children shot up in schools.
The strategy is to get some really egregious bills about every few months. Make sure that the House pass some national abortion ban. It has no way to pass, of course. But the base will love it.
Maybe before the primaries would be strategic to get the hard liners the nod for candidates.
I think I’ll switch parties so I can help.
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Tactically, I don’t disagree.
Regarding abortion, the problem is uncertainty. People don’t know how restrictive things might get.
If the Red States can find a consensus around 15 weeks as a threshold for restrictions, and get the bills passed, then the issue would be greatly diminished. What women fear is not knowing if there is going to be a total ban, which is unrealistic.
Regarding Trump, his negative adds against DeSantis will be his undoing. At his recent Oklahoma rally, the crowd was its normal, enthusiastic, cheering normal for his rallies, but went silent when he started attacking DeSantis. He should take the hint, but he won’t.
It’s early. The GOP can diffuse both of those issues. But I don’t have confidence that they will.
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Red states consensus at 15 weeks? Many states have 6 weeks, heartbeats, even severe defects of the fetus are not permissible. Only the actual life of the mother or maybe severe, life altering damage. Which, of course wouldn’t be known for sure until delivery in many cases. And these are already law.
This federal judge ruling on the pill was a huge heads up for women voters. It won’t hold, for now. But the threat is there and the fact that such a ruling was even on the table is a vote getter.
The anti-abortion folks have gone bonkers in their glee to control women. They literally cannot help themselves to see how far they can push the issue.
Wisconsin’s judicial election was an eye opener.
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“Regarding abortion, the problem is uncertainty”
Maybe in part, but the real problem is that women are not warm to the idea of theocrat legislators telling them that they are second class citizens whose most intimate and personal choices are subject to approval by the state and prosecution by the police.
The political problem for Democrats is to keep women fully aware of what is being done to them. But, as noted, the extremists running the GOP are making that much easier.
BTW, I think the idea that there is a consensus to be found around 15 weeks is just wishful thinking. SCOTUS found the right point 50 years ago – viability. And that comes later. Pro-life extremists who are calling the shots in the GOP will not agree on that, or on 15 weeks or on anything other than the moment of conception.
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https://www.wsj.com/articles/support-for-15-week-abortion-ban-outweighs-opposition-wsj-poll-finds-11648821601?st=zlqqlq0r27fgs95&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
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That was before Dobbs.
And the key finding was in the headline . . .
“Majority think abortion should be legal in most cases”
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I’m pretty sure Chris Hayes is wrong. After all, persuadable voters represent the margins of political action, not the core. It doesn’t make sense to diagnose the GOP as sick based on marginal voters.
I think most Americans sense that the U.S. has entered an end-of-empire phase and they have just begun to think about how to react and what to do about it. Hayes wants to co opt that mood and spin it as an end-of-GOP thing.
But, given Joe Biden’s unpopularity at present, Hayes is just gaslighting.
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“After all, persuadable voters represent the margins of political action”
With neither party commanding an outright majority the persuadable voters are where decisions are made. Alienate them and your electoral prospects are ruined. I think that is American Politics 101.
I also disagree that disgust with Trumpism and with religious zealots is some sort of “end-of- empire” angst. It is what it is – disgust with Trumpism and with religious zealots. And both Trump himself and the religious zealots seem to be going out of their way to alienate those persuadable voters.
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RE: “With neither party commanding an outright majority the persuadable voters are where decisions are made.”
Outcomes, maybe, but not “decisions.” For example, it is commonly said that close elections don’t deliver mandates.
RE: “I also disagree that disgust with Trumpism and with religious zealots is some sort of “end-of- empire” angst.”
Why do you disagree with things not said?
I offer America’s end-of-empire phase as an alternative explanation for voters’ mood and motives. Trump has nothing to do with it.
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“, it is commonly said that close elections don’t deliver mandates.”
Yet mandates are claimed consistently by winners of elections. And those who support those winners as well.
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