‘THE HUNT’ CANCELED: “Universal Pictures on Saturday canceled plans to release ‘The Hunt’ — a thriller about a group of ‘globalist elites’ killing people for sport — after two recent mass shootings that left a total of 31 people dead in El Paso and in Dayton, Ohio,” The New York Times reports. According to Todd Starnes, the “grotesque film … depicted elitists hunting and slaughtering supporters of President Trump. … The script also explains that one of the characters was stalked and hunted like prey for being pro-life.”
dinky-WARREN CASHES IN: “Presidential contender Elizabeth dinky-Warren on Saturday unveiled her plan to combat gun violence, including proposals to triple the tax applied to firearm sales and raise the tax on ammunition even more dramatically.” (CNBC)
DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD: “As California Democrats try to keep President Trump off the state’s Republican primary ballot next year, Republicans in other states are pondering plans to cancel or modify their own 2020 presidential nominating contests and essentially affirm the party’s support for Mr. Trump before voters head to the polls.” (The Washington Times)
YEARNING FOR A RECESSION: “Comedian Bill Maher on Friday said he ‘really’ wished there was another economic recession, arguing such an event would ruin President Trump’s chances of winning reelection,” according to The Hill. Last December, our own Mark Alexander warned, “Caught in the Democrats’ political crossfire are tens of millions of American workers and their families whose jobs and income prospects will fall victim to the Demos’ politically induced recession — the direct result of having thrown economic confidence under the bus in order to attack Trump.”
Around the Nation
STRAIGHT PRIDE DENIED: “A Northern California city has denied a request to hold a so-called Straight Pride rally at a park. … City spokesman Thomas Reeves says the permit request was denied over safety concerns, because the group lost its liability insurance and the parks department determined the event wasn’t consistent with park use. However, Reeves says the city would allow the rally at a downtown plaza if the group proves it has insurance by Tuesday.” (Associated Press)
RAINBOW MAFIA: “A federal judge in Virginia ruled Friday in favor of a transgender former student, concluding that a school board’s transgender restroom ban was discriminatory. … [The former student] was forced to use the girl’s restroom or a private restroom and was prohibited from using the men’s room as a result of the school’s policy, despite the fact that he underwent chest reconstruction surgery and hormone therapy as part of his transition.” (Fox News)
VILLAGE ACADEMIC CURRICULUM: “A proposed ethnic-studies curriculum developed for California public high schools has ignited outrage over its shabby treatment of Jewish Americans and Israel, leading to fears that students could soon receive a crash course in anti-Semitism.” (The Washington Times)
ATTACK THWARTED: “A Las Vegas man who reportedly wanted to shoot up area synagogues and a gay bar has been charged in federal court for possessing bomb-making materials. Conor Climo, 23, a security guard, had allegedly been communicating with a violent white supremacist group called the Atomwaffen Division. According to the criminal complaint, Atomwaffen Division ‘encourages attacks on the federal government, including critical infrastructure, minorities, homosexuals, and Jews.’” (Washington Examiner)
Other Notables
HONG KONG TURBULENCE: “Hong Kong International Airport has canceled all remaining flight departures for the day after thousands of anti-government protesters flooded its terminals. … Monday marked the fourth straight day protesters have occupied the airport, one of the world’s busiest. … Protesters have been pressuring the Hong Kong government for the past 10 weeks to answer their five demands, which include formally withdrawing the now-suspended extradition bill that kick-started these demonstrations and establishing an independent commission to investigate police conduct in their handling of the protests.” (ABC News)
VIRTUE SIGNALING: “Two US gold medal winners could face sanctions after staging dramatic podium protests against US President Donald Trump at the Pan American Games in Lima. Gwen Berry stunned the crowd when she raised a clenched right fist and bowed her head as the US national anthem closed her gold medal ceremony for the women’s hammer. … On Friday, two-time Olympian fencer Race Imboden, 26, set the tone after ‘taking a knee’ as his team celebrated gold in the team foil event.” (Agence France-Presse)
Closing Arguments
POLICY: Ten questions parents should ask before school starts (Forbes)
POLICY: Seven reasons to oppose red-flag gun laws (Foundation for Economic Education)
SATIRE: To show support for gun control, Matt Damon remakes Jason Bourne series with bananas instead of firearms (The Babylon Bee)
~The Patriot Posthttps://patriotpost.us/articles/64782?mailing_id=4466&utm_medium=email&utm_source=pp.email.4466&utm_campaign=snapshot&utm_content=body
Tim Chapman - executive director of Heritage Action for America
{ politico.com } ~ As the Democratic presidential candidates gather to debate in Detroit this week, they have reason to be confident: At this moment in time, essentially any of them could beat President Donald Trump come November 2020.
Democrats are ahead in essentially every national poll. Trump trails all five of the Democrats’ leading White House contenders, and his numbers are even worse in some critical swing states like Pennsylvania. Meanwhile, the generic congressional ballot tilts even further to the left than it did on the eve of the 2018 midterms. If the 2020 elections were held today, voters—including many who have voted Republican often in the past—would likely hand Democrats the White House.
Why? Because 2020 is shaping up to be a referendum on the president’s personality—which is bad news for conservatives. If the election is all about Trump the person—as embodied in his ongoing fight with the so-called “Squad” of four far-left Democratic Congresswomen—the right will not likely have a large enough coalition to win.
The president has a unique ability to dominate news coverage. But to win in 2020, the central question of the 2020 campaign cannot be solely about who President Trump is; it must instead be about what President Trump and the GOP will do with four more years.
Right now, the Republican Party doesn’t have a strong enough response to that second question. But the answer does exist—if the GOP is willing to embrace it.
Over the past four months, Heritage Action, the organization I lead, conducted a series of highly detailed public opinion surveys in battleground states, swing districts and at the national level. Our goal was simple: To find out what issues currently motivate the coalition that elected Donald Trump and Republican congressional majorities in 2016, so that we can keep that coalition together and expand it while advancing the conservative ideals we hold dear.
We found that the GOP isn’t connecting the dots between its own innate conservative principles and voters’ preferences—which, our polling reveals, are more similar than many realize. And as a result, the crucial swing voters in the middle identify the Republican Party as the party of Trump and his outsized personality instead of the party of economic progress and cultural stability.
Our study also pointed to a way to unify Republican voters while drawing in independents, moderate Democrats, suburbanites and working-class swing voters with a strong conservative platform focused on four distinct areas: immigration, culture, the workforce and economic fairness.
On some of these issues, the GOP has a long road ahead to both develop workable policies and differentiate itself from Democrats. On other issues—including immigration—polling shows that President Trump and the broader party are headed in the right direction, but their approach could use some fine-tuning. But across the board, regardless of how much work needs to be done, we found that there are—or there can be—conservative policies that appeal to swing voters. And those proposals need to be as much a part of 2020 as Donald Trump, because if they aren’t, they both will likely lose.
To start, we asked voters what they considered the most important issue heading into the 2020 election. Unsurprisingly, the answers differed dramatically by party affiliation. About a third of Democrats are squarely focused on Donald Trump, compared to only 11 percent of independents and 2 percent of Republicans. On the other side, some 36 percent of Republicans saw immigration as the top issue, while 12 percent of independents and 5 percent of Democrats said the same thing.
Across every demographic group in our diverse group of battleground districts, immigration was identified as the single biggest issue. But the reasons voters gave for immigration’s importance weren’t what you’d expect—at least not if you listen to the way the issue is often discussed.
On the one hand, 83 percent of Republican voters said that “illegal immigration affects my life,” including strong majorities of working-class and suburban voters. Yet when asked what they considered to be illegal immigration’s biggest consequence, the most common answer wasn’t violence, job losses or cultural change; more than half said overuse of social services.
When you add in those respondents who answered “all of the above,” more than three-quarters of Republican voters were deeply concerned about illegal immigrants abusing our health care system, schools and welfare programs. Among independent voters, a plurality of 43 percent listed it as immigration’s biggest consequence which may explain why 72 percent of GOP voters and 54 percent of independents want legal immigrants to be admitted to the U.S. on the basis of merit or skills.
This is decidedly not how President Trump, conservative media pundits or GOP candidates talk about illegal immigration. By focusing on crime and job losses, the party and its leaders are making the least persuasive case for border security and immigration reform. As a result, Democrats feel little public pressure to compromise on the issue, even as their presidential candidates move aggressively leftward by promising the use of social services to illegal immigrants. If politics is a game of contrast, then the GOP can play it much better.
A similar lesson holds for cultural issues. When we drilled down, we found many examples where Republicans, independents and Democrats find common ground—and where the GOP can make major gains.
Take political correctness. More than 90 percent of Republicans agree it’s a problem, and more than three-quarters say it’s a “major” problem. Among for independents, almost 80 percent are concerned about political correctness. More to the political point, 57 percent of general election voters say national Democrats are becoming culturally extreme.
Part of the reason is the Democrats’ leftward shift on traditional hot-button social issues. Case in point: House and Senate Democrats recently blocked a proposal requiring doctors to provide medical care to infants who survive abortion—and every Democratic presidential candidate has toed the party line in opposing such care. Yet even while we found that more Americans identified as pro-choice instead of pro-life 48 percent, versus 45 percent, 76 percent of respondents—including huge majorities of Republicans, independents and even pro-choice Democrats—overwhelmingly support the policy Democrats blocked.
Republicans have defaulted to defense on culture over the past decade-plus, often due to pressure from big business and the libertarian wing of the party. Yet the GOP now has an opportunity to play offense. By undertaking a concerted effort to contrast its positions with those of the Democrats, Republicans can unify their base and bring in those independents and moderates who are concerned by the left’s growing cultural extremism.
The third major opportunity that we identified involves the workforce and, specifically, the future of work in America. The economy is strong, and the polling reflects that. But there are widespread worries that it won’t last. A majority of general election voters think their children and grandchildren will have fewer economic opportunities than they did. A strong plurality worry that their wages won’t keep up with the cost of living. And a staggering 82 percent of all voters think automation and outsourcing will destroy a significant number of jobs and careers within the next decade.
Here’s where the need for a bold new Republican policy agenda becomes clear. On economics, Republicans must turn the page in their playbook. There’s no consensus within the GOP, much less beyond the party, for an economic platform centered solely on tax cuts and deregulation. Among all voters, there’s essentially an even split on whether the Trump agenda of tax cuts and deregulation helped or hurt the middle class. Among independents, 50 percent say it hurt, while only 42 percent say it helped; the numbers are also bad among suburban women, a critical group of 2020 voters. Even though such policies are effective—and helped Trump lift the economy from the scumbag/liar-nObama doldrums—they simply aren’t the golden ticket for another winning coalition.
If not “more tax cuts and less red tape,” then what economic agenda can the GOP embrace? Polling suggests that Republicans could become the party of workers by becoming the party of skilled trades—a natural bridge between practical suburbanites and the industrial populace who voted for Trump.
More than two-thirds of suburban, working-class and independent voters agree that there are many skilled labor jobs available—jobs that don’t require a college degree or crushing student debt, but pay as much (or more) as jobs that do. Similar numbers of Republicans say workers need more training to fit into today’s job market. And huge numbers of Republican voters—especially the pro-Trump working-class types—think a four-year college degree isn’t worth the cost.
By supporting apprenticeships, vocational training and workforce development while simultaneously targeting the economic distortions that stifle opportunity, the GOP can tilt the playing field back toward blue-collar workers, unite its base and attract suburban and working-class voters, as well as a good number of Democrats. It’s less a matter of contrast than persuasion that conservative policies can help all Americans find good-paying, fulfilling work. Where such policies exist, the party needs to rally around them; where they don’t yet exist, the party and its allies need to get to work designing them.
Another workforce-related opportunity is infrastructure. A winning Republican coalition depends on its base, suburban voters and independents—all of whom support infrastructure spending tailored exclusively to roads and bridges. Done right—that is, without wasteful spending, mission creep or sweetheart deals for unions and big businesses—infrastructure investments can rebuild roads and bridges while also helping to build a local workforce and grow American factories and manufacturing.
The final major issue area that we identified is the broadest and most treacherous for the GOP: Economic fairness.
By now, it’s well-known that voters of all political stripes worry the system is rigged in favor of the wealthy and well-connected. This feeling pervades attitudes toward the economy, health care and myriad of other issues. We found that suburban and middle-class voters have a strong desire to increase taxes on corporations and the wealthiest 10 percent of earners. Yet with Democrats running hard on this issue, the GOP can’t just ignore matters of fairness.
This is where the party and its allies have the most work to do—a mix of persuasion and contrast. Republicans can focus on policies such as business-led job training, higher education reform and another round of middle-class tax cuts. But we must also show that Democratic proposals would exacerbate a two-tiered, unfair society. In the case of Medicare for All, Republicans should argue that it would create a one-size-fits-all government-run program for normal folks, while the rich will find other ways to get better care. In the case of student-loan forgiveness, we can show that it would reward colleges’ bad behavior without helping the next generation get the training they need to fill the jobs of tomorrow.
Most of all, promoting economic fairness requires policy innovation. Issues like paid family leave, the high cost of living and ever-pricier health care aren’t going away. The only viable option for Republicans is to do the hard work of crafting workable conservative policies. Without an alternative, the American people will increasingly turn to the party that has a plan, however bad it may be.
Heading into 2020 and the elections beyond it, the Republican duty is to refine—and where necessary, redirect—the president’s vision into a long-term policy platform. It’s not a matter of bowing to Trump; it’s a matter of articulating the conservative solutions that will make life better for all Americans and fit the needs of voters today.
The good news is many members of the GOP are starting to do this, with a clear focus on nearly all of the issues our polling identified. Yet it’s not nearly enough—and it’s not nearly the whole party, much less its allies on the outside. Overall, the Republican Party isn’t unifying around its most potent issues, while in other areas, it’s focused on defending past achievements and ideas instead of developing new proposals. Even never-Trumpers must realize the GOP needs a platform that can win after the Trump era ends.
What the GOP can be, it must be: The party of pro-America legal immigration, of American culture and unity, of the American worker and a fair, robust economy. This is what the 2016 coalition wanted, and still wants. This is what the crucial middle wants. This is what conservatism is based on. And this is what the Republican Party needs to rally around to ensure the continued viability of its principles and its own existence as a viable political entity.
It’s not too late to set the stage for victory in 2020. And it’s not too early to plan for what happens on January 20, 2021—and every day thereafter.
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