By Sam StevensonAssociate News Editor0ShareNewsweek is a Trust Project member
President Donald Trump took a shifting tone on the midterms on Wednesday, pointing out that even if Republicans lose control of the House, Senate, or both, he would remain the U.S. commander-in-chief.
“I’m here whether we win this or not,” he told reporters in Arizona and Montana.
The shift in tone came just two days after he urged supporters in Alaska to “pretend” it was him on the ballot, a campaign message he has repeated often in recent weeks, as forecasts have shifted to favor Democrats to gain control of both chambers.
Republican candidates have been put on the defensive as Democrats have surged in polling and Trump has seen his approval rating consistently slope downward. GOP leaders have redirected money to once-thought-safe House districts and Senate races in an attempt to limit losses.
The White House insists that Trump remains central to the Republican campaign, with spokesman Davis Ingle describing him as the party’s “unequivocal leader” and saying his policy positions on the economy and the border presented voters with a clear choice between a “commonsense agenda” and the “Democrats’ extreme liberal policies and obstruction” in November.
Of course they are. The Democratic plank at this point can be summarized that they are rights.
But the right wants to talk about an alternative universe in which Democrats are proposing that schools turn your son into a girl while your back is turned, and so on. Also they pretend that this is some primary or core “agenda” of the Democrats, and that is not at all serious.
Sure, but in US politics there is no room for nuance or compromise, which makes stuff like this ideal for voters trained by Fox et al.
But the same problem exists for the other side as well, as there’s some purity test thing going on. You might have a more nuanced view but I’ve seen posters call others murderers because they dare question anything that is related to trans rights. People with male physiology competing in womens’ categories, giving puberty blockers to 10 year olds, … These are things that at least deserve a debate imo, but somehow it makes some trans activists go completely haywire. Kinda comparable with repubs that do the same on gun or abortion rights, which would rightfully be called extreme as well.
This is why I’ve taken to ignoring such articles and downvoting them. They seem to be getting used as a wedge issue to try to drive down Democratic turnout and set leftists upon each other.
It’s my view that those kinds of things probably do require nuance and so on. I don’t know that all the answers are in, honestly and it’s because of that is probably why 1) it’s an 80/20 issue and 2) that’s why Republicans hammer on it constantly as if it’s the only issue the nation is facing right now.
I have trans in my life that I agonize about daily over their safety. Getting more Republicans in office because some Democrat(s) didn’t pass some hurdle on the issues you talk about is not in my (or their) interest. Framing some Democrat that may not be in the same place on things like sports and so on as being equivalent to the conservative position is nothing short of ridiculous and is actively harmful, given what the conservatives really want to do.