When President Nixon was re-elected in a landslide, a Washington Post columnist famously noted her bewilderment about how it had happened, given that she didn't know anyone who had voted for Nixon. Ehh...McGovern didn't even win his home state.
The Republican right wing has successfully forged a coalition among three large groups, one of which is quietly helping the Republican Party masquerade as today's majority party. With a massive grassroots strategy funded and partially crafted by the Koch Brothers, the Republican Party methodically made its case for individual liberty to local political races nationwide. The result has been local control in a majority of states, the kind of control that nearly paid off with a reversal of the results of the last Presidential election.
They forged the three-pronged coalition with a fear-based narrative: "They'll take away your liberty if you don't act now." The "they" in their narrative were the One World collectivists seeking a socialist society.
That fear was easy to instill in two of the three groups the Republicans now control, the proclaimed White supremacists (who are, after all, called Proud Boys) and the ultra-gullible elderly. Maddening as those large populations may be, even together they're not large enough to achieve either popular or electoral victories.
The Republican solution? Appeal to the "silent" young professionals with a narrative that says, in code, "Hey, we know you're not racist, but they are trying to blame you and hold you accountable for what your ancestors did."
Sadly, there's some truth in that coded message. Progressive messaging tends toward the finger-wagging, moral high ground approach that says "We're so obviously right and our opponents are too stupid to see it." If the opponents are so stupid, how is it that they're able to so easily hijack every bit of Progressive narrative and "own the libs?"
The Republicans are employing a misdirection strategy that's winning in the Court of Public Opinion. While "kitchen table" issues like prices and supply chains being a total mess, Progressives are being suckered into "culture wars" on the right-wing media outlets.
Day after day we see evidence through mainstream and social media that the "but we're the righteous ones" positioning isn't winning in the political arena. A good start toward reversing that trend might be for the Progressive wing to stop condemning the Moderates who actually swing elections and recognize what it will take to win the tug-of-war between the polarized factions.
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