Focus on Winning Over 'Traditional' Liberals

For more than a quarter century, our elections have split our country almost 50-50. There have been no “sweeps” or “waves” like there were in 1994. Other than the Scott Brown election in 2010, which temporarily gave Republicans a filibuster-proof majority, neither party has been able to control either the House or the Senate by more than a few seats. And with such “Republicans” as Thom Tillis, John Thune, and Lisa Murkowski in our ranks, whatever slim majority we hold is usually negated through cowardice and betrayal.

This means that we need every vote we can get in every election. And we have an opportunity here if we can take a step back and reassess. To do so, we can’t see every single Democrat as a mortal enemy. There are some potential allies over there.

Hear me out.

There are three types of people who identify as “liberals” or “leftists.” First, there is the activist left. This is the odd conglomeration of campus socialists who lack the capacity for critical thought, racist minorities looking for misplaced revenge against convenient scapegoats, and the lonely suburban women and chinless soy boys looking for a cause to fill the gaping void in their lives. They have made common cause with the Islamists on the mistaken assumption that once the capitalists and conservatives have been disposed of, the Islamists will be able to be placated with a few sharia courts and no-go zones. The Islamists, in turn, have correctly calculated that the activist left is a bunch of useful idiots who, once the Christians and Jews have been disposed of, will be easily mopped up and effortlessly herded to either the gallows or the slave markets.

Then there is the nihilist left. These are the people with the school shooter mentality. My life sucks, so I’m going to cause as much pain as I possibly can to everyone around me. I’m going to sabotage the successful. I’m going to wreak division for the sake of wreaking division. I’m going to destroy what is good because I hate what is good. The nihilist left supports the Red-Green Alliance, not because they feel it will help usher in a socialist utopia, but because they know an Islamist takeover of the West will leave the rest of us in a much worse place. And that’s exactly what they want.

Finally, there are the traditional, classical “liberals.” These are the types who supported Bill Clinton. They support abortion, gay marriage, and higher taxes on the rich. They buy into the climate change hoax. They still think Keynesian economic models work.

But let’s be fair. There is a line into deeper leftism that the traditional liberals won’t cross over. They realize the affirmative action they supported in the 1990s has morphed into a DEI racket that they instinctively (albeit quietly) abhor. They do not let the transgender freak flag fly from their front porches. They completely recognize both the danger and the folly of the Red-Green Alliance, and they detest it as much as we do.

And most importantly, they’re willing to play by the same rules as we do. Traditional liberals don’t support violence against conservatives, they don’t support lawfare against their political opponents, and they are willing to call out the extremists in their own camp. How many on the left fall into the “traditional liberal” camp? I have no clue. But there are some important cultural voices lending them support. Think Bill Maher, James Carville, and John Fetterman. 

Now, maybe you think we don't need the votes. But keep in mind that for every Bill Maher, James Carville, or John Fetterman who is slowly, haphazardly, yet assuredly waking voters up to where the true threat to democracy lies, there are just as many voices of former conservatives doing the exact opposite, and driving gullible and angry incels into the arms of the left. Think Tucker Carlson, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Thomas Massie.  Personally, I prefer winning over wavering liberals who have been lied to their entire lives about what conservatives actually stand for rather than chasing after some whackadoodle, pro-Hamas anti-Semite former "conservative" whom I'd be embarrassed to be seen in public with.

Because you know who used to be a Democrat but became a Republican, or at least found themselves in the Republican orbit, because the left is just too far gone?

Ronald Reagan, Dennis Miller, Clint Eastwood, Elon Musk, Adam Carolla, Kid Rock, Patricia Heaton, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Tulsi Gabbard.

Oh yeah, and also Donald Trump.

If you listen to the reason of many of these people, as well as of many other former Democrats who have since made the switch, it wasn’t one particular social or economic issue that drove them away. Rather, it was the increasing intolerance and rigidity of the Democrat base toward any pushback or resistance against the disproportionate influence of its fringe extremists. The irony of those using fascistic tactics to ostracize any and all opposition as “fascist” certainly couldn’t have helped.

The important takeaway here is this: These people wouldn’t find themselves Republicans, or at least not Democrats, if we had shown ourselves to be just as intolerant and fascistic as the left. But there are unfortunate voices here on the right who are too willing to paint anybody to our left as our eternal enemy, for whom there is no redemption or forgiveness.

All of us personally know liberals who fall into this camp. The transgender insanity, the BLM destruction, the open-door border invasions, the COVID-19 cover-up, the leftist betrayal of Israel, the Antifa terrorism, and the groveling to America-hating Islamists horrify these liberals as much as they horrify us.

These liberals are not our enemies. They can be reasoned with. They can be won over. Will we still disagree on abortion and climate change, but that’s the selling point. You can disagree with us and we will not dox you, we will not cancel you, we will not attempt to banish you from public life, and we will not shoot you through the throat as you attempt to have a conversation with us.

Furthermore, we can sit and debate with you all night long without resorting to calling you evil, stupid, racist, or brainwashed. And we can say our goodbyes at the end of the night without having budged one another an inch, and yet still be friends. There do exist traditional liberals who have the capacity to comprehend, as most conservatives do, that the importance of this open and civil dialogue is more important than the content of the dialogue itself.

If these liberals in your life show signs of wavering, don’t slam that door. Leave it open. Plant some psychological seeds. Win them over with the honey of gentle and patient persuasion. Don’t scare them away with the same self-righteous vinegar that is driving them away from the Democrats to begin with.

The left had their slow march through the institutions. Sadly, it succeeded beyond their wildest expectations. But we have the slow march through the premise that most people are inherently rational, inherently introspective, and inherently good. The left is discovering that their conquest of the institutions left those institutions with no moral authority. We can win back enough of their disillusioned congregants to tip the electoral scales more solidly in our favor.

But only if we lead by example.

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