The Morning Briefing: Can the Democrats Avoid Disaster In November?

Top O’ the Briefing

Happy Tuesday, dear Kruiser Morning Briefing friends. There just isn’t enough money on the professional Skee-Ball tour for me to stick with it.

So much for the big re-branding.

We’re going to be The Morning Briefing for a while longer. There were some technical details about the precise wording of the title and the generation of the newsletter and it became a thing. Nobody wants a thing. Maybe we’ll go for a new name when I hit my third anniversary in August. Something festive.

Kidding. Change is gross.

While I have often been a voice of caution regarding Republican optimism when thinking about November’s midterm elections, I do occasionally like to indulge in a little exuberance.

November seems like it’s about 47 years away because the world is falling apart while Joe Biden playing president. Even though it looks like the GOP is poised for a big election night, a lot can happen between now and then.

A lot would have to happen for the Democrats to not get hit with a steamroller in November. First, they’ll have to be more honest with themselves about what is actually happening in the United States while they have all of Congress and the White House. Honesty isn’t the Democrats’ strong suit, especially when covering for the train wreck of a president.

The Republican victories in Virginia last November gave the Democrats plenty to chew on and learn from. As Stacey wrote yesterday, they didn’t learn anything and are making the same mistakes in Florida:

The issues of radical sex education and critical race theory in K-12 education addressed by the Florida legislation were central to the recent Virginia gubernatorial race. Until reports of a sexual assault cover-up in Loudon County and parents opposing race-based admissions to a magnet high school in Fairfax Count, Governor Glenn Youngkin’s campaign was a pretty anodyne, pro-business GOP offering. His team embraced the issues in K-12 education, and they galvanized a new coalition of voters that started to emerge because of remote learning during the pandemic– parents.

The Democrats would much rather keep floating false narratives than engage in any real introspection. Naturally, the mainstream media is on board with the prevarication as well. It’s gotten to the point where it appears that most Democrats believe their own lies now.

Matt wrote on Monday that things are falling apart so badly for the Dems that the New York governor’s race is in play for the GOP.

In another post, Matt wrote that one Democrat is getting close to reality when trying to figure out what is wrong with his party:

Party leaders often see their role as cheerleaders, but Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.), the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), must be privy to some devastating internal polling because he’s issued a dire warning to his fellow Democrats.

“If [voters] agree with us on the issues, why don’t they like us more?” Maloney asked.

Maloney has an answer, too.

“They think that we’re divisive and too focused on cultural issues. They think that we’re preachy. They think that we act like we know better than parents when it comes to their kids in schools,” Maloney said. “The problem is not the voters,” he admits. “The problem is us.”

Maloney is getting close to the truth, but Matt goes on to explain that Maloney thinks it’s really a problem with “messaging,” which is always the Democrats’ fall-back when they don’t want to admit that many Americans aren’t thrilled with their fringe leftist lunacy.

At present, it doesn’t look like the Democrats will leave their fever-dream long enough to make meaningful adjustments for November. That doesn’t mean that the Republicans can get complacent, though. They really need to focus on turning election night into a rout for the ages.

Let’s hope the country can hang on for another eight months.

Everything Isn’t Awful

What a wonderful story this is. 🧵❤️ https://t.co/PI7ddUt7CE

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Smells Like Onion

Historians Reveal Multiple Cradles Of Civilization Each Independently Developed Chicken Tender Basket https://t.co/QOsU3paq3z pic.twitter.com/acOqlLosY0

— The Onion (@TheOnion) March 15, 2022