As I Watch and Read The Landscape
It’s pretty clear where we’re headed for the 2022 election.
The Republicans want to talk about failed leadership today from the President; and maybe a person in a job that he is incapable of it.
The Democrats want to go back to the future and make Donald Trump the issue.
Both men seem intent on providing material to the other party to help. The media has its own agenda.
Let me explain:
Present Biden, every time he moves off script, gives the Republicans talking points. Yesterday in defending his off the cuff remarks overseas, he dug another hole. It turns out he couldn’t have meant we were training Ukraine troops when he said to the soldiers that they will soon see them. His administration said we aren’t training anyone.
Imagine working for him. Every time he opens his mouth to speak you hold your breadth. Then you clean up and he adds fuel to the fire. It would be a tough and unsettling position.
Now how much of this do you see off of FoxNews? Almost nothing. In fact, CNN had people on trying to understand how we do not recognize the great job being done.
For his part, former President Trump provides material daily as he speaks and acts; plus the other party and their media friends do all they can to find some. Trying to clean up his stuff would be a tougher job, because he sees it only one way and following any direction is not in his DNA.
Plus, the Democrats are planning everything to break before the election. An example is the Jan. 6th investigation.
Politico has this analysis this AM:
This week’s convergence of 2020 election subversion news and wild Trump comments is a harbinger of things to come. The Jan. 6 committee’s major reports, when released this year, will force every candidate to discuss Trump and 2020. And as the midterms approach, Trump, who has big bets placed on dozens of candidates up and down ballots across America, will be a central player in campaigns everywhere, whether either party likes it or not. All signs point to a typical midterm election this year in which the president’s party suffers double-digit losses in the House. The GOP has the big structural advantages on its side: a Democratic president with low approval ratings, a sour public mood driven by inflation concerns and an edge in polling on issues like crime, education and immigration that are proving important to voters in the crucial swing suburbs where the midterms will be decided. One of the few ways Republicans could potentially blow this electoral equivalent of a layup is if former President DONALD TRUMP suddenly returns to center court. Trump is not toxic for his party everywhere. Republicans did better than expected in House races in 2020 because of the high MAGA turnout Trump generated. But he’s deadly for the GOP in the decisive suburbs at the heart of 2022 politics. Recall how Virginia’s GLENN YOUNGKIN treated Trump like Voldemort, concerned that even uttering his name would repel potential supporters in NoVa. This week, despite a war in Europe, a new presidential budget at home and a Supreme Court nominee battle, Trump emerged as the dominant story, mostly because of the geyser of news related to the Jan. 6 committee in recent days.
Here’s a great example of what they were referring to. On Saturday the former President, as you know, was in Georgia to try and defeat the current Governor (and others). Well, his primary pick David Perdue had to do some wipe up yesterday:
David Perdue said he “misunderstood” Trump rally goers over the weekend when he smiled and gave a thumbs up as they chanted “lock him up” about Brian Kemp. (He says he thought they were chanting “lock them up” while referring to Georgia election officials.) Republicans are destroying themselves in Georgia – a state they could win easily in 2022.
We repeat, the Democrats’ best friend this election cycle is the former President dividing the party over his claims about 2020.
Meanwhile the Democrats are lining things up to make Trump the issue:
A federal judge said that former President Donald Trump and a law professor “more likely than not” committed a felony in their efforts to block the 2020 election result, in a ruling clearing the way for related emails to be turned over to congressional investigators. John Eastman had sought to stop the release of the emails to the House select committee probing the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol. The ruling is only on the narrow question of legal privileges over the documents, but it could put more pressure on the Justice Department to consider a more formal investigation of Mr. Trump and the people around him in the waning days of his presidency. The House panel investigating the Jan. 6 attack is also interested in talking to conservative activist Virginia Thomas, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’s wife, according to a person familiar with the matter. The panel wants to talk to her about her texts to Mr. Trump’s then-chief of staff, Mark Meadows, urging him to stand firm in pressing to overturn President Biden’s 2020 election victory. The Jan. 6 committee also voted 9-0 Monday to recommend holding two former Trump administration officials, Peter Navarro and Dan Scavino, in criminal contempt of Congress for defying a congressional subpoena.
Of course the compliant and supportive media is investigating everything Trump, while completely ignoring anything Biden. Here’s CBS and liberal journalists:
CBS News’s Robert Costa and The Washington Post’s Bob Woodward report that former President Trump’s call logs given to the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack are missing a seven-hour period. The gap in time when Trump did not place or receive any calls on Jan. 6, 2021: From 11:17 a.m. to 6:54 p.m. ^ I.e.: During the siege of the U.S. Capitol Keep in mind: “The seven-hour gap … stands in stark contrast to the extensive public reporting about phone conversations he had with allies during the attack.” Did Trump use a “burner” phone? — what happens now: “The House panel is now investigating whether Trump communicated that day through backchannels, phones of aides or personal disposable phones, known as ‘burner phones,’ according to two people with knowledge of the probe.”