Kurt Schlichter: How the Democrats Will Come At Us

Before Grandpa Badfinger Biden sank into his usual vortex of strange verbal constructions and incoherent shouting, as well as occasional improvised concessions to neutralize key Democrat talking point, his State of the Union speech stood out. You heard that right – the first 25 minutes, before he insanely got himself filmed conceding that Republicans are not about to push old ladies over the cliff by slashing their Social Security and Medicare, was the strongest, most effective speech he has ever given. It pains me to admit it – I would rather pee glass than praise him – but the current fashion of lying to oneself about the nature of one’s opponents is self-destructive. Reality is what you have to face. We saw last Tuesday how the Democrats if they were smart – and we might still get lucky that they revert to form and are idiots – would create and push a winning narrative for 2024.

Tom Hagen, near the end in The Godfather, leans over and asks Michael Corleone. “Do you know how they’re going to come at you?” Mikey did. Now we know too. Assuming the Democrats are as clever as Tessio and as foolish as Fredo.

A lot of you are young, way young, and you never lived through a time when the Democrats were the working man’s party. The Democrat Party did not consist of commie professors, race hustlers, abortion nuts, or unionized government flunkies back in the day. It was the party of men who were hard at work, who built and went to war, who wanted to live in dignity and feed their families. They loved their country but did not accept welfare cheating or coddling criminals. These were Reagan Democrats who saw their party develop after 1972 to one run for the Chardonnay classes, not the working class. Reagan chose them because they hated the commies and loved the flag. Yet the economic message that appealed to them was still powerful – and Mondale was the last guy to still send it even though the smug swells and San Francisco freakshow kept it from resonating.

With Clinton, a guy you cannot even imagine in a hard hat (and even less so Obama), the Democrats put these working-class voters aside in favor of what would soon devolve into their present woke agenda – an agenda that offers nothing to guys who don’t go to work in loafers. And the Republicans squandered the coalition Reagan had built – the Bushes were the antithesis of backers of the working man, and W barely won the first time and only won the second because these working folks understandably wanted to kill every single 7th century SOB with a hand in 9/11. This was a mistake. Too often, Republicans treated legitimate economic concerns like an inconvenience and allowed ourselves to be painted as Buick-driving bosses. You are not reaching out for the working man when you nominate Mitt Romney. He is a guy who requires only a monocle and a top hat to look exactly like every person who has ever outsourced his job to Shanghai.

Trump saw this huge constituency just lying there, ignored by both parties, and he re-purposed Sir Mix-A-Lot’s tactic of recycling abandoned Babes with ample bottoms and applied it to the working class – when the Dems and the GOP decided to toss it and leave it, he pulled up quick to retrieve it. He won.

Keep in mind that the Democrats were supportive of non-governmental workers when ancient Joe was growing up. This was how he grew up, and he played the old school “I got the back of the workin’ man” It is perfect. “Made in America.” “Manufacturing jobs.” “Work hard and take care of our families.” More “jobs, jobs, jobs” – including some that do not need a college degree. 

Republicans are not prepared for this story. We want to talk about the culture war issues and we should – they are important and powerful. But we cannot just abandon the working man issues for the Democrats to exploit – Biden is lying about his agenda – he cares as much about working families as he cares about good parenting – but this is about narrative, not reality. We must stop defending corporations reflexively, particularly since many of them are hostile to our guts and give the Dems their money. We need to ensure that our infrastructure works (DeSantis’s recent move to rebuild Florida roads was exactly what we need) and that we keep inflation from crushing those working but just getting by. Biden is willing to speak out for the poor on credit card charges. Ok, cool. Let’s do it. Maximum $8 Maximum $8? Why should we waste our political credit by defending the banks?

We can and should embrace policies that help private-sector working Americans flourish even if it annoys the corporations that used to be in our coalition – make that especially if it annoys the corporations that used to be in our coalition.

This is a narrative, and the Democrats will have the kind of problems with pushing it that we saw in Biden’s speech. They might be able do that for a time, but then they have to pivot back to the woken-up nonsense their coalition demands. Their heart is not in making sure those cisgender brutes from flyover country get a fair deal – it’s that their activist, commie, and pervert base is happy. That’s where modern Democrats’ heart is. When a Democrat today tries to be on the side of the workin’ man, he/she/they are faking harder than a Bulwark staffer’s wife.

Regardless of the manifest insincerity behind Biden’s political greatest hits tour and the difficulty pulling it off over the long haul, this is an opportunity for a cunning Republican. Trump seems to have forgotten about the people who rallied and elected him – he’s too busy being mad at Ron DeSantis for refusing to genuflect. This means that this is an opportunity to rise from the ashes. 

DeSantis could achieve it. DeSantis is already occupying the territory of culture warriors. He should continue to – the people he needs are mad about perverts pestering their kids in schools, but they also hate $10 eggs.

It’s a huge opening for Mike Pompeo, who is crushing it on America First foreign policy. This is an opportunity for him to assert his domestic claims and expand his reach beyond his comfort zone. He needs to move past the Harvard rich guy notion. But he was a successful cavalry officer who served his country rather than being handed it like a soft, nonserving sissy, like Mitt Romney.

It won’t work for others. Nikki Haley could try it, but she’s so fake no one would believe it. And Chris Sununu thinks we are morally obligated to suck up to big corporations so that’s out. Larry Hogan has the sweat part down, but that’s only because he’s humongous.

Bottom line: It’s up for grabs. Biden tried to grasp the concept with a confused, ham-handed approach that worked for almost half an hour before he collapsed into his usual woke incoherence. Republicans need to be able to see what they’re doing and get some men together to ride Tessio.

 Follow Kurt via Twitter @KurtSchlichter. Get InfernoThe seventh book in the Kelly Turnbull series, titled. People’s Republic A series of conservative action novels, set in America following a fictional national divorce. We’ll Be Back: The Fall and Rise of America.

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