The Republicans

They’re all on the same page:

1. The Bidens are guilty of something and it needs to be investigated.

2. Trump committed no crime.

3. The Democrats are out to get Trump, and they’ve been on this path from day one.

Yes, Trump is positively off his rocker, but one thing is for sure, he’s an UNSTABLE genius. Come on, admitting that he did it in Ukraine, and then imploring the Chinese to do the same thing publicly? This is not playing by the rules, this is jujitsu.

Meanwhile, the Democrats are afraid. Of public opinion. Polling ad infinitum to make sure they don’t step on anybody’s toes and prevent people from voting Democratic in 2020.

That’s “Democratic” I said. The right wing code is the DEMOCRAT party. Listen closely, all the Republicans say that, including Trump, they want to take the imprimatur, the meaning of “democratic,” away from the Democratic party, and they’re doing a good job of it.

Now one thing the left wing media does not understand is it’s been vilified to irrelevance by the right. Listen to Fox News, seemingly every night Tucker Carlson excoriates the “New York Times” and the “Washington Post.” He nitpicks, says they’re duplicitous and need to apologize and if you had this message hammered into you every night, you’d believe it.

That’s right, the right has neutralized facts. Everything’s up for grabs, even that which has been proven. Global warming? Anything involving science? It’s undecided. As for Biden’s activity with Ukraine re his son…every newspaper has debunked it. Everybody wanted that prosecutor gone, not only the Americans, but once again facts don’t matter, you can twist them anyway you want to, because there’s no one true source.

The battle for hearts and minds is fought in only two places…Fox News and online. That’s it, done. As for the radio talk shows like Rush…that’s so last century.

And online, you can pretty much say whatever you want, as long as you don’t threaten someone or break the law.

So what we’re fighting for here, and the Democrats don’t understand this, is hearts and minds. The Democrats think it’s the 1950s, as long as their position is right, that’s all that matters. They don’t advocate, they don’t fight for it. Oh, there are a couple of players on the left wing side, like Paul Begala and James Carville. Listen to them, they get incensed, they recite the party line, they almost turn into cartoons, but they’re loyal to the team and stay on message.

Like the Republicans.

One thing’s for sure, Biden’s candidacy is toast. Yup, he let Trump and the right define him. He’s shady, he must have done something wrong.

Biden had to go postal from day one. He should have raised a ruckus. Gone insane like Trump himself. That’s the only thing that works against the Donald. Instead, Biden didn’t start fighting back until now, when he’s no longer on the front page. Biden gives the impression he’s covering up, that he did something wrong. The public believes his behavior should be investigated by a 2-1 margin according to “USA Today.” You’d think he’d realize he’s in jeopardy, that his candidacy is in a death spiral, but he’s still behaving like Trump never happened and it’s still the 1970s.

Like Hillary Clinton.

Hillary was on Rachel Maddow last night. She still hasn’t gotten the message. Oh, she was erudite and insightful, but nearly monotonistic (that may not be a word, but you get what I’m driving at). That playbook went out the window with Trump. We don’t want educated wonks, we want people who will fight for us, not government insiders. It’s about personality, baby, and Clinton just doesn’t have it, not strong enough to play the new game.

That’s why Bernie was so successful in 2016. The intensity and the truth. If his delivery hadn’t been so emotional, he wouldn’t have gotten any traction.

As for the canard that the Democrats wanted to get rid of Trump from day one…

The Democrats don’t surface nearly thirty years of Republican stonewalling, from the Clinton era until now. Hell, under Obama the Republicans were the party of no, and they even admitted it. But is there anybody in the news fighting back on the left?

OF COURSE NOT!

As for Trump’s behavior…every Republican has been talking about Johnson today…as in ANDREW Johnson! That’s right, we have to go back to the 1860s for insight, before the automobile, never mind the internet. I mean they’re defending Andrew Johnson when we learned in school he was a b.s. President. But NO, the Republicans have resurrected him, he was unjustly tried, just like Trump!

As for Trump committing a crime… Nowhere is it said that impeachment requires a crime. But everywhere there was a Republican today, they uttered this message, and they wouldn’t back down.

How in the hell are the Democrats supposed to win?

Instead of saying they’re having an impeachment “inquiry,” they should be saying it’s a done deal, it’s just a matter of the legal process, Trump is guilty and he’s gonna go, end of story. Instead, Pelosi and the wimps keep deferring to the “process.” Are the Republicans talking about the process? Hell no! They’re like the sweepers in curling, hell, you’ve seen them in the Olympics, ensuring the stone lands in the right spot. Meanwhile, the Democrats are sitting on the sidelines debating whether curling is a sport while their asses are getting kicked.

If someone admits everything can there be an impeachable offense?

Of course. But if you’re a member of the hoi polloi, if you’re just a rank and file voter, you start to believe it can’t be that bad.

Trump and the Republicans are so far ahead of the Democrats they don’t even seem to be playing the same game. All the Democrats can do is sit by silently as Trump makes news, says and does inane things over and over again. They think this is enough to win. Didn’t they learn that Trump rode this behavior to victory in 2016? Trump swears, the Democrats can’t even utter the words, they say “blank.” Meanwhile, everybody in America says these things.

You’ve got to fight to win.

But the Democrats don’t. They gave up a Supreme Court seat, they’ve been the victims of gerrymandering and voter suppression. But all they can say is they’ve been ripped-off, that it’s unfair. How is it working for them? IT’S NOT!

Today’s news cycle is uber-fast. People don’t remember what happened this morning, never mind last week. Come on, Trump is bloviating every day, we’ve lost track of what he’s said. So, the Democrats will work very slowly, afraid of any blowback, and they’ll sacrifice the narrative, they’ll grab defeat from the jaws of victory.

Don’t get started unless you’re gonna finish the deal. Either Trump is guilty and needs to go or forget about it.

As for those candidates running next year…

They’ve got to fight back now, build their identities now, because one thing’s for sure, the Republicans are gonna do their best to paint them negatively. Hell, they killed Biden in a week! And they killed the Clintons and… Don’t you know that the Democrats are a bleeding-heart liberal party that wants to overspend your money on unworthy projects and unworthy people, that taxes are inherently bad and men have the right to tell women what to do?

Yup, the Republicans keep saying the above message over and over again, to the point the Democrats are afraid to even SAY the word “tax.” The belief is raising taxes is a nonstarter, you’re going to automatically lose, it’s a third rail topic. Give Sanders credit, he owns the truth, of course your taxes are gonna go up if there’s Medicare for All.

And at least Warren said that nobody likes their health insurance company. A truism we all know.

But what do the Democrats say about these two authentic candidates? THEY’RE LOSERS! THEY’RE TOO FAR TO THE LEFT! And then the Republicans double-down on these messages and it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Being right is not enough. You’ve got to have game. You’ve got to play hard. You’ve got to convince people.

Right now, only the Republicans are doing that.