Jamelle Bouie stands out from the punditry with his focus on how important it is to see Republicans for the threat they are. If you missed the write up of his last column on September 9, go see Jamelle Bouie is on fire at The NY Times: "President Biden is right." He closed that column with this:
Biden and the Democratic Party should make this clear — much clearer than they have so far. The struggle for democracy is the struggle for human equality is the struggle for a fairer economy is the struggle for the rights of workers and the dignity of labor. And if the enemies of democracy are fighting their war on every possible front, its defenders should, too.
(It must be making The NY Times nervous, because they have changed the headline on the piece several times. Where it read “You Can’t Talk About MAGA America in Hushed Tones” it’s now headlined “Biden Is Telling You That Trump Is a Threat, and the Proof Is Everywhere”. Think the Times does not want to piss off everyone who considers themselves a MAGA?)
In a subscriber-only newsletter, Bouie follows up with some further thoughts. He had been answering the charge that Biden’s speech about the threat from MAGA Republicans was too divisive; now he looks at another part of the picture.
Bouie addresses the controversy about Democratic efforts to support Trump candidates in the primaries, to get the most extreme candidates on the ballot. He name-checks two of his fellow columnists at the New York Times while doing so, Ross Douthat and Bret Stephens.
What I didn’t address was the charge that Biden, and Democrats in general, are acting in bad faith when they condemn Trump and his allies. If Democrats truly believe that MAGA Republicans are a threat to democracy, goes the argument, why are they spending tens of millions of dollars to elevate them in Republican primaries? My colleagues Ross Douthat and Bret Stephens both made a version of this point in their respective columns this week.
Bouie does not hold back:
They are keyed into something real: that it is a bit unsavory, if not outright hypocritical, for Democrats to spend huge sums to help nominate MAGA Republicans at the expense of their more moderate, pro-democracy colleagues while condemning those same candidates, and the movement they represent, as a threat to the constitutional order.
But — and the “But” is huge. Bouie makes two important points. Here’s the first:
Where I part ways with my colleagues is in their conclusion that Democrats are therefore crying alligator tears when they condemn MAGA extremists. If the top priority is depriving the Republican Party of power and influence, then the most important thing for Democrats to do, right now, is win elections. And if the most Trump-aligned candidates tend to be the weakest challengers in a general election, then it is entirely consistent with the argument in Biden’s speech to want to elevate those candidates over more moderate alternatives.
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This nails it:
At the end of the day, a more moderate Republican in Congress is still a vote for Kevin McCarthy as speaker of the House or Mitch McConnell as Senate majority leader. It is still a vote, in other words, for a coalition that includes MAGA Republicans.
Here’s the killer second part of Bouie’s argument:
I think it is true that Democratic spending has had an effect. But I think the more significant reason that Republican voters keep nominating MAGA candidates is that Republican voters like MAGA candidates. All you have to do is look at the results of the Republican primaries in question and ask if Democratic money really mattered that much.
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Bouie gives several examples that illustrate this point. He also follows up with this:
The other thing to consider is the actual content of Democratic ads on behalf of MAGA Republican candidates. The ad meant to support Mastriano, for example, simply stated his conservative views and emphasized his support for Trump. The ad said that Mastriano wanted to “outlaw abortion” and is “one of Donald Trump’s strongest supporters.” It also points out that Mastriano “wants to end vote by mail, and he led the fight to audit the 2020 election. If Mastriano wins, it’s a win for what Donald Trump stands for.”
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Thie point is this, and Bouie is right on target with a reality too painful for most pundits to admit to themselves or their readers:
It is not the Democratic Party’s fault that Republicans are attracted to this message, and nothing forced Republicans in Pennsylvania or Illinois (or Michigan or Arizona) to nominate the most MAGA candidates in the field. Republicans voters like Trump and they want Trumpist candidates, and where there’s demand, supply usually follows.
It should also be remarked that a number of these candidates, once they have gotten the nomination, take pains to scrub the more extreme positions from their campaign messaging. It does not hurt for the rest of the voting public to be reminded of where they are really coming from.
Here’s what we need to remember.
For Republicans, winning is the only thing. For Democrats, winning is just the first thing.