Published 03/13/2023 17:12
The Republican Party has exposed its internal fractures, instead of the traditional solid unity in its purposes to protect the rich from taxes, prevent the approval of new programs and social rights, and encourage the spread of weapons in its population and in wars around the world.
For Democrats, Republican discord represents an opportunity to capitalize. Biden has racked up significant bipartisan wins in infrastructure, gun safety and semiconductor manufacturing, and has advanced on progressive priorities like health care and green energy spending. His party’s unexpected success in the mid-term elections also gave it some room for political manoeuvre.
recover lost space
But he has also positioned himself markedly towards the center, creating a distinction between his position and that of the progressive left. Last week, he announced he would not veto Republican legislation that aims to toughen crime. On immigration, the White House angered immigration activists by remaining open to reinstituting some of the Trump-era policies they condemned — including the detention of migrant families who cross the border illegally. Biden has even backtracked on environmental pledges from his 2020 campaign. Analysts say the goal is to regain ground lost by Democrats to the right.
Biden has been touting how many jobs for unskilled workers he has created. A focus on manual labor that distinguishes him from other Democrats and brings him closer to a republican mentality, to the working class that was dismantled in years of deindustrialization.
These are attitudes that are accumulating and cornering the republicans in relation to what they will do for the next elections. For now, they are focused on causing scandal with Biden’s son’s accounting, will wage culture war against the administration’s adoption of politically correct terminology, and will look for errors in Biden’s relationship with defending Ukraine against the Russians.
If Biden is going to propose popular, even populist, economic policies such as infrastructure spending and reducing “useless taxes”, the Republican Party must prioritize a less artificial and more pragmatic and creative program towards guaranteeing economic and moral security for the American family. .
In Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis (seen as Trump’s top replacement) has proposed eliminating sales taxes on baby supplies (diapers, wipes and strollers), and states with Republican legislatures, such as Texas and Georgia, are contemplating bills similar. It’s not enough just to criticize Biden’s agenda, but to go on the programmatic offensive.
The Dive into Trumpism
Apparently, the divisiveness provoked by Donald Trump and his fake news has plunged the party into a crisis that is expressed in the difficulties to define who will be the leader of the party, difficulties to gather majority support in internal conventions, speeches in the press that contradict each other, legal war between the coreligionists themselves and the inability to agree on programmatic platforms and even party values.
The Republicans’ strength has always been their ability to work together, capable of internal concessions to ensure that order remains the same for the elites. The left finds it difficult to give up values in order to gain something for workers.
Meanwhile, the right brings together many voters who only care about a single issue, usually some smokescreen created by Republican leaders, such as religious issues or conspiracy theories against America.
In the wake of Donald Trump’s defeat in the elections and the lower-than-expected performance of the party in the past midterms (the mid-term elections), there are internal fights over how to proceed.
Moderate and hard-line Republicans are increasingly clashing over relatively trivial reasons, such as the validity of elections, primary rules, and basic platforms. And confrontation is not a figure of speech, but the use of force and weapons to prevent moderates from attending meetings with the extreme right.
Dangerous disagreements that point to the strength of electoral denialism and Donald Trump himself within the party. The fact that the former president is seeking re-election is a reflection not only of his narcissism and the deluded devotion of his followers, but also of the failure of prominent Republicans to exclude him.
To be or not to be Trump
The Brazilian example is often used to demonstrate how badly American policy acted in the case of the invasion of the Capitol. While Bolsonaro and his supporters are isolated, investigated and arrested, in the US, Republicans who attacked Trump after January 6, 2022, later knelt in his defense.
That was the case with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who said Trump “bears responsibility” for the attack on Congress, described the attack as “undemocratic, un-American and criminal” and would recommend that the former president resign. He later accused the The New York Times of “false and erroneous” reports when disclosing this fact, which was contradicted by exposing the recording of the conversations.
It didn’t last long before the California Republican made the pilgrimage to Trump’s mansion in Mar-a-Lago (Florida), where in a “cordial conversation” he and Trump discussed the campaign to regain control of the House. Afterwards, McCarthy provided Fox News with 41,000 hours of January 6 security video defending January 6 as a predominantly tourist and peaceful event. Trump thanked Fox News for its work and called for the release of those who were convicted or pleaded guilty to the attack charges. If re-elected, he even promised he could pardon some Jan. 6 defendants.
But as the 2024 campaign approaches, the most influential Republicans have the hot potato in their hands to recognize and act to stop Trump from flying the party flag. Despite what his supporters may believe, Trump lost the 2020 election, lied to millions, and tried to subvert the constitutional election process.
Source: vermelho.org.br
