Battle lines for the midterms firming up: Hope for the future versus fear and loathing
Commentary on the news as seen from America's southernmost region
By J.C. Bruce
In Democratic and Republican gatherings in Texas and Florida over the past few days, the tone that will define the midterm elections became clearer, if not especially surprising.
For the Republicans—meeting at the Hard Rock Casino in Davie, Florida—the message was about fear and loathing.
Democrats, convening in Corpus Christi, Texas, where James Talarico accepted his state party’s nomination for U.S. Senate, the vision was one of hope and the sense that “there are no limits.”
Pessimism versus optimism. Sounds familiar, right?
Barack Obama campaigned on the themes of unity, hopefulness, and inclusivity. A forward-looking view of the country’s prospects. It worked.
Donald Trump was all about grievance and anger, nationalism, and the fear that the nation’s identity was being diluted by “murderers and rapists” storming across our southern border. That worked too, unfortunately.
New election, similar playbooks.
The Republican Party has long concentrated on exploiting Americans’ anxiety. It was Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s Red Menace, or Ronald Reagan’s “welfare queens,” or fear of crime as in George H.W. Bush’s attack ads about a Black criminal (Willie Horton), or Trump’s yammering about building a wall.
Now it looks like Republicans are back fighting communism.
“The communists that just got elected in New York and in California and in Illinois, well, they’re banking on you not to getting out the vote,” Gainesville-area Republican U.S. Rep. Kat Cammack told fellow Republicans at the Sunshine State Showdown.
Those words were echoed by Ashley Moody, appointed to fill the term of U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio who resigned to become Trump’s secretary of state. She will now face one of two possible Democratic opponents in November.
“They are anarchist psychos who want to destroy this country,” she said.
As the Florida Phoenix reported:
Moody fretted that the national Democratic Party had been taken over by “these crazy people that do not believe in what this country is,” and wondered whether anybody in the Democratic establishment could stop what she sees as an ominous takeover.
“Hakeem. Barack. Kamala. Ilhan. Zohran. I don’t know. If one of them is the leader, I don’t know who it is. But none of them will speak out to what those crazy anarchists are saying. None of them will speak out against it. And that should tell you all you need to know.”
Republicans, for the moment anyway, seem to have settled on this Red Scare theme as a counterpoint to Democrats’ constant hammering on the unaffordable cost of living. Seems feeble to me, although you should never underestimate the persuasiveness of fear.
But while Moody was screeching about ‘crazy anarchists,” the boogeyman the Republicans have selected to personify this new threat, New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, was opening up New York City’s swimming season by jumping into a pool with his suit on, smiling, laughing, having fun.
That’s just crazy.
You’d never see a self-respecting Republican drenching his Armani like that.
Besides having a rollicking good time, Mamdani, too, had a message: The Democratic Party must focus on working-class concerns. He believes Democrats must champion affordability, directly addressing everyday economic issues.
That sentiment was echoed in Corpus Christi, where James Talarico was optimistically celebrating his state’s diversity and achievements. As Heather Cox Richardson reported:
“Texas used to be known for our hospitality…. Friendship across tribes, friendship across divides. That’s what makes Texas so great. We’re this big mash-up of all these different people, all these different cultures, all these different friends. Think about, think about Tejano music. If you’re listening to a Selena song, you’re hearing Spanish vocal styles from northern Mexico. But you’re also hearing polka dance rhythms from Czech and German immigrants. This uniquely…Texan ability to welcome new friends and new ideas has made us one of the most exciting and innovative states in the country.
“We’re the state that put a man on the moon. We’re the state that pioneered ranching and energy and computers. We’re the state that gave this country Barbara Jordan, Ann Richards, LBJ, and the Great Society. We’re the state that put breakfast in a taco.”
As a brief aside, while I love the enthusiasm, I can’t let that “put man on the moon” comment pass. While it is certainly true that Texas gave us the breakfast taco—one of the great achievements of modern humanity—Apollo 11 was not launched from Texas, but from Launch Complex 39A at Cape Canaveral, Florida. Just saying.
But it is Talarico’s message on the economy, echoing Mamdani’s, that deserves special attention:
"You cannot tax the rich enough to build a high-functioning democracy ... the problem is wages. The median full-time worker today earns in the range of $60,000 a year. If that person had maintained their same share of the economy since 1975, instead of earning $60,000 a year, they'd earn close to $120,000 a year."
Now there’s a statistic that should resonate with voters. Do we need to bring prices down, or fatten people’s paychecks?
Yes and yes.
Doesn’t sound like communism to me. Sounds like the American ideal.
J.C. Bruce is the founder of Tropic Press. He’s an award-winning journalist and author who holds dual citizenship in the United States of American and his native Florida.
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Agreed 100%.
Stay hopeful and work hard for change.
“It starts when you’re always afraid…”