By Ray Cardello for November 25, 2022 Season 14 / Post 33

There is a term that Democrats have used profusely during the Midterms to describe most Republican candidates, especially those supported by Donald Trump. This label was an unfair character assassination. Some Republicans still question the outcome of the 2020 Election. With all the irregularities uncovered and proven in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Arizona, and Georgia, examining the results is not beyond reason. We may be election cynics, but denier is a gross stretch.

The hypocritical nature of these claims is that Hillary Clinton has written a book and made a career of speaking engagements since 2016. Nobody has a problem with Clinton claiming the Election was stolen by President Donald Trump. She has been playing the victim for six years. Stacey Abrams has refused to concede the Election won by Governor Kemp in Georgia. These two women define denier, but nobody calls them out for their actions. Somebody saying there is no way that Joe Biden got 80+ million votes is a Right-Wing Radical Extremist not deserving of holding office. There is no consistency, but the plan worked, and the voters bought the message.

There is no logical reason that the midterms turned out as they did. With the state of the country and the dismal performance of Joe Biden, the Republicans should have produced better results. They should have won a clear-cut majority in the House and possibly turned the Senate. The messaging and not the performance generates results, and the Democrats are superior in their messaging. It also helps to have the media and money on your side.

In politics, like life, the fish stinks from the head down. The messaging for the Democrats started with Joe Biden. The use of the term Mega MAGA obviously was not a Biden original. But that is to be expected of the Plagiarist in Chief. Whenever Biden found a microphone this fall, he worked the moniker into his remarks. He demeaned half the country by calling all Republicans election deniers and linking them to January 6. It got old quickly, but the repetition certainly impacted the electorate.

We all remember Biden’s famous “Dark Red” speech flanked by two Marines in their dress blues. It was insulting to the Right but worked magic with the Left. The address was a new low for the President, but the results were exactly what he intended. The media and every Democrat candidate jumped on the Mega MAGA bandwagon. Election deniers and negativity became the Party’s keynotes, and it successfully minimized the Midterm changes to Congress. The Democrats held the Senate and barely lost the House. What was to be Red Tsunami became a Red Trickle.

Elections have been ugly for many cycles, but the 2022 Midterms set the bar very low for the future. Money flowed from state to state depending on the most recent polling numbers. Democrat money was spent on their candidates and the Republican candidate the Dems thought would be the weakest opponent. It is a new “legal” form of election tampering. It all worked, which is sad for the future, especially if these tactics become the new norm.

Elections and politics have always been a bloodsport, and it creates a high level of anxiety to follow them closely, but it is necessary that we get our side of the story out. The messaging of the Right will have to be a grassroots effort. The media will never cooperate with the Republicans. They will turn on Biden, but that is self-preservation and necessary to make room for Gavin Newsome, the new hope and golden boy. But they will always carry the water for the Left. We need to formulate our messaging and delivery; the urgency could not be more significant.