On January 2nd I published an article entitled, Donald Trump Is On The Fall Ballot. The title tells you pretty much all you need to know and if you haven’t already, you can go back and read it. Cherished friend and loyal reader Jeff McKnight posted a great remark that reads in part “…I think the Democrats should be focusing on Marjorie Taylor Greene, Paul Gosar, Matt Gaetz et al…Is this what you want your country to look like?” Jeff has an important point and I want to expand on it for a few paragraphs.

It’s not just Trump that is on the 2022 ballot but the whole clown car. (The “et al” in Jeff’s remark is far from empty rhetoric!) If the Republicans are successful in November the clown car (I apologize to clowns) will have many more passengers.

What I gather from people much more skilled at projecting House races than I am, most of the well known (to political followers at least) right wing nutcases, like those mentioned above, are in safe GOP districts and since almost all the Republican primary challengers are coming from the Trump camp they will not face a primary challenge and therefore will be reelected. That said, they are still useful targets for Democrats nationwide. While Trump is the lead and best known villain that doesn’t mean a Democratic candidate can’t portray the other nutcases and their opponent as Trumpers in a birds of a feather metaphor.

For decades the GOP has been great at consistent messaging. This is an opportunity to turn it against them. They have no policy, (as illustrated by the lack of a platform from their 2020 convention), and simply parrot whatever comes out of Mar-a-Lago. Simply open the audio of an ad with a sound bite of Trump, followed by a sound bite of your opponent, then a sound bite of one of the nutcases and ask the voters what the difference is? Anyone who is open minded enough to be persuadable will come to the conclusion that there is no difference. Anyone who is predisposed to vote for you but needs to be motivated to actually show up will be angered and anger is the best motivation for most American voters.

The only “fly” I see in that “ointment” is that most Americans have about a 30 second political attention span. Therefore, you can’t pound away at this with a plethora of examples. Since most commercials are 30 second spots this is perfect.

Neither linking Republicans to Trump or to the other nutcases is a total strategy; but they are both plays in the game plan. Remember in politics every time you define the debate you are winning by causing your opponent to play defense. Thanks Jeff, you make an excellent point!

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