The Republican Party’s closing argument for the midterm election is a bit confusing:
“It’s all about President Trump — unless he angers, appalls or disgusts you, in which case we’ve never heard of anyone named Trump. We have also never heard of policies we’ve voted for repeatedly, such as eliminating the guarantee of health insurance for those with preexisting conditions, or slashing vital programs such as Medicare and Social Security. Please forget that we cut taxes for millionaires and corporations but not for you. And please, please , be terrified of a few traumatized refugees, mostly women and children, somewhere in southern Mexico.” The party then pulls down its pants and babbles unintelligibly before being gently led offstage.
The Democratic Party’s closing argument, by contrast, is simple and compelling: “Stop the madness.”
Just stop it. Vote to give Democrats control of the House, the Senate, governorships, state legislatures, everything. Take a stand for decency, for civility, for sanity — and, in the long run, help the GOP recover the mind it has lost and the soul it has surrendered.Frankly, we'd rather not "help the GOP recover" anything. They're a bankrupt, rotted- out collection of cowards, sociopaths, misogynists, racists, homophobes, authoritarians, etc., etc., and we don't see any reason to believe that either their "mind" or "soul" are recoverable.
Paul Krugman looks at the lies Republicans are telling about menacing caravans supported by Jewish financiers, protecting the health insurance of people with pre- existing conditions, protecting Medicare and Social Security, and their wealthfare tax cuts for the rich and corporations:
The crucial thing to realize is that these aren’t just ugly, destructive lies. Beyond that, they shape the G.O.P.’s nature. It is now impossible to have intellectual integrity and a conscience while remaining a Republican in good standing. Some conservatives have these qualities; almost all of them have left the party, or are on the edge of excommunication.
Those who remain are either fanatics willing to do anything in pursuit of power, or cynics willing to go along with anything for a share of the spoils. And it’s foolish to imagine that there are any limits on how far a party of fanatics and cynics will be willing to go. Anyone who might have had a sticking point, some uncrossable red line of bad behavior, has already taken the offramp.
That’s why a Republican campaign built entirely on lies should itself be a political issue — a reason to vote Democratic even if you want tax cuts. For we’re not just talking about a party selling bad ideas on false pretenses. The addiction to lies has also — let’s be blunt — turned it into a party of bad people.How could a party that has enabled and embraced the likes of Donald "Rump" Trump be anything but a party of bad people?
We have to believe there's still a majority of voters who don't want the Republican madness to continue and that they will take the time to cast a vote to save American democracy on November 6. If anyone sits this one out for whatever reason, or worse, if they vote to keep any Republican in office, they're complicit in the damage that has been and remains to be done by these bad people.
As Robinson said, "Take a stand for decency, for civility, for sanity."
BONUS:
If Republicans have a good night on Tuesday and think they won the midterm on the basis of immigration/xenophobia/race-baiting, just imagine how much Trump is going to turn the dial up in 2020.— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) November 1, 2018
BONUS II: Remember their depravity --
Republicans,— Mikel Jollett (@Mikel_Jollett) November 2, 2018
11 people were KILLED. It was the largest antisemitic attack in US HISTORY.
Your monster of a President is complaining their deaths slowed his MOMENTUM. https://t.co/S3gu2pHWFD
