If we hear one more establishment Republican politician or pundit run their yap about the inevitable “red wave” of Republican victory in 2022 someone is going to get hurt, and it ain’t going to be us.
"House Republicans are targeting 70 Democrat held seats," said Republican House Minority Leader Representative Kevin McCarthy in a fundraising appeal sent by email on Friday.
"We are going to take back the largest House majority in a decade."
"In a cycle like this, no Democrat is safe," said NRCC Chairman Tom Emmer.
"Voters are rejecting Democrat policies that have caused massive price increases, opened our borders, and spurred a nationwide crime wave."
We have a few items of advice for Reps McCarthy and Emmer: First, if you want to win, start branding the Democrats as the anti-God, anti-America, socialists they are. Second, get ready for the most vicious political bloodletting in modern history, because the Democrats aren’t going to go quietly.
Oh, and one other thing: You can’t beat someone with no one. Start recruiting articulate MAGA candidates who can stand up to pressure and survive the scrutiny they are going to get from the media and Democrat opposition researchers.
And finally, stop acting like the Republican Party’s Capitol Hill establishment deserves to win the majority, because you don’t.
The only reason you are in the catbird seat right now is because the Democrats are so bad, and because conservatives have been doing all the work of branding them and fighting them in the media and in the Halls of Congress.
A new poll by John Zogby Strategies, released last week, found that 45 percent of independents want the GOP in charge of the House and Senate, compared to 27 percent who want Democrats to keep their majority. The remaining 28 percent said they were undecided.
The same survey found that Republicans held a three-point advantage, 46 percent to 43 percent, on the generic congressional ballot.
“In my four decades of polling, Democrats need about a five percentage-point advantage [in] nationwide congressional preference in order to maintain a majority of Congress,” pollster John Zogby said in a statement. “With a three-point Republican lead, and a substantial lead among independents, signs are pointing today to the possibility of a big Republican advantage going into 2022.”
The same poll put President Biden’s approval rate at 46 percent, with 52 percent of respondents disapproving of his performance. While Biden’s approval number is higher than in some other recent polls, Zogby noted that 40 percent of respondents said they “strongly” disapproved of the president’s work.
“Even though the diagnostics are pretty tough for the president and Democrats, it’s not because they love Republicans. The Republican Party has terrible standing with the American people,” said John Anzalone, the pollster for Biden’s presidential campaign. “This isn’t people defaulting to Republicans because they like them. And that can catch up to them as the environment changes.”
“I have to remind people that there will probably be, what, $6 billion spent on this election cycle, and we’ll spend $3 billion,” Anzalone continued. “We have something to say.”
Got that House Republican leadership? Voters think Biden and the Democrats suck, and you’re the only alternative.
So, when you see a tweet like this one from Dave Wasserman of the Cook Political Report:
Ask yourself what has the House Republican Conference done to earn the majority?
Have you gotten rid of war mongers like Liz Cheney?
Have you had one key vote where House Republicans didn’t join Democrats in double digits?
What have you done to defend former President Trump against the J6 Committee witch hunt?
What have you done to help free the J6 political prisoners in the DC GULAG, or even mitigate the harsh regime under which they are being held?
What have you done to protect American workers from having their quality of life destroyed by waves of low-wage foreign workers, both illegal and legal?
What have you done to stop the poisoning of our children through the teaching of CRT, the degradation of our culture and forced injections of experimental drugs?
What have you done to stop Biden’s unconstitutional forced vaccination rules?
What have you done to defend the right to life from conception to natural death?
We conservative know you are in the minority, but votes and actions matter, especially by the leadership.
So, Kevin and Tom, if you want to win the majority in 2022, start earning it:
Let’s see one of you at a news conference decrying the treatment of the J6 prisoners.
Let’s see a massive turnout of Republican House members at a news conference opposing funding of CRT in the next continuing resolution.
Let’s see you demand regular order on appropriations and then don’t fold and vote for another CR.
Let’s see a unanimous House GOP Conference oppose the next Democrat baby-killing bill.
Let’s see massive Republican opposition to diluting the wages of American workers through new waves of low-wage foreign workers.
So, Republican leaders, how about you stop acting so cocky and get out there and earn the majority you presently think you are entitled to by knocking a few items off the conservative agenda outlined above. We will be watching and so will the millions of MAGA conservative voters you need to win in 2022.
George Rasley is editor of Richard Viguerie's ConservativeHQ.com. A veteran of over 300 political campaigns, including every Republican presidential campaign from 1976 to 2004, he served as a staff member or advance representative for some of America’s most recognized conservative political figures, including Ronald Reagan, Sarah Palin and Jack Kemp. A member of American MENSA, he served on the House and Senate staff and on the staff of Vice President Dan Quayle. Rasley is a graduate of Hanover College and studied international affairs at Oxford University's Worcester College.
2022 midterm elections
Red Wave
polls
Joe Biden approval ratings
Chuck Schumer
Nancy Pelosi
Kevin McCarthy
candidate recruitment
GOP primaries
Liz Cheney
January 6 prisoners