Republican Talking Points

To better understand Trump supporters and other republicans that simply vote that way has to do with the ‘R’ after his name. I spent some time recently reading the WSJ, Newsmax, National Review, and Fox News to better understand their perspective. It was also worthwhile to spend time carefully reading the comments section of the various online resources. Many commenters are non-journalists but yet have something to say. As I read many, many comments, one thing that came to mind was the repeated ‘talking points’ used in the comments section. Even though these talking points have been debunked by impartial organizations, they are still used by journalists and others. Below please find several talking points I expound on in this article.

REPUBLICAN TALKING POINT I: Trump 2020 campaign senior adviser Kayleigh McEnany recently said that Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden for “hiding in the basement” for the majority of his campaign.

Just to iterate, it’s talking point I. With the pandemic on its second (or third wave), the 2020 election is unlike any other recent Presidential campaign. Just because Joe Biden was working from his basement for some time doesn’t mean he’s hiding -- some would argue he was being safe during the latter part of the campaign and acting rationally and prudently. Interestingly, many Republicans repeat this statement without providing the context that he was working from his basement so it’s not as though he’s hiding in a corner afraid to make a public appearance. It doesn’t matter as some republicans who want to smear Biden will continue this talking point by taking it out of context. One more thing about being safe, it was Donald and Melania who got the Coronavirus and our POTUS had said earlier this year that it would just magically go away in the spring. So the hope of acting rationally and safe during these challenging times sets a positive tone in our country moving forward.

REPUBLICAN TALKING POINT II: Why do lefties hate successful people, i.e., people who have worked and have money to show for it??

According to many on the right, the lefties hate successful people. It’s important to realize this talking point has a lot of tire wear. It's something one can read among many political articles, especially among the conservatives. What a broad statement to make! Close to 80 million Americans voted for Joe Biden (the most votes ever cast for a Presidential campaign) in the 2020 campaign. Is it fair to say that all of these millions of Americans who may not vote or think like you actually hate successful people? I don’t quite see it that way from my vista.

Also, the commenter said, “Why do lefties hate successful people, i.e., people who have worked and have money to show for it? Is this a criticism of one’s work ethic? In my mind, America still has a work ethic, and this applies to both sides of the aisle. Most of us appreciate the privilege of working hard and providing for our family, again, regardless of one’s political stripe.

Being glib, it appears there are more lefties than righties at this time so if all people need to be interviewed or talked to even if we take a short-cut and grab a representative sample size and predict the outcome, would that suffice? On second thought, with the cold winds beginning to blow on pollsters, maybe the sampling process will be postponed.

REPUBLICAN TALKING POINT III: The Democrat progressives go into a fetal position or riot and loot when their utopian government plans fail, as they have failed this election.

Just to be transparent, this comment was made days after the election. He was referring to the idea that the Biden and Harris ticket actually lost this election. I’m hopeful he tries to have an open mind with the Biden administration once the thorough presidential transition begins to materialize.

I’ve heard a lot of chatter on Democrats wanting to destroy this country by looting or rioting if their utopian government fails or policies are enacted that don’t benefit cities.

Two things here, I don’t see Democrats wanted to create a utopian government. There are many current challenges we face as a nation and based on Biden’s campaign pledge, there’s so much work to steer America back on the tracks. At this point in our history, pragmatism beats idealism by the length of the Washington Mall. That means, considering the last 4 years, we need to get back to basic governing to try to serve the entire constituency. Also, Biden has promised to work on behalf of all Americans and weeding out some of the divisiveness over the past several years in D.C.

The second point, I’ve read dozens of articles and input on comment sections that suggest all civil unrest in American urban centers involve looting and rioting. Indeed, there have been some rioting in city streets by some protestors but at the same time, there were many peaceful protests too. It’s disingenuous to ignore a nuanced approach and say all those who take to the streets are behaving unlawfully, however, looting and rioting will be given so much more press conference to assist in corporate media's bottom line.

Again, rioting captures more eyeballs than peaceful protests. Besides, blood sells more papers. I’m not sure if the media has accurately covered the civil unrest in urban areas. It would be extremely useful if larger urban areas tracked local civil rights protests over the last 9 months. If we had that data, we could better parse the percentage of peaceful protests over violent ones. Having more information may change the narrative but again, corporate media is typically driven by profits so a little blood or broken storefronts will be front and center.

REPUBLICAN TALKING POINT IV: The democrat controlled public schools have produced a population largely incapable of deciding what is best for themselves and their families. They have been taught to obey. And not to question. And not to think for themselves.

Some swaths of the population will vote democratic or republican based on how they were raised or how their friends vote. Having said that, many voters still have an open mind for whom to vote. Getting back to education, I want to target in particular younger voters in the 2020 election. The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) at Tufts University shows that youth voter turnout (ages 18 to 29) surged by around 8 percent this year compared to 2016.

If indeed this commenter is correct that democratic controlled public schools produce citizens who can’t decide for themselves, then how does it explain that in the 2020 election there was an increase of 8 percent (from 2016) among young people voting in the Presidential election? Were they merely brainwashed to do so? Did that just automatically happen or perhaps some of these individuals became more educated about the overall Presidential election as they realized the potential consequences of not doing so.

Regarding how young people voted, 62 percent for Biden and 35 percent for Trump. Many Millennials and under 40 folks are frustrated over the last 12 years or so, especially the most recent 4. The majority of Millennials were unhappy and angry with Trump’s victory in ’16 but after a year or two of his administration, they were even more motivated to vote. They saw very little support from this administration and considering health care costs, unemployment, housing costs, and high student loans, and knew it was time for a change. One could argue that educated young people were required to take a civics class in high school and maybe also in college. Regardless of this particular comment, I suspect thought and questioning did apply to many of these Americans who supported Biden.