It is not too early to be thinking about the 2022 midterm elections. What will be the narratives conservatives will campaign on? Where should we expend our efforts to win in the political public square?
Certainly, Donald Trump is thinking the same thing right now. Trump has been huddling with “cabinet members” at his New Jersey golf resort and is planning to “move forward in a real way,” former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said.
“We met with several of our cabinet members tonight, we actually had a follow-up meeting with some of our cabinet members, and as we were looking at that, we were looking at what does come next,” Meadows said Friday night on Newsmax’s “Cortes & Pellegrino” show. See here:
Trump has also been busy endorsing local candidates to build a coalition. A recent Trump win, Mike Carey, a coal lobbyist endorsed by former President Donald Trump, won a crowded primary contest on Tuesday for the Republican nomination to a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio’s 15th district. Donald Trump and his Save America PAC have raised a war chest of $ 102 million to date, proving his intent and strength to influence the 2022 and 2024 election cycles. There is no doubt Trump will play the role of King Maker at the very least.
This author thought we could put on our political strategist hats and see if we can come up with some ideas for conservatives considering the current political environment.
First, it would be useful to understand what the Democratic political strategy would be. As we know, typically, the party that has control of the presidency tends to lose seats in Congress in the midterm elections. So the Democrats’ overall goal will be to not lose their current majorities in the House and Senate. Here would be some key tactics to achieve this strategy.
- Maintain the fear level of Covid to continue state control and enable mail-in ballots for the 2022 elections.
- Stop at all costs any efforts to ensure election integrity by their opposition – stop the audits.
- Raise profiles of any Republicans that oppose the Trump wing of the Republican party – seeking to divide the conservative wing.
- Keep economic stimulus going with endless government packages (using Covid as a rationale) and maintaining Fed low rates to ensure that the economy does not become an issue in 2022.
- Continue the push for CRT and try to label your opponents as racist.
- Continue to push division and demonization of the Republican voters by labeling them as anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers.
For the Republicans, the strategy obviously would be the inverse of the Democrats’. By taking back the House and/or the Senate, Republicans then can block the Biden agenda until he can be voted out and replaced in the 2024 presidential elections. Here would be some key tactics to achieve this strategy.
- The talk of a 3rd-party for the 2022 midterms elections is most likely too late, and hence the focus would be to reform the Republican party for conservatives – 2024 may be an open topic depending on the results of the 2022 midterm elections.
- Continue the election audits to drive toward improved election integrity laws.
- Work toward vetting and electing “dedicated” conservatives in Republican primaries – Trump has already been active in this activity – see here. In typical primary elections, voter turnout for midterms is less than 20%, and it is around 50% for the general midterms. This needs to change.
- As always, it is “the economy stupid.” Inevitably the Biden economic policies have and will put America at risk. One would have to be living in a cave to not see the shockingly high inflation statistics and anemic growth relative to the stimulus applied. Highlighting these Biden economic failures and proposing alternatives may be key in winning the economic debate.
- Continue the battle at the local level in schoolboards over CRT opposition – see here an example. This issue is gaining traction.
- Boldly Engage locally. Hold Town Hall Meetings and effectively communicate and undo the indoctrination on issues like; Income Inequality, Education as a civil rights issue. Capitalism v Socialism. identity politics, racism and division, and basic Civics. Conservatives must go into the inner -cities, universities, entertainment venues and make the case for effective policies concisely and by being relatable.
- Some have advocated for massive conservative protests. Normally this is not a bad strategy, but after the events of January 6, it may be counter-productive – they may get infiltrated and extend the oppositional narrative. Resources and activities may be more useful in other areas, except in local areas where they can have local effects.
- Build alternative media and social media to drive conservative organization and key messaging. Consider joining the Right Wire Report Strike Force team (receive our newsletter of specific actions conservatives can do) and be a member of the Right Wire Report (register here) and other good conservative media participants.
Messaging is key in any political endeavor. The key message should be simple, positive, and exude the aspiration of your political movement. One typically needs one to three themes, sometimes called “campaign slogans” that voters can rally around. Here is a set of three key suggested conservative messaging initiatives for 2022.
- America First – a policy stance that generally emphasizes national patriotism and a non-interventionist foreign policy. This extends to economic reciprocal trade agreements and lawfully immigration policies, thereby boosting local growth and employment.
- American Unity – The “culture war” accelerated under the Obama administration and has been one of the key tools of the Left, that has driven massive social conflict that has divided America. America must reunite and rebuild social cohesiveness amongst all people. Renewed efforts that include stronger free speech initiatives (opposition to section 230) and opposition to CRT and the Marxist BLM organization would be paramount.
- Sound Money – the idea of moving to a more fixed monetary system under a potential new Fed directive. Trump has briefly spoken of this before – see here. Sound Money policies would begin to force governments to live within budgets reducing deficit spending, making government smaller, and thereby reducing wealth inequality to help the poor and minorities.
Politics can be fickle – strategies and tactics will change as needed. Hence, one always will need to stay nimble with the times. Here are some threats and risks that may change the narrative prior to the 2022 midterm elections.
- The pandemic continues to dominate our quality of life and increases as a threat as more mutant variants or vaccine-specific issues, or both, change the narrative with new Biden lockdowns and other tyrannical initiatives. This will fuel the present highly political societal climate.
- A geopolitical event that could start an overseas regional war. Or a natural disaster or manmade of major proportions (electric grid failure or supervolcano).
- A continued economic downturn that prompts a sudden extreme crisis driving even more social dis-cohesion and hardship.
One clear theme emerges – Donald Trump, if he runs, is running on his America First theme. Already many candidates are lining up behind it. Now it is your turn to play political strategist. Give us your thoughts in the comment section below. Perhaps Trump’s team can glean some ideas from this article and your comments …
RWR original article syndication source.
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