Erick-Woods Erickson:

The Democrats’ doddering old fool and Fabulist-in-Chief spoke in a part-time train station turned full-time homeless shelter [Wednesday] night to rally progressives. He tried the same approach in Philadelphia on September 1, 2022. Shortly thereafter, Democrats’ polling collapsed, and Republicans retook the lead in the generic ballot.  This time, he did it with gusto before a soft blue background and a crowd of partisans instead of with two Marines and red whorehouse lighting.

On Wednesday night, he did not do as he did the day before in Florida, i.e., claiming he went to a historically black college (he did not), or that his son died in Iraq (he did not), or that he met the inventor of insulin (he did not), or that war in Iraq (he meant Ukraine) provoked the current crisis (it did not), or that Putin is to blame for global inflation (he is not), or that Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz is a senator (she is not).

Instead, he claimed democracy itself is under attack.  It is not.

He did not talk about inflation, crime, or the economy — the issues voters care about. He gave a speech written by a progressive twenty-something Twitter warrior ready to win tweet of the day, not the election, before fleeing to China’s TikTok to escape the reign of Elon Musk. And Biden half-assed that speech with his caveats and carveouts of “the extreme MAGA element of the Republican Party, which is a minority of that party,” which is a hell of a concession in a speech designed to be about this minority. “There are more than 300 election deniers on the ballot all across America this year,” but he won’t name any of them, including the ones his party funded, nor will he tell you there are over 10,000 races across the country on the ballot this year.

The only thing Biden’s angry speech will do is mobilize anti-Democrat turnout on Election Day, with no added incentive to turn out his own side, which is not turning out at the rate they need. A group of progressives who already think democracy is under attack and still aren’t voting will not suddenly go vote because Grandpa Dementia told them one more time than Joy Reid already had. But a group of independent voters who hate both sides with a passion might now be inspired to give Biden a middle finger for, on his second try at this, still ignoring the baby formula, the gas, the groceries, and the looming recession.

Biden might have cost the Democrats their New Hampshire Senate seat where there is no early voting, an already enthusiastic Republican pool of voters, and even more energy for those voters and fence-sitters.

We know democracy is not under attack because Joe Biden and the Democrats used $46 million to fund the candidates who they claim are attacking democracy.  We know democracy is not under attack because the Democrats have made no effort to calm the currents of contretemps rushing through the nation.

Were democracy actually under attack, Democrats would have sought consensus instead of contentiousness.  They would not have rushed to force schools to accept boys into girls’ locker rooms. They would have relied on federalism.  They would not have rushed a massive spending bill through Congress that provoked inflation. They would have worked with Republicans to narrowly craft a package.  They would not have told Americans who cannot afford new cars to buy electric ones and make sure not to plug them in between the hours of 5 and 9 pm in California. They would have worked to expand fossil fuel production domestically. They would not have focused on abortion with no restrictions and January 6th. They would have worked to end the supply shortage of baby formula, which even now remains a problem. They would not have passed an “Inflation Reduction Act” that doesn’t reduce inflation.   They would have focused on the economy and not wrecking it.

In August of 2021, President Biden withdrew American troops from Afghanistan.  Donald Trump wanted the same outcome but was smart enough to listen to his advisors and delay the withdrawal until the winter when the Taliban hunker down in the mountain snows.  We now know with certainty that Biden’s advisors told him not to withdraw during the fighting season but to wait for winter.  Dogmatically, Biden demanded a withdrawal during the fighting season, and the Taliban swept into Kabul while we were still there, even as Biden said they would not.

Thirteen Americans died, and hundreds of Americans were left behind.  For the first time, an American President abandoned American citizens behind enemy lines willfully, knowingly, and expressly against the advice of his advisors.  Then he lied, blamed others, and denied it. “My beloved Beau,” was not the apology the families of the fallen and forgotten wanted.

The American people saw a President who lacked the empathy he claimed to have.  He had promised a soft-hearted return to normalcy and instead provoked more international drama and domestic economic carnage, just without mean tweets.

Biden’s polling never recovered.  Time and time again, when given the opportunity to correct, Biden and the Democrats instead insisted either the American public must side with them or democracy itself is under attack.  At every opportunity, instead of empathy for their fellow Americans, Democrats expressed antipathy.  After Terry McAuliffe lost the gubernatorial race in Virginia to now Governor Glenn Youngkin, Democrats should have learned two things.  First, do not make the 2022 midterms about Trump.  Second, work like hell to reverse their policies on schools.

History is not on the side of the incumbent White House party. Losing Virginia reiterated that history was coming for the Democrats. They needed to mitigate that history. On multiple occasions, fate itself offered up opportunities to pivot, but Democrats doubled down on asininity.

Biden went with “Ultra MAGA” Republicans and hugged the teachers unions so close one would have thought Randi Weingarten, the head of the American Federation of Teachers, was a teenage girl.  When the parental backlash began, the Democrats claimed parents were domestic terrorists, like Republicans, but worse.  Then they walked it back, pretended it never happened, and lied — claiming they were really the ones who wanted schools reopened.  Much like Democrats claim they were always the party of freedom and the Republicans were always the party of slavery, Democrats now claim they were always the party of open, maskless schools, and Republicans were the ones who shut it all down. And can they get an amnesty, please and thank you? “Sorry, we wouldn’t let you hug your grandma before she died. Bygones!”

Nothing has worked.  The Supreme Court handed them a gift with the Dobbs decision, ending Roe v Wade.  Women started returning to the Democrats.  But then Democrats got ghoulish, insisting there could be no limits on abortion ever, a position that polls more extreme than the Republican position.  Kids’ educations were at stake; their parents’ 401(K)s looked like Rome after the Visigoths entered; and suburban communities rang out with gunshots while Democrats yelled on television, “Crime? What crime, you scaredy-cat racists?”  The women pivoted back to the GOP just in time to see the Democrats, who told them high prices were no big deal, complain about $8.00 monthly for a blue checkmark on Twitter.

So here, at the end of the midterms, Democrats return to screams about democracy.  They funded many of the supposed threats to democracy who will beat them.  They will learn nothing and forget nothing.  After all, it is you, not them, that is the problem. Just ask them. Actually, no need; in less than a week, on MSNBC, they’ll tell you.

Veronique de Rugy:

Republicans want to take over Congress and come Tuesday they might get their wish. Assuming they win both the House and Senate, they will face enormous challenges: a country still heading into a recession, inflation still high and rising, government deficits and debt as far as the eye can see, regulations strangling the production of energy, and much more. For these reasons, I offer some suggestions of what a victorious GOP should do over the next two years.

It’s no secret that inflation isn’t getting better. The latest numbers show that core inflation continues to rise, closing the door on the prospect of a speedy return to the Federal Reserve’s 2 percent target. Meanwhile, workers see the prices of food and rent going up quite dramatically, while their real wages go down. Whether they feel like they created the problem or not, Republicans should make the fight against inflation their top priority.

As we all know, the main tool available to the Fed is to increase interest rates and trim its balance sheet in hopes of lowering the nationwide “aggregate” demand for goods and services. High interest rates raise borrowing costs for both private actors and the government. While there isn’t much Congress and the president can do to ease the inflation-fighting effort’s burden on the private sector (sending checks to people fuels more demand and higher prices!), there is plenty they can do on the budget side.

First, Congress and the White House must trim government spending. With debt at 100 percent of GDP, it’s time to act. Our priority should be the drivers of our future debt: Social Security and Medicare. Republicans need to be the adults in the room making the case that high inflation, with another debt ceiling crisis on the way, requires a commitment to reforming these programs.

Directly relevant to the fight against inflation, other spending cuts are essential to deal with skyrocketing interest payments caused by the higher interest rates on our growing debt. This means that absent significant action, the Treasury Department will have to issue even more debt. Deficits will then further expand, which will further fuel inflation.

Second, when the fiscal bill comes due, and when unemployment rises and the economy slows because of the Fed’s action, Republicans may be tempted to pressure chairman Jerome Powell to stop jacking up rates. Don’t do it. Whether Powell has the backbone to continue fighting inflation in the face of palpable financial or economic hardship—and the corresponding political pressures—is questionable. Unfortunately, if he caves to the pressure and pauses to let the rate hikes work their way to reduced inflation—or, worse, if he agrees to stimulate the flailing economy by lowering rates and reengaging in quantitative easing—he will reignite inflation.

Republicans should follow the lead of President Ronald Reagan who, in the early 1980s, put no pressure on Paul Volcker to stop fighting inflation and let him stay the course. The cost was steep, but the alternative would have been worse. The same is true here.

There is a lesson from these high inflation episodes, which Republicans can turn into a policy goal. It’s becoming obvious that once we have high inflation, containing it is always painful. As such, the only role of the Fed starting today should be price stability. That means demanding that it abandon other ill-fitting objectives like “inclusive growth” and fighting climate change.

Meanwhile, there are a few things Republicans shouldn’t do. For instance, they should stay away from the bloated “family-friendly” programs social conservatives are so fond of. As economic study after economic study show, these programs will backfire and make the lives of families harder. Paid leave programs, for instance, reduce beneficiaries’ employment and opportunities for promotion. Extending child tax credits will create further disincentives to marry and work. Child care subsidies make the supply of child care more, not less, expensive. These programs will also add to the budget deficit at a time when Congress should work especially diligently to reduce the debt. They’re no way to cope with inflation.

Finally, Republicans should govern like adults rather than seeking revenge like ill-trained children. That means abstaining from launching investigations against their Democratic opponents. Going after political adversaries is fun, especially when you’ve been on the receiving end of their own investigations. But “Investigating the Dems” is not on the top of most voters’ concerns this election season. Neither is “Owning the Libs.”

So, Republicans, you want to be in power. Can you handle it?