Democrats will have a 'boatload of material' to use against 'unhinged, out-of-step' Republicans in 2022: conservative

Democratic strategists have been describing Gov.-Elect Glenn Youngkin’s victory in Virginia as a major wake-up call for their party, and “Real Time” host Bill Maher — a scathing critic of former President Donald Trump and the MAGA movement — has predicted that Democrats are going to get “thumped” in the 2022 midterms. But Never Trump conservative and Washington Post opinion writer Jennifer Rubin, in a December 1 column, argues that Democrats have no shortage of damning “material” to use against Republicans in 2022 if they play their cards right.

“Despite Democrats’ natural tendency to lapse into despair, and the media’s insistence that the results of the midterm elections have already been decided, Democrats will have at their disposal a boatload of material to use in upcoming campaigns,” Rubin emphasizes.

According to Rubin, Democrats need to go into the 2022 midterms bragging about their accomplishments while weaponizing all the negative “material” the Trumpified GOP is giving them to work with — and that includes everything from attacks on abortion rights to the hateful comments of “rapid bigots” like Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.

“Republicans have voted against lowering the cost of child care, Affordable Care Act premiums and prescription drugs — all included in the Build Back Better bill,” Rubin observes. “They opposed these items even though they would help to bring inflation under control. Beyond delivering on popular items, Democrats have a rare opening on the culture wars.”

The “opening” that Rubin is referring to is public support for abortion rights at a time when Republicans have ramped up their anti-choice attacks. Rubin notes that according to surveys conducted for the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, EMILY’s List and American Bridge 21st Century, roughly 81% of Americans believe that abortion should be legal in either “all circumstances” or “most circumstances” — 46% said “most,” while 35% said “all.”

On December 1, the U.S. Supreme Court begins hearing oral arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization — and it is entirely possible that Roe v. Wade will be overturned. And Rubin notes that Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire recently warned, “I think if you want to see a revolution, go ahead, outlaw Roe v. Wade and see what the response is.”

Rubin goes on to slam House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy as “spineless” for refusing to stand up to “unhinged” extremists like Boebert and Greene.

“In sum,” Rubin writes, “Democrats’ dual message that they have delivered for voters and Republicans are obstructionists and frightful extremists — e.g., Islamophobic, anti-vaccine, dabbling with violence — remains alive and well. Unlike political newcomers with no track record, Republican incumbents in the House and Senate will have to defend their obstructionism, their cheering for the criminalization of abortion and their unhinged rhetoric.”

Rubin continues, “Certainly, the state of the economy and the pandemic will be most determinative in next year’s elections. But before Republicans break out the champagne in anticipation of the historical pattern of the party in the White House losing seats in Congress, they might consider that there has never been a party as destructive, crazed and out of step with the electorate as this one. History repeats itself — until it doesn’t.”