The mid terms are this Tuesday. Thankfully the political commercials will be over……for now. The Republicans are going to get hammered and deservingly so.
Here is why. Affordability. We went to Pete’s#6 in Easley the other night. Two Hamburger Steak Plates with no drinks and a extra baked potato. They hit me for $ 32 bucks. Below is a Pete’s #6 menu in 2020. A Hamburger Steak Plate is $ 8 bucks.
I remember in 2024 the Trump campaign ran an ad with a neat little closer: Kamala was for “they/them,” and President Trump was “for you.” The political ad was very effective. Those were the days and we all including myself believed it. A John Stewart clip came across my Twitter feed and he played that ad. John Stewart who I have always had a love /hate relationship with pointed that out that the ad left one small detail thing out. President Trump never said who “you” was.
I think two years later we have our answer. It’s probably not the person at the kitchen table reading the grocery receipt like a ransom note.
To be fair, the president does have an economic message: it’s a golden age. The economy is “roaring like never before.” Inflation is “dead.” If prices are high, that’s Biden. If prices are going down, that’s Trump. If prices are going up two years into his term, that’s a hoax.
Political slogans are promises with the specifics filed off. “For you” worked because every voter could fill in the blank with themselves: the trucker, the nurse, the retiree in Powdersville balancing the checkbook. The trouble with leaving a blank is that eventually someone else fills it in. For two years it has been filled in by people who never had to worry about the price of eggs.
If “you” are a billionaire, congratulations. You’ve had a terrific couple of years. If “you” are in oil and gas, the president would like you to know you’re making hundreds of billions of dollars. He said so at a rally, apparently on the theory that people filling their tanks would find this comforting. If “you” are a relative with a crypto venture, a generous donor or a gold-leafed ballroom, you have been very well looked after.
If “you” are a retiree watching premiums climb, a small-business owner paying the tariffs, or a family waiting out a war with Iran that nobody campaigned on or someone pissed at a Hamburger Steak Plate cost it turns out the “you” was a typo.
Voters in South Carolina and the whole country have told pollsters for months what they care about: the economy, the cost of living and the war. President Trump has visited SC many times stumping for Darlene Graham. Blood red SC. The more he visits the better Annie Andrews chances of becoming a US Senator becomes. South Carolina is now a toss up. With one week to go, the president went to Michigan to make his closing pitch. He spent it admiring the physique of Nicki Minaj and, for balance, a male Republican senator. He has totally lost his mind.
Every campaign has a closing argument, and most of them try to tell voters what’s in it for them. This one seems to be: the president is having a wonderful time, so isn’t that enough? The president hasn’t changed. The rally riffs, the grievances and the detours are the same act he’s run since 2015. What has changed is the audience’s patience. A show is fun until the ticket price doubles.
Supporters like I have been in the past can argue that “for you” meant concrete policies: extending the 2017 tax cuts, no tax on tips, border enforcement and expanded domestic production. I still say those policies have been good. I say Trump’s off-script rally style is long since worn thin by voters and frankly I am tired of it.
Tuesday is when “you” get to answer back. Stewart begged his viewers to vote and to remember exactly whom the slogan turned out to cover. That’s good advice whichever lever you pull. Before you vote, ask whether you were ever the “you.” If you were, vote accordingly. If you weren’t, the closing message probably wasn’t meant for you either.
The problem for Republicans isn’t that prices are high. Prices have been high before, and presidents have survived it. The problem is that the man at the top keeps telling voters their eyes are lying. Nothing makes a family angrier than doing the math at the kitchen table and then being told by a billionaire on television that the math is fake and that affordability is a made-up word. Maybe they’ll see that they are being pissed on and being told it’s raining.
Midterms are usually hard on the party in the White House. That’s history, and nobody can blame Republicans for history. But history doesn’t write rally speeches and again it doesn’t call the cost of living a hoax, start a unpopular war that some say doubles as a gas tax, or tell a struggling family that their checkbook is fake news.
On Tuesday, voters get to grade the golden age. I should not go to the voting booth with a clothespin on my nose because of the stench of the candidates.
I’m afraid on Wednesday morning, Republican strategists will gather to explain what happened. President Trump will blame the media, the map, the weather, turnout models, Democratic money, history and probably Hillary, AOC, El Sayed. President Trump will look in the mirror and blame everyone but the man looking back at him.
