Republicans admit the GOP’s midterm forecast is bleak. But they’re clinging to two hopes: voters’ fear and loathing of Democrats.

“It’s going to be a hate election,” a Republican tied to President Trump’s political operation told Axios. “Voters have to hate the Dems more than they hate us. And we have material to work with.”

Why it matters: There’s broad GOP frustration that Trump has made challenging midterm elections worse by not focusing heavily on pocketbook issues — especially the tax cuts Republicans won — while launching the Iran war, which raised gas prices and fueled inflation.

Trump’s prime-time speech Thursday night about China’s alleged influence campaign targeting U.S. voters six years ago did little to assuage those concerns.

“I have yet to understand how we win the midterms by talking about what happened in 2020,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) told Axios.

The Republicans’ plan will probably work too. Hate is the opiate of the masses. Some say its religion, but religion is merely a syringe.

  • muusemuuse@sh.itjust.works
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    1 day ago

    See this is why the democrats are doing nothing. They are letting the GOP hang themselves. Now the only thing the republicans have is “Dems are evil for not stopping us.”

    • Kiernian@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      The democrats are not “doing nothing”, they are once again performing active self-harm by upholding their previous party status quo, which generally RESEMBLES doing nothing (except on rare occasions when it resembles putting the worst possible and least progressive candidate forward, like endorsing a massive transphobe up against a slam dunk nothingburger opponent like ramaswamy in ohio. They could win with anything and anyone, so they picked the candidate that’s the OPPOSITE of what’s causing startling blue victories in other places).

    • I_Jedi@lemmy.today
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      1 day ago

      The voters who want everyone to die approve of the Republican platform. Hate speaks to them, you know?