Don Surber donsurber@substack.com
7:16 AM (8 hours ago)
How Republicans win
It’s the economy, stupid, and the stupid immigration policy.
NOV 24
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Nikki Haley shot herself in her 3-inch heels by calling for the doxxing of pseudonymous posters on Internet sites. She said, “Every person on social media should be verified, by their name. That’s, first of all, it’s a national security threat.”
Jack Shafer summed up her obvious mistake: The idea stinks.
He wrote, “Haley’s education must have forgone not only law but history. The right to anonymous speech goes back to the founding of our country when anonymous pamphleteers made their case for independence. Although not an absolute right, anonymity is bound tightly to the freedom of the press and has proven invaluable to the citizenry, especially the disenfranchised. Haley’s scheme would easily violate certain legal rights to privacy established by the courts (although it should be said that nothing bars private social media outlets, acting on their own, from instituting policies that require users to accurately identify themselves).
“Setting aside all that, how would it work? Haley’s demand that social media companies verify usernames poses several questions. Would this be on the honor system? If so, then it would be useless as it would be easy to give a fake name or, as bars can already tell you, a fake ID. Would it be linked to driver’s licenses or passports? If so, you’d have to verify 1) that the driver’s license or passport is valid but also 2) that it was submitted by its owner. That would prove costly and time-consuming for both users and social media outlets and maybe even bankrupt them. If the site survived, would they turn their backs on international users, who might be too expensive to verify? Does Haley expect social media sites to use facial ID or other biometric data, like fingerprints, which pose monumental privacy problems?”
But pointing out the obvious ignores the bigger problem with her taking on the Catturds of Twitter.
Madame Haley went astray of the two issues that should sweep Republicans back into the White House with dominant majorities in Congress. It’s the economy, stupid, and stupid immigration policy.
I said should, not would.
This can be done. Bill Clinton figured it out in 1992. Down in Argentina, an anarcho-capitalist used the economy to win the presidency on Sunday.
The Conversation reported, “When Javier Milei’s opponent in the 2023 Argentinian elections conceded victory on Sunday night it was obvious that the maverick libertarian economist was going to win big. And he did: once counting finished on Monday, Milei had taken 56% compared to 44% for his opponent, former finance minister Sergio Massa — in doing so he won the most votes in any election in Argentine history.
“In the middle of a savage economic crisis in Argentina, with inflation running at 143% (with forecasts it will rise above 200% by the end of the year) Latin America’s third-largest economy is in intensive care.
“To many of his supporters, Milei represents cambio — change. But how much he can present a clear alternative rather than an angry backlash to the status-quo remains to be seen.”
200% inflation means a tripling of prices (100% means doubling). We are nowhere near that — unless Biden remains in office through 2028. Newsom the Brylcreem governor might do it as well if he gets the nomination that Obama is working for him to get.
The New York Times said it polled voters in six swing states.
NYT said, “Voters, by a 59% to 37% margin, said they better trusted Mr. Trump over Mr. Biden on the economy, the largest gap of any issue. The preference for Mr. Trump on economic matters spanned the electorate, among both men and women, those with college degrees and those without them, every age range and every income level.
“That result is especially problematic for Mr. Biden because nearly twice as many voters said economic issues would determine their 2024 vote compared with social issues, such as abortion or guns. And those economic voters favored Mr. Trump by a landslide 60% to 32%.”
The poll may be psyops to push but Biden out. But look at the target NYT used to undermine Biden: The economy. This shows a vulnerability for Democrats next year.
Their other Achilles heel (he had two heels) are the illegal aliens. Immigration propelled Geert Wilder’s victory in Netherlands on Wednesday. That issue reverberates here. Governor Abbott sent thousands of illegals to Democrat strongholds which now brings the wrath of black voters who threaten to vote Republican, which likely means they will stay home.
In its poll story, NYT said, “Voters preferred Mr. Trump over Mr. Biden on immigration by 12 points, on national security by 12 points and on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by 11 points. And though a 58% majority supported more economic and military aid to Ukraine — which aligns with Mr. Biden’s policy — that did not seem to benefit the president on broader questions of fitness to handle foreign affairs.”
NBC reported on its poll and said, “Republicans now enjoy an 18-point advantage on the question of which political party better handles immigration, with 45% of registered voters picking the GOP and with 27% picking the Democrats.”
That story ran two days before Palestinian soldiers invaded Israel and raped, tortured and murdered more than 1,000 civilians — and in another violation of international law, took 240 hostages.
The Quinnipiac Poll reported, “As the fighting in Gaza intensifies more than a month after Hamas attacked Israel, sparking the Israel-Hamas war, some voters are changing their view when it comes to who they sympathize more with: the Israelis or the Palestinians, led by young voters and Democrats, according to a Quinnipiac University national poll of registered voters released today. Overall, 54% say their sympathies lie more with the Israelis, while 24% say their sympathies lie more with the Palestinians. This compares to Quinnipiac University’s October 17 poll, when 61% said the Israelis and 13% said the Palestinians.”
So why is Haley calling for the USA to import another round of Palestinians?
Fwee-dom, as Kamala would say.
Haley said, “They want to be free from all of that. And America has always been sympathetic to the fact that you can separate civilians from terrorists, and that’s what we have to do. But right now, we can never take our eyes off of the terrorists.”
They only want to be free of Israelis from the river to the sea.
75% of Palestinians support Hamas.
Not to pick on her, but good golly is she out of touch with American voters and the reality of the latest Palestinian War Against Israel.
Democrats know the economy and the open borders are their biggest vulnerabilities. Aaron Blake, one of the flying monkeys at the Jeff Bezos-owned Washington Post, wrote, “Democrats’ border problem is getting real.”
His column said, “While the percentage of those supporting the wall was mired in the 30s for much of Trump’s presidency, recent polls show it suddenly hitting majority support — 52-44 in the Quinnipiac poll and 57-40 in the Fox poll (including 27% of Democrats).”
The party is desperate.
Blake wrote, “The Biden administration recently pressed forward with building the border wall, despite Biden himself having promised not to build any more and continuing to say the wall is ineffective. The administration defended the move by saying it had to do so because of how Congress appropriated money. The decision was greeted with plenty of pushback from fellow Democrats and immigrant advocates.”
Governor Abbott sending illegal aliens to sanctuary cities triggered this split between Democrats who want the invasion to continue and those who see the open borders killing the party’s base.
But it also is the economy, stupid.
Paul Bedard reported, “President Joe Biden’s effort to promote Bidenomics as an inflation cure appears to be backfiring big time, helping former President Donald Trump expand his lead to a near majority of likely voters.
“In the latest monthly McLaughlin & Associates national survey, 84% of likely voters said inflation and higher costs have affected their lives. Of those, 46% said they are struggling to make ends meet.”
Bedard also reported, “In a head-to-head contest, Trump is at his highest level of support in McLaughlin’s survey at 49%. Biden is at 43%.”
Republicans need to focus on the economy and illegal aliens because those are the concerns of voters — and because most Americans trust Republicans to handle those troubles best.
And it goes without saying the party needs to emulate Democrat on early voting and mail-in voting.
