As the midterms inch closer, it seems more and more that the safe victory for the Republican Party many anticipated is increasingly out of the GOP's reach.
The Party's all-out assault on abortion rights seems to have placed it well out of step with the majority of the country.
But after releasing House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy's much ballyhooed "Commitment to America," it's beginning to seem like they may be out of step with their own base, as well if Fox News' Tucker Carlson's unimpressed response is any indication, anyway.
Carlson is an extremist—and you could say the same about the "Commitment to America" as well. But his criticism indicates that the Republican Party's focus entirely on culture wars rather than governing might not be resonating anymore.
During his show Monday night, Carlson snarked the GOP's policy plan for the future has "nothing real in it" that appeals to actual conservatives.
See Carlson's take below.
\u201cTucker: House Republicans just spelled out what they\u2019re running on. It\u2019s a document called the commitment to America. It\u2019s fine\u2026 Have you heard of it? No.. Nobody really cares. Why? Because there is nothing real in it.\u201d— Acyn (@Acyn) 1664237560
Carlson griped the plan doesn't do nearly enough to address "the attacks on the American family that you see every day."
“That’s at the center of most people’s concern. How are my kids? Will they have a life that resembles mine?"
"That was called the America dream. Does it still exist?"
"Will they be able to live the way they grew up? Will they have the opportunities that we had? No."
"People are upset about that. Why wouldn’t they be? But nobody says it.”
The "Commitment to America" does address these issues, but mostly only obliquely and in entirely culture war-focused ways.
It vows to “curb wasteful government spending" and reduce the size of the IRS, but mostly focuses on further attacking abortion rights and those of transgender children, as well as creating a "Parents Bill of Rights" in an effort to escalate attacks on school systems and LGBTQ rights.
The GOP's approach to abortion rights has so far been a boondoggle, inspiring massive waves of female voter registrations even in the reddest states. Their attacks on transgender rights and public school systems continue to gain in popularity, however.
It's most likely that Carlson's real objection to McCarthy's "Commitment to America" is that it simply isn't fascistic enough, and how it will play with the rank-and-file of course remains to be seen.
But Carlson's characterization of the "Commitment to America" as empty is nonetheless telling, particularly given that a re-energized Democratic Party and President has spent the past several monthsgiving vo ters things to vote for instead of against for once. That contrast seems to have at least made Carlson somewhat nervous.
On Twitter, people definitely took notice of Carlson's exasperation with the GOP.
\u201c@Acyn About once a year Tucker tells the truth and this is it: the GOP Commitment to America is just wishy-washy nothingness. \n\nhttps://t.co/epi2eCAGzG\u201d— Acyn (@Acyn) 1664237560
\u201cTucker just flipped out at the House Republicans! Did he not get his paycheck from Vladimir this week? He seems a little angry.\u201d— TheCOLiberal\ud83c\udf32\u00ae (@TheCOLiberal\ud83c\udf32\u00ae) 1664238669
\u201c@Acyn Fox News propaganda relies on continual outrage - telling viewers \u201ctheir America\u201d is under attack from a never ending series of threats (BLM, Antifa, CRT,trans rights, \u201cwoke\u201d, etc) to make viewers feel like they need to protect themselves (and America) from the evil aggressor.\u201d— Acyn (@Acyn) 1664237560
\u201cLol, Tucker just crapping all over Kevin McCarthy's big "Commitment to America" agenda\u201d— Justin Baragona (@Justin Baragona) 1664239421
\u201cWhen you love fascists like Meloni so much that you turn on your own party\u201d— Matt Royer \uea00 (@Matt Royer \uea00) 1664281363
\u201cWhen Tucker Carlson can't even cosign your right wing bullshit, you've got a serious problem.\u201d— Marc X. Adams (@Marc X. Adams) 1664240132
\u201cTucker is upset that the GOP plan isn't intolerant enough.\u201d— C-Bo the Eggman (@C-Bo the Eggman) 1664237856
\u201cUh oh, @gopleader. Tuckums is saying the quiet part out loud. There's nothing in your #commitmenttoAmerica.\u201d— Leland Hermit (@Leland Hermit) 1664238696
\u201cThis is a really weird way for Tucker to admit that Republicans have zero plans for what they'll do if they retake control of Congress and have completely given up on policy making in favor of social war tradcon fearmongering of "look what they took from you."\u201d— William Melvin (@William Melvin) 1664238190
\u201cIt's this courts opinion that the GOP hasn't exactly lost Tucker Carlson. Quite the opposite, Tucker just wants the GOP to be more fascist and uncompromising like Italy's new prime minister. The red meat she's serving is like filet mignon while the GOPs serving slim jims.\u201d— SCOTUS of Public Opinion (@SCOTUS of Public Opinion) 1664243008
As of the most recent polling, the midterms seem to be edging back into favorable territory for Republicans as economic issues begin to overtake abortion rights as voters' primary concern.
Whether or not the seeming disarray within the Republican Party will make a different remains to be seen.
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