… Watching political ads of many Republican candidates, listening to their speeches, and reading their statements, one might easily conclude that we are all surrounded by existential threats to our country, ourselves, and our way of life. …
In fact, our political debate is increasingly dominated by synthetic “issues,” carefully constructed to elicit outrage. These are often built around conspiracy theories or isolated events, some taken out of context, which many average Americans will go through a whole lifetime without ever encountering.
Nevertheless, the party associated with this fear-mongering and needless panic is basically certain to gain ground in the next elections. Democrats have effectively thrown the GOP a lifeline, constructing a ladder for Republicans to climb out of the demographic hole that they’ve dug for themselves. CONTINUED
Charlie Cook
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