In describing Republicans as “weird” during an MSNBC interview last month, Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz went viral, raising his national profile just as Kamala Harris was mulling over the selection of her running mate — and gifting Democrats with a smart new line of attack.
The insult is less disparaging than Hillary Clinton’s infamous “basket of deplorables” comment in 2016, more effective than the recently shuttered Biden campaign’s threat-to-democracy messaging, and, above all else, accurate.
Smart Policy, Straight to You
Don't miss the newsletters from MI and City Journal
If “weird” is to be understood as unpopular or outside of the mainstream, then much of the GOP’s socially conservative agenda is indeed weird. Or at least unexpected.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. Recent polling from the Manhattan Institute suggests that while most voters support left-leaning policy prescriptions on abortion and gun control, clear majorities oppose racial preferences, are pro tough-on-crime policing and prosecution and exhibit intense skepticism toward sex-based medical procedures for minors.
The GOP’s opportunity is obvious. The party need not run away from the culture war, but it must choose its battles wisely.
Continue reading the entire piece here at the New York Post
______________________
Jesse Arm is the director of external affairs and presidential initiatives at the Manhattan Institute.
Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images