Republican Party stands like cows watching a passing train | Opinion

The Republican Party has everything it needs to make its case why voters should choose their candidates. Democrats have handed it to the GOP. But Republican officials seem as comprehending as cows watching a passing train.

Republicans in this election cycle have made the same mistake, and missed the same opportunity, they make or miss every time.

Each political party says it has the answers to America’s problems, and that other party is good only for piling those problems higher. What non-ideologically-driven, average voters need  is evidence presented, explained, understood and believed. But in the maelstrom of attacks and counterattacks, voters wonder who’s telling them the truth.

Voters clubbed Republicans in large part because of President Donald Trump. Basing a vote on Trump is easier than studying issues local, state, or national. An illustration: a social media meme shows a woman on one side of the panel, a man on the other. In the first panel she says, “I stand with Ukraine.” He says, “Be honest.” She says, “I am being honest.” He’s silent. In the final panel, she says: “I don’t care about Ukraine. I just hate Trump.” He says, “Thank you.” Any sentient being knows there are people who mirror the meme. And Trump is often his own worst enemy. He draws needless controversy, says outlandish things, and seems to think that if he insults his enemies enough the average voter will think he’s right.

Reacting negatively to presidents in office isn’t restricted to Trump. When Barack Obama left office, the Democratic Party was in its worst position in a century. “When you tally up their representation in Congress and governorships, the Democrats almost have their lowest representation in about 100 years,” said CNN Fareed Zakaria. Biden and Harris in 2024 took Democrats down to defeat, but Republicans didn’t realize the gains they should have achieved.

America’s cities and states are laboratories to assess the outcome of political policies and positions of blue (Democratic) and red (Republican) states. But there’s a continuing disconnect in voters’ minds that separates what Democrats say they’re going to do vs. the evidence of what they’ve done. The evidence shows that people and jobs are fleeing blue state policies and positions. From Newsweek: “What emerges from the data is not only that red states are winning the domestic migration race over blue states, but also that Republican-leaning states are gaining many more new residents from Democratic-leaning states than the other way round.”

Democrats have been in charge for generations of U.S. cities and states, with results that provide a measurement tool for Democratic Party policies. Among these places are Chicago and Illinois; San Francisco and Los Angeles, California; Baltimore, Maryland; Detroit, Michigan;  Seattle, Washington; New York City, and others. In Chicago’s case, Democrats have held the ring of power for 93 years (socialists are now in the Seattle and New York mayor’s offices).

Each of the mentioned cities or states is losing population, jobs or both. And gas prices? According to AAA, the average price of a gallon of regular gas in the U.S. is $4.14: in California, it’s $5.88. The difference? Democrats. The states with the highest state income taxes are all Democratic Party-run states.

Here’s the salient question: If Democratic Party policies worked where Democrats have been in charge for so long, why aren’t these places havens of economic prosperity and social harmony? Why aren’t people going there rather than getting out of there?

San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie, elected in 2024, inadvertently gave a roadmap for Republican electoral success when he said in a CNN interview, “I mean, we got so entrapped in our progressive values and talking about progressivism, that we weren't taking stock of what was happening on our streets.” The city, he said, “lost its way.”

And that’s how Republicans foul up election chances. The national party flails around like a bad prizefighter, ignoring the fact that his opponent has tied one hand behind his back.

Every aspect of Republican campaigns should hammer the theme that where Democrats have tried, they’ve failed. The message: “You don’t have to live like that.” Make every race, everywhere, a referendum on the performance of Democrats where they’ve been in charge for generations. Not what they might do, not what they say they’ll do, but what they’ve done. In response, who are Democrats going to blame? These are places they’ve called the shots.

The evidence exists. The opportunity is there. Every election cycle. But the cows keep mouthing the same cud as they did in previous elections - and once again, they’re chewing and staring as the train passes by.

George Korda is a political analyst for WATE-TV, hosts “State Your Case” 5-7 p.m. Sundays on WOKI-FM Newstalk 98.7 and is president of Korda Communications, a public relations and communications consulting firm.