Republicans Need to Embrace American Identity to Win

1,020 words

We have no idea what the final outcome of the US midterm elections will be, with several crucial races having yet to be called, and nobody is promising anything until next week — and even then, the Chairman of Arizona’s Maricopa County Board of Supervisors is saying, “Don’t hold me to it.” (That’s code for “Ignore this shady stuff and please don’t do another January 6, okay?”)

In the meantime, let’s take a look at four of the most interesting Republican candidates and one who flopped.

Joe Kent, Washington state’s Third Congressional District (not yet called)

Joe Kent is a military veteran who lost his wife in Syria, but for some reason still supports Israel. Despite this, he promotes a non-interventionist foreign policy. He was banned from YouTube for reasons that are unclear, but this should be seen as a positive thing by new Republicans.

He’s an immigration patriot who promised to do his part to build the wall in order to protect American jobs. Things got weird last summer when he learned that Nick Fuentes had endorsed him and couldn’t get rid of it fast enough. Kent disavowed Fuentes and advocated for “inclusive populism.” As a result, America First commentator Vincent James responded by asserting that Joe Kent works for the CIA. Whether this is true or not, his success means that Republican voters are responding to national populism, and this is a good start.

J. D. Vance, US Senator, Ohio (won)

Vance self-identifies as a “conservative outsider” who saw the writing on the wall and did an about-face from being a “Never Trumper” to firmly opposing immigration. On his campaign’s website he writes that “American decline was a choice . . . They chose to flood our country with criminals and drugs” as a result of immigration.

In October, Ohio was in the national news because a 10-year-old rape victim in the state needed to travel to Indiana to get an abortion. Vance’s opponent, Tim Ryan, brought this up in a debate to shame Vance — but this was an egregious mistake, as it turned out that the rapist was an illegal alien. Vance ripped into Tim Ryan: “You voted so many times against border wall funding, so many times for amnesty, Tim. If you had done your job, she would have never been raped in the first place.”

Blake Masters, US Senator, Arizona (not yet called)

Democrat incumbent Mark Kelly had a good run, no doubt in part due to his having been an astronaut. Blake Masters nevertheless outperformed him despite a funding disadvantage (Kelly had $75.5 million compared to Masters’ $9.9 million in the third quarter) by presenting a platform the new Republicans want. Masters names both Black Lives Matter (BLM) and antifa, and he gained points with all those who have noticed America’s racial decline by bravely stating the obvious: Gun violence is a problem with “black people, frankly.”

Kari Lake, Governor, Arizona (not yet called)

Like Masters, Kari Lake is committed to supporting law enforcement, although she doesn’t directly name the BLM and antifa offenders. Her primary campaign focus was instead on election integrity. Maricopa County, Arizona’s largest, gained notoriety in 2021 after an audit revealed that 74,243 more mail-in ballots were included in the final tally during the 2020 Presidential Election than were mailed out. This made things awkward for the county, which today, three days after the election, still has about half a million votes to count.

Lake still expects to win, however. Senior campaign advisor Caroline Wren has provided a walk-through of what to expect here.

Mehmet Oz, US Senator, Pennsylvania (lost)

You can buy Greg Johnson’s Toward a New Nationalism here

Let’s face it: Everybody reading this was googling, “What kind of name is Mehmet”? Dr. Oz is a Turkish Muslim immigrant. He most likely genuinely believes in his stance against immigration, but it perhaps wasn’t the wisest strategy for him to argue for a “barrier” to keep immigrants out, which sound a lot less convincing than “Build the wall.” Moreover, he completely caved in to BLM. When asked if he agreed with BLM, he said, “BLM didn’t do justice to the real struggle we have.” This wasn’t much better than what his primary Democratic opponent, Kathy Bernette, had said when she declared her desire to erect a statue of Barack Obama next to Abraham Lincoln on Capitol Hill.

Oz’s strange kowtowing to Israel is another weak point. Americans are tired of losing family members to “bring democracy to the Middle East.” Nevertheless, Oz has an entire section on Israel on his website’s Issues page, where he claims, “Now more than ever, our dear ally needs partners in the Senate.” Israel currently receives a minimum of $3.8 billion annually from the United States.

Some pundits are bewildered by Oz’s loss to Democrat John Fetterman, who had suffered a stroke and therefore had a hard time even completing sentences during his campaign. It’s not an unfair question to ask if Fetterman is even medically fit to serve. Nevertheless, Fetterman is likeable, while Oz is bland.

Republicans lost a seat here, but the good news is that we have six more years of Fetterman memes.

Conclusion

Donald Trump’s first campaign was so enticing to voters because he talked about the fact that the Republican Party needs to change if it is to survive. This led to the rise of new Republicans, who depart from what the party stood for prior to Trump’s rise. So what sets these new Republican candidates apart from the old Republicans?

• They put “America First,” both in language and protectionist policies;
• They all promise to do their part to “Build the wall” to protect American jobs; and
• They promote law-and-order policies as a response to the 2020 BLM riots and their aftermath.

The Great Replacement activates swing voters. A recent University of Massachusetts Amherst poll found that 60% of Republicans believe America is losing its culture and identity due to immigration, and that 37% of Americans overall, regardless of party affiliation, believe this to be the case.

In order to deliver victories to their constituents, Republicans will need to put America First. A winning candidate will oppose immigration, assert the American identity, defend law and order against BLM and antifa, and end foreign wars.

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