Democratic National Convention should not roll out welcome mat for Republican grifters
You’re reading the Opposing View, one of two perspectives in Today’s Debate.
For Our View, read “Welcome Kasich, other Never Trumpers to Democratic convention.”
When the Democrats trot out former Ohio Gov. John Kasich to speak at their convention this month, it will be in service of convincing Republican stalwarts that former Vice President Joe Biden is a viable moderate alternative to President Donald Trump.
Kasich, along with groups like The Lincoln Project and Republican Voters Against Trump, have emerged as the de facto avatars for the “Never Trump” movement, aiming to persuade voters to choose the path of decorum and centrism that the president has eschewed.
Some will argue that it makes sense to welcome voices from across the ideological divide into their “big tent” if it means thwarting Trump’s chances at a second term. But, put simply, Kasich and the others are political losers who have proved time and again that they aren’t saying what national Republican voters want to hear. By welcoming their endorsements, Biden cements his position as someone with nothing to offer aside from an alternative to Trump.
OUR VIEW: Welcome John Kasich, other Never Trumpers to Democratic convention
Despite hard-line stances on abortion and guns, Kasich framed himself as a folksy, dad jeans-wearing “compassionate conservative” during his own run for the presidency in 2016 — a barely veiled shtick that resulted in him losing badly to Trump nevertheless.
The Lincoln Project has also been sufficiently flambéed by leftists who rightly criticize it for its political impotence, citing a strategy that’s seemingly aimed more at ginning up attention and cash infusions than genuine political influence.
There’s also scant evidence that either prominent Republican defectors or political ads can sway voters in any meaningful way. Why, then, would Democrats so willingly undermine their own stated values in service of shoring up purely theoretical votes?
By rolling out the welcome mat for the same partisans who ceded control of the Republican Party to the Trumpian politics in the first place, Democrats expose their willingness to hop into bed with right-wing grifters at the exact moment when the illiberalism of the past four years under Trump should be compelling them to hold on to their convictions ever more tightly.
Brianna Provenzano is a Brooklyn-based freelance reporter.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Democratic National Convention should not welcome Republican grifters
