Democrats must play hardball to survive 2022 midterms | Opinion

It's astonishing to watch Republicans throwing public education, free speech, LGBTQ rights, parental rights, abortion rights and corporations like Disney under the bus, along with fair elections, voting equity, telling the truth and obeying the law. Imagine all of America subjected to the casual cruelty and hypocrisy of a Ron DeSantis or a Greg Abbott.

This might be good politics to win the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, but much of the country is looking on in horror.

If Democrats and their like-minded allies want the America they love to survive, they need to fight and win – starting with the Nov. 8 elections for 35 senators, 36 governors and all 435 House members. So far, they’ve been heading toward Armageddon armed with plastic butter knives and major accomplishments that voters know nothing about. But there are signs the party's aversion to hardball could be changing.

New mission for best-selling novelist

“I’m afraid our side of this is being too nice in their use of the language. The other side doesn’t care. They will say anything. They will accuse people of being child molesters. That’s as low as it gets,” best-selling author Don Winslow told me Monday.

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This week he is launching both a book tour (for the organized crime thriller “City on Fire”) and an all-in mission to help Democrats win elections. He has already written the final two books in the new “City” trilogy and, as he said in a retirement announcement, he now plans to devote all his time to his sideline of making political videos: “Democrats don’t yell loud enough about their own accomplishments and we don’t yell loud enough when Republicans break the law.”

Winslow and I are among the millions who see this as yet another existential moment for the country. The question is how to convey that urgency to millions more – to make clear that the GOP is not a normal party anymore, and that 2022 is not a normal election.

Michigan State Sen. Mallory McMorrow delivered a viral five-minute wake-up call to her slumbering party after a Republican colleague accused her by name of wanting to "sexualize" and guilt-trip children: Do not say nothing when, because you acknowledge and respect differences instead of trying to erase them, conservatives accuse you of being groomers and pedophiles. Do not say nothing when, because you believe everyone should understand U.S. racial history, conservatives accuse you of wanting white children to feel responsible for slavery and racism.

Instead, define yourself, define the threat and concede nothing.

McMorrow made powerful points in her floor speech about her own values as a white, Christian, suburban mom. She also made an important point to The Washington Post: “We need to reach out to everybody and tell them, there’s hate and then there’s people who want to make the government work, and that’s the choice.”

Making the government work is not an easy sell when former President Donald Trump and a half-dozen 2024 wannabes are generating one outrageous headline after another in their competition to discredit the 2020 election and roll back the whole 21st century. How many people know that under President Joe Biden, job growth is setting records, unemployment claims are at a 53-year low, and the federal deficit plummeted from $1.7 billion for October 2020 to March 2021 to less than half that – $667 million – in the past six months?

Conservatives used to care about things like that, but many of them don’t anymore.

Democrats do still care about government policies, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts is talking about what her party can still accomplish this year on issues like student loan debt, climate change and help for families. Success in these areas could spark some enthusiasm among the young people and people of color the party needs to turn out.

But Warren’s best covered line of late is when, on CNN, she called House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy “a liar and a traitor” for saying after the deadly attack Jan. 6, 2020, on the Capitol that Trump had acknowledged some responsibility and should resign – then denying he ever said that until audio proved he did.

Winslow praised McMorrow and Warren for their straight talk and also applauded Utah Democrats who concluded that saving democracy was more important this year than party loyalty: They ditched their own Senate candidate to endorse CIA veteran Evan McMullin, a former Republican who ran for president in 2016 as an independent, as the best hope in their conservative state to beat GOP Sen. Mike Lee, who was involved in early attempts to overturn Biden's win.

"We're living in this world with no consequences," Winslow said. "Generally speaking, whoever's best to defeat these guys, go for it."

Winslow: Don't quit Twitter over Musk

Since Winslow announced his plan last weekend to expand his video operation and finance it entirely himself, he said he has been contacted by tens of thousands of people, including celebrities and political figures. He wouldn’t name names except to note that Jeff Daniels and Bruce Springsteen have been supportive in the past. He’s aiming for national and state-specific videos and 1 billion online views by the election, four times what he has so far, on whatever subjects – voting rights, book bans, lies, accountability – he thinks need attention.

The goal is to motivate people to work for candidates, donate to them and, of course, vote. He points to 10 million video views in Pennsylvania before Biden won the state by more than 80,000 votes: “I hope we had some effect. We’ll be strategic about it.” How about TV or cable buys? “I would never say never.” Will he have political advisers? “I kind of know what I think,” he said, but added that “I’m always open to listening.”

As he embarked on a 23-city publicity tour for "City on Fire," which is already on its way to becoming a movie, Winslow also urged followers to tweet out a Biden achievement every day. (And please don't quit Twitter over Elon Musk, he has tweeted repeatedly, calling the platform too valuable to cede to Trump and his acolytes.) For the most part, however, he's a pugnacious advocate for taking the gloves off and being as blunt as possible.

“No more of this when they go low, we go high. When they go low, I'm already going to be there waiting,” he said Saturday in a tweet that drew over 55,000 "likes."

Jeff Glor of CBS News recently asked Winslow whether he's fueling an atmosphere of anger. “These people are bullies," Winslow replied. "I have no problem, metaphorically speaking, punching them in the nose. It needs to happen.”

Jill Lawrence is a columnist for USA TODAY and author of "The Art of the Political Deal: How Congress Beat the Odds and Broke Through Gridlock." Follow her on Twitter: @JillDLawrence

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Elon Musk's Twitter is right place for Trump resisters: Don Winslow