The Left projects more than a drive-in movie theater. The latest case in point is the febrile effort to stoke the “Trump won’t split” riff.
The Hill on Monday offered a prime example of this regressive riff, this time emanating from MSNBC columnist Mike Barnicle during an appearance on “Morning Joe.” Fraught with intimations of a prospective civil war, Barnicle’s analysis proffered both an electoral dilemma and his solution for it:
One thing we all learned in the year 2000 is that Republicans are good at fixing the way we count ballots in the country. Now, with this furor over mail-in votes, we could be sitting down for Thanksgiving dinner not really knowing specifically who the president-elect of the United States is. So we all have to pray that there’s going to be a landslide for Joe Biden in order to avoid this conflict.
Of course, in 2000 it was the United States Supreme Court that ultimately resolved the Florida recount, which Democrats had hoped to drag out until they could somehow show Al Gore as the winner. But let us not quibble over the past, when it is Barnicle’s proposed solution that gives away the Left’s game.
The Left usually has a method to its madness—at least the Democratic establishment does. The “Trump won’t split” riff has been pushed to accomplish practical political objectives, all of which stem from one elemental problem.
For all the collusion media’s cheerleading and intensifying gaslighting, the Left has an enthusiasm gap. One of the few benefits of the intensity behind the Left’s Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) is that it allows the Left finally to glean, albeit negatively, the ardor Trump’s base has for him. Yet despite all the TDS in its ranks, the Left also is acutely aware their nominee, former Vice President Joe Biden, has nothing like that ardor among his supporters—including regressives and the centrist voters his campaign is courting. Even a TDS-enthralled vegan would find it hard to get enthused about electing a turnip president.
In consequence, the Democrats have a turnout problem. After all, polls mean squat if your voters don’t vote. Cue up the “Trump won’t split” riff.
Following its modus operandi of ascribing its own sins to its opponents, the Left’s resistance to Trump’s 2016 victory is projected onto Trump and the GOP regarding the 2020 election. The Left’s aims are twofold: First, to undermine any attempt by Trump and the GOP to verify any questionable election results, especially given the potential for irregularities with mail-in voting (as distinguished from traditional absentee voting). And second, to maximize Democratic voter engagement, participation, and turnout.
These two aims are concomitant and complimentary. They are not solely about electing Joe Biden president. If a voter is unenthused about the top of the ticket, he or she is far less likely to vote, volunteer, or donate to any campaign. As a result, the Democratic Party is concerned the lack of enthusiasm for Biden will also hinder its efforts to retain the U.S. House, seize the U.S. Senate, and take a host of state and local offices.
This is why the Left is resorting to its same old cynical song and dance of motivating voters through “fear and/or greed.” Just as it has tried to do with its “systemic racism” trope, the Left remains in full fearmonger mode with the “Trump won’t split” riff and its accompanying threat of a constitutional crisis and then . . . well, who can really say?
Fortunately, the polls also show the majority of the public believes the media is biased; and that any post-election violence will come from the Left. Come November, despite the obstreperous Left’s strenuous projecting, the majority of the electorate will tune out the “Trump won’t split” riff and punish a Democratic Party that refuses to condemn—let alone penalize—rioters who believe violence is the answer.
This outcome is good news in general for our free republic and in particular for Barnicle, who can eat his Thanksgiving meal in peace thanks to the coming Trump landslide.