Dems’ ‘secret’ strategy for 2018 midterms is out: You’ll never believe what they have planned

By Hombre Sinnombre
Dems’ ‘secret’ strategy for 2018 midterms is out: You’ll never believe what they have planned
Image via Constitution.com

There are moments where I look at the world around me and wonder what in tarnation is happening.

This happens more often than I’d like, and it happens with almost every new piece of news from the Democratic Party.

The latest example of the insanity that is the Democrat Party has to do with the upcoming midterm elections.

Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?

In 2018 the Democrats are hoping to to win over voters and retake both House of Congress. Their hopes are not out of reach. In fact, many prognosticators will tell you that most of the historic markers for a Democratic victory are present in this upcoming election.

The Republicans have held control of both Houses of Congress for three years now (the GOP has actually held the House since 2011), and historically newly elected presidents lose one or both houses of Congress in their first midterm election.

The GOP has other problems too, like the fact that the party is incredibly unpopular, and that the President has faced unprecedented opposition from within his own party.

Finally, according to many of the polls, President Trump is still historically “unpopular,” and might possibly be a liability to his party in the midterms. Add to these issues the bias inherent in the mainstream media, and you have a perfect cocktail for a disastrous 2018 midterm election for the GOP.

Now, to be fair, the Democrats face some natural obstacles of their own. Their party machinery is nearly bankrupt. The economy is roaring with life. Americans are going back to work, and for the first time in a decade we’ve even seen wage increases in January and February. Along with our booming economy, the world is as peaceful as its been in recent memory. ISIS has been decimated in Syria and Iraq, North Korea is talking about peace and disarmament, and all the Chinese want to talk about is…  trade.

But just as the Republicans spent much of the last 25-plus years shooting themselves in the foot and snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, the Democrats seem poised to be their own worst enemies come November 2018.

How do we know?

Well, the Democrats have recently announced a few of the planks they’ll be running on in the upcoming midterms, and they are “interesting,” to say the least.

The one issue that’s been in the news most over the last few weeks has been gun control. The president has suggested several possible fixes and has even offered to support banning many different gun accessories that Democrats hate. (For example, he wants to ban bump stocks, has talked of raising the minimum gun purchase age to 21, and his administration has voiced support for simplifying the process to seize guns from those who could be a danger to others.)

But as is their wont, the Democrats may be pushing the nation too far, too fast when it comes to gun control. They’ve partnered with the anti-gun students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and have been seen at rallies calling for extreme gun control measures, with some even advocating gun confiscations.

Senate Democrats said they will introduce a gun control bill that would expand background checks, ban certain weapons, and give the courts the power to temporarily take guns away from people who are deemed to be a threat to themselves or others, after President Trump offered support for these goals in a White House discussion Wednesday.

Gun control has almost always been a losing prospect for Democrats, and while many Americans may be unhappy in the wake of the Douglas High School shooting, they’ve not necessarily shown any appetite for the Democrats’ extreme gun control proposals.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 15% of American adults say stricter gun control laws increase violent crime, while 39% think stricter laws would decrease violent crime. Another 39% believe beefing up the country’s gun control laws would have no impact on violent crime.

These findings are in line with previous surveys.

Only 24% of Americans trust the government to fairly enforce gun control laws. Fifty-eight percent lack trust in the government’s ability to enforce those laws, while 18% are not sure.

But it’s not just on guns where Democrats are pushing their luck.

In fact, guns may be the least of their  problems in November.

One of the other planks that they’ve rolled out this past week makes it seem as if they want to lose this midterm election.

While the GOP plans to run on the success of the recently-passed tax cuts and the obvious boon the cuts have already been to the national mood and economy, the Democrats are going a different way.

They just released their $1 trillion tax hike plan that they hope America will support in November.

Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said his party’s proposal would be funded by lifting the corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 25 percent and by raising the upper tax bracket back to 39.6 percent, reinstating the AMT and getting rid of the carried-interest tax loophole.

“We want to roll back the Republicans’ tax giveaways to corporations and the wealthy and invest that money instead in jobs and infrastructure,” Schumer, D-N.Y., said.

The tax cuts, passed last year by the GOP-led Congress, were implemented in February. It lowered the top tax rate for individual filers from 39.6 percent to 37 percent. The corporate tax rate was slashed from 35 percent to 21 percent.

That’s a gutsy move, right there. Throughout history politicians have avoided calling for tax hikes in the run-up to an election (well, everywhere except California and New Jersey), because they realized that the majority of the voting public would choose to vote against tax hikes. It’s almost as if Democrats think Americans hate it when the economy is doing well.

The libertarians at Reason Online had a hard time explaining that the Democrat plan wasn’t supposed to be a joke.

Senate Democrats released their own infrastructure plan this week. It is both terribly conventional and just plain terrible.

The so-called “Jobs & Infrastructure Plan for America’s Workers” promises $1 trillion in direct federal spending—not just on traditional infrastructure line items, such as highways, bridges, and ports, but also on schools, housing, and high-speed internet.

“Our plan would create more jobs than the administration plan, build more projects, and build the infrastructure America actually needs, not just what crony donors and private investors can profit from,” said Sen. Chuck Schumer (D–N.Y.).

The Democrats will have a difficult time explaining how their plan will create jobs when the economy is currently adding more jobs per month than at any time during the Obama era. Many economists believe that our nation is actually nearing full employment, so what raising taxes will actually do is force many people out of work, which I guess would clear the way for them to find new jobs through the Democrats infrastructure programs? I’m not sure that the average American worker would choose this path to employment though.

Forbes explains why the Democrat plan would likely prove to be shockingly unpopular with the average middle class American. One part of the plan in particular would be particularly upsetting:

Increase the top marginal income tax rate from 37 percent to 39.6 percent. This nearly 3 percentage point increase in the top personal rate is not only a hike in the top bracket levy, but it’s also a direct tax increase on small and mid-sized businesses. The 30 million companies which are organized as sole proprietorships, partnerships, Subchapter-S corporations, and LLCs pay their business taxes on their owners’ 1040 personal tax returns. Hiking the top tax rate is a small business tax increase.

Increasing personal income taxes would be particularly unfortunate since workers are now seeing the results of lower rates in their paychecks. Thanks to the new IRS withholding tables, in February of this year over 90 percent of workers saw higher take home pay in the form of fatter direct deposits (for a humorous spectacle of the New York Times desperately trying to get people to down-talk their bigger paychecks, click here). They will continue to see those bigger paydays for as long as the tax rates in law remain in effect. This higher tax home pay is a down payment on a lower tax liability. Typical families of four should see their federal income tax decline from $2000 to $4000, depending on their income level and number of children.

Moreover, Democratic leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is wrong about how most Americans feel about the tax cuts. While there may have been some confusion at first, the tax cut is now supported by a plurality of Americans, and that number increases every day.

All of this is very confusing given that the new tax law is supported by a plurality of the American people (the New York Times reports it’s actually a majority) and is growing in popularity. A good chunk of people haven’t even yet realized they’ve received a tax cut, so the favorable numbers should continue to grow. Maybe that’s why a Democrat pollster and strategist recently wrote:

Since the passage of the Republicans’ tax bill, and even before it, Democrats have been losing the messaging war. Now that many Americans are seeing the results in their paystubs, it’s even harder for Democrats to make this a winning issue. Voters are seeing the bill’s positive impact and are not likely to oppose it because we tell them they’re not benefiting, and many voters who aren’t seeing the impact still support the bill. If Democrats want to continue using this bill as a major issue for November, we need a new messaging strategy.

There is still one more Democrat plank that might prove to be even more unpopular than gun control and tax hikes. The last controversial part of their platform for upcoming midterm campaign has to do with illegal immigration.

Left-wing pundits and activists are increasing pressure on Democratic politicians to embrace the fringe position of abolishing ICE.

Once an idea limited to the far-left fringes, abolishing the nation’s immigration enforcement agency now looks likely to become a campaign issue in the Democrats’ 2020 presidential primary.

Yes, more and more Democrats actually want to abolish ICE.

We urge you to significantly reduce funding for immigration enforcement and detention in the FY2018 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Department of Justice (DOJ) appropriations bills…

President Trump and his appointees have eliminated all prioritization and discretion from the system. There is no room for consideration of a person’s equities, including length of time living in the U.S., ties to their communities, or U.S. citizen children. … DHS is undermining due process and regularly deporting people who should be receiving protection under U.S. laws. By unleashing this force with inadequate limitations, the Administration has fostered an unprecedented attack on immigrant communities which threatens our education system, our local businesses, and our nation’s values.

Congress must demonstrate its power of the purse and refuse to reward an agency replete with chronic fiscal mismanagement, inadequate oversight and a penchant for covering up serious allegations of misconduct. … In light of these concerns, Congress should move to decrease ICE’s funding, not bail them out.

No, this is not a joke. It’s a mainstream leftist idea that is gaining traction.

This is a former campaign spokesman for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign:

 

And here is a prominent liberal writer, with a piece calling for ICE’s abolition in the popular liberal magazine The Nation.

Lefitst California Senator Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) was roundly criticized on social media and the web after defending the existence of ICE this past week.

Sorry, but the idea of abolishing ICE would kill any potential candidate’s chances to win an election. Think in terms of framing the issue. Say: “ICE’s role should not be as a modern version of the Nazi SS.” Repeat ad infinitum.

So there you have it, the Democrats plan for victory in 2018: gun control, tax hikes, abolishing ICE and opening our borders.

It honestly seems as if the Democrats are tying their best to lose the 2018 midterm election.

Cross posted at Constitution.com

Hombre Sinnombre

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