The real reason the Republicans are already targeting Beto O’Rourke for 2020
The Republicans are already hard at work interfering in the 2020 election and have identified the one they consider their biggest threat: Beto O’Rourke. The Club for Growth (CFG) calls itself “a 501 conservative organization active in the United States, with an agenda focused on cutting taxes and other economic issues.” I see their agenda as interfering in elections for the sole purpose of electing Republican candidates. Let’s be real: Republicans couldn’t care less about “cutting taxes” other than on the rich and corporations. That will never change.
CFG has targeted Iowa as the place to begin their negative ad campaign against Beto O’Rourke. Early Iowa polls show Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders leading the race in that state; however, CFG sees O’Rourke as the biggest threat to Trump for two reasons: His performance against Cruz in the 2018 midterms and his ability to fundraise and bring folks together. Because of the latter and because O’Rourke has been compared to President Obama by some, CFG is attacking O’Rourke by invoking Obama. Seriously. The heart of the CFG ad calls President Obama “a champion of progressive causes who broke racial barriers.” This alone signals that CFG is up to no good. We all know how much they love Obama.
Doubling down on the Obama comparison is the invocation of the race card. They are attempting to show that O’Rourke is “no Obama” because O’Rourke is the recipient of “white male privilege” (like they aren’t), and that he was “born with a blue blood pedigree” (like most of them weren’t). If those things are true, then O’Rourke is not very different from them — except he seems to have a soul. The very conspirators in the “birther” claims now want to applaud President Obama? This attack is laughable at best.
The goal of the republicans is evident: They want the candidate they view as weakest to win the Democratic nomination so that Trump’s 40% will carry him to victory. Good luck with that. They obviously haven’t seen Public Policy Polling’s poll, which shows that “every potential Democratic candidate in the 2020 presidential election—announced and unannounced—would beat President Trump in a head-to-head contest.” Marinate on that for a few minutes.
While CFG (and likely other Republican organizations) are worried about Beto O’Rourke, their time might be best spent on finding a better candidate than Trump. They’re obviously banking on him surviving his myriad scandals, which is unlikely. He doesn’t stand a proverbial snowball’s chance in hell of getting reelected. Trump has done nothing but wreak havoc on our country. From his divisive, hate-filled speech to his poor policy initiatives that continue to drive up the deficit, America is ripe for a real leader.
We can make that happen if we don’t fall victim to the GOP’s nonsense that merely serves as cover for their true agenda of divisiveness. For them, it’s all about winning even if America loses. I have news for them: WE’RE NOT STUPID! Stop the dirty tricks and try doing something for the people for a change. Then, you might just have a shot.
Shirley is a former entertainment writer and has worked in the legal field for over 25 years