Beating Up Straw Men

It's The Only Argument Republicans Now Make

Trump and Republicans lie incessantly. It’s what they do. They understand that based on where America is right now, and the direction they want to continue to push it (which is very unpopular) the only real argument they can make is against Democrats. The thing is though, not all Democrats say stupid things; sure, when the Squad comes out and preaches it’s like handing them a present gift wrapped. But when Democrats aren’t saying anything, like their strategy right now, what do Republicans do otherwise?

They beat up on straw men. And that’s ALL they do.

They are no longer competing head to head against an alternative party in the Democrats, they are beating up on an image and narrative of that party that just isn’t true. Sure, Democrats have given them their share of utterly stupid examples over the past decades. The more progressive members of the Democratic party produce most of the shit and it just grows from there. But the bulk of the Democratic Party is thoughtful, reasonable and measured. It’s not this cabal of revolutionaries, although that can sum up a large chunk of the most radical activists. But that’s how Republicans portray the whole party as, and because Democrats have supported stupid things in the past it tends to stick.

But what Republicans are doing now isn’t just dishonest and false, it’s outright evil. It practically amounts to a massive disinformation campaign that, quite frankly, has more in line with what authoritarian governments do rather than free and fair societies.

A perfect example of this was provided by Charlie Sykes discussing Elon Musk’s involvement in the State Supreme Court race in Wisconsin. Wisconsin is heavily gerrymandered, and the legislature stripped the Governor’s office of a lot of power before Democrat Tony Evers came to office. Democrats finally got a majority on the Supreme Court and have been able to undo some of the damage of the Walker years, but it’s still a tenuous 4-3 split. It’s likely to become the most expensive Supreme Court race ever, besting the LAST Supreme Court race in Wisconsin. So what did Musk do? I’ll let Charlie describe it.

The very definition of a straw man argument. Elon and Republicans know they can’t compete fairly against the Democratic¹ candidate, so instead they define this completely false image of her, and run against THAT.

But it’s not just Wisconsin where they are doing this. Elon’s entire DOGE enterprise is a straw man, where he argues he’s making these (non-existent) billions of dollars in cuts by firing everyone. In fact, he’s not cutting much, and the bigger, better way to cut deficits is by increasing revenues (i.e. taxing billionaires, like Elon, more) and empowering the IRS to capture more revenue (which Elon just gutted). But the Republican argument for what Elon is doing is “cutting waste, fraud and abuse” even though what it is really doing is reducing the federal workforce, which tends to vote Democratic.

You can see it in how Trump described his entire false history of the Ukraine War (to Zelenskyy’s face no less!), actually trying to pin the blame for the war on Ukraine WHO WAS INVADED! It’s in the craven, Gollum-esque way Trump redefines history, particularly how he defends Putin all the time AS A VICTIM. The whole bullshit about “America First” is a straw man— elected politicians have always put America first, but withdrawing from the world hardly accomplishes that goal. You can see it in how Trump describes pretty much everything—it’s one of the reasons he lies so constantly and horribly. By exaggerating and building up a monster bigger than he is, he can make what he is doing seem better, even heroic. The problem is what he advocates is hardly heroic and often actually villainous.

This is also one of the reasons the siloed right wing media is so effective. It regurgitates these lies and embellishments ad nauseum, and it’s viewers begin to accept THAT as baseline truth. So when Republicans work on doing what they do against it, it seems sensible. Democrats making the argument opposing them seem like they are defending the indefensible, and want this monstrosity to continue, which makes it easier to oppose them. Confronting listeners with facts doesn’t work—they’ve already received the authoritative news they find more trustworthy.

The rest of the world doesn’t get how American politics has devolved to such a place that it has. From the outside looking in, it’s really easy to pick out the straw men and scarecrows Republicans build up and knock down. The fact the Republicans are in fact hollow on pretty much every issue, and how utterly unprincipled and morally bankrupt they’ve become, only serves to cause genuine perplexion at how they win anything so regularly. It’s laughable at how inept the Democrats have become in making their arguments and promoting their issues and interests. But as someone noted, the lie travels around the globe while the truth is just starting to get out there.

But then again, currently Democrats make the arguments directly about what Republicans are truthfully doing. Perhaps, if they tried to embellish and exagerrate in the same way Republicans do, and build up straw men like that to fight fire with fire, it would work. However, in doing so, they’d frankly sound as ridiculous as the Squad I denounced earlier in this piece.

That’s how far our politics has fallen.

PurpleAmerica’s Final Word on the Subject

If you want a great idea for a political ad, I would recommend this:

[Little farm kid turns around a corner by barn and sees a guy (or girl) in a suit beating up on a scarecrow. Seems confused. ]

“What’s he doing Pa?” he says to his dad.

“It’s [insert opposing politician name here]. He knows he can’t win against [insert candidate supporting here], so he builds up a straw man, gives it all sorts of names and labels and tries to beat up on that instead.”

“But who would support that Pa?”

“You’d be surprised, but nobody should. It makes it looks like he’s fighting for something, when all he’s doing is nothing, beating up on a straw man. That’s why we support [candidate], because he’s strong enough to fight for us in Washington, and doesn’t have to beat a scarecrow to do it.”

Candidate: “I’m [candidate] and I approve this message.”

Guy beating straw man sees candidate, shrieks, and goes running away. Close.

Another version would go this way:

[Guy in a suit chasing a pig around a pig pen; farm kid walks up and sees it looking confused].

“What’s he doing Pa?” he says to his dad.

“It’s [insert opposing politician name here]. He’s trying to put lipstick on a pig.”

“Why would he do that Pa?”

“It’s because he knows he can’t beat [insert supporting candidate name here] on the issues, so he tries to chase some bad idea around the pig pen and make it look better than it is. But all it does is cover him in mud, and the pig actually likes it. That’s why we support [insert candidate name here], because he’s smart enough to know what his constituents need and how to get it done, and doesn’t need to chase a pig through the mud.”

Candidate: “I’m [candidate name] and I approve this message.”

Person in the suit now covered in mud, looks at candidate, tries to turn and run away and instead slips on his butt making him even more muddy.

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Footnotes and Fun Stuff

1. Technically, the position is non-partisan, but that has fallen by the wayside as a result of the Scott Walker years, which turned Wisconsin into a partisan nightmare of a state, when before it was probably one of the least partisan in the country.