Democrats headed into 2020 are where Republicans were headed into 2012 -- firing as many silver bullets as they can but aiming badly. Just as Barack Obama got reelected in 2012, it looks increasingly likely Donald Trump could get reelected in 2020. And like Obama in 2012, he can thank the incompetence of his opponents.
Democrats, along with many of their friends in the media, have decided to target three silver bullets at the werewolf that is President Trump. Their first bullet was the Mueller investigation. The second was the investigation of the Southern District of New York. The third was the race card.
The Mueller investigation did not go as planned. On Wednesday, the well-respected and highly regarded Bob Mueller testified before Congress. No one seemed to have noticed that Mueller is old. He came across as out of his element and unsure of his own report.
Democrats were able to get Mueller to confirm both that he did not exonerate the President and that a sitting President could be indicted after leaving office. That was all. What they hoped would lead them down the road to impeachment instead led cars across America off the road as drivers listening to Mueller fell asleep at the wheel.
The reality is it does not matter. American voters can rarely remember what they had for dinner last night. In 16 months, they will not remember Mueller's testimony, which most people did not even watch. The Democrats needed a galvanizing moment. They did not get it. Instead, they will now fight among themselves over whether to proceed with impeachment. Mueller did not give them a clear path forward. The day before the Mueller hearing, CNN promoted it as a "blockbuster" hearing. The news media and the Democrats should have remembered Blockbuster went out of business.
The Southern District of New York investigation did not go as planned either. Following the Mueller report's release, Democrats pivoted to this investigation. The United States attorney had been investigating the President's payment to a woman and various Michael Cohen and Trump Organization deals. Democrats and the press yet again assured us this was a very big and, in the words of some, "game changing" investigation. They assured us indictments were imminent. The investigation is now over. No indictments are forthcoming.
Finally, the press and Democrats working together have hit on a final effort to undermine the president: the race card. They have long maintained that the president and anyone who votes for the president are racist bigots. You would be hard-pressed to find a reporter in Washington who is not convinced the president sows racial discord.
Unfortunately for the Democrats, it almost seems like the president is smart enough to know how the left will overplay its hand on this and drive more people into his camp. Earlier this year, the press defamed students from a Catholic school in Covington, Kentucky. The Washington Post and other outlets seized on false claims that the students, wearing "Make America Great Again" caps, had hurled racial slurs at an American Indian. Selectively edited videos were circulated. News reports were broadcast. It turned out to be "fake news." The students are now suing various media outlets, and deservedly so.
Just last week, an African American Democrat state representative in Georgia claimed a man told her to go back to where she came from after he caught her with dozens of items in the 10-items-or-fewer express line at a grocery store. The media blew up that story, too.
But eyewitnesses from the grocery store now claim it was the state representative telling the Hispanic man to go back to where he came from after he confronted her and called her a "lazy SOB" for using the express line. The state representative is wobbling on her story now.
Every time the left and the media sensationalize stories, the stories blow up in their faces. It builds distrust in them and reveals their contempt for ordinary Americans. They keep firing at the President and shooting themselves. They have become the President's best friends in his reelection quest.
To find out more about Erick Erickson and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member