Well, it happened. The Republican Party decided to play nice, try to get some good press with a media establishment that hates them, and join the legions of the righteous and blessed by hashing out a gun control bill during a midterm election cycle. Is everyone up there hitting the crack pipe? What are we doing? What the hell is this? We have category five hurricane gusts to our backs heading into November—and the GOP decided to do what it does best: find a new way to blow it.
The economy is primed to enter a recession as the second-quarter report is bound to show another period of economic contraction. The supply chain crisis is still ongoing. The pain at the gas pump lingers. Inflation is torching the wallets of working Americans. American mothers still can’t find baby formula. The southern border remains a mess. There is not a single crisis that's being managed in any meaningful way. Biden’s crew has done nothing. They can’t even get a WNBA star out of Russia who’s supposedly being unlawfully detained. Brittney Griner has been there since February. They can’t even set up a call between Griner and her wife; no one was at the US Embassy's front desk to connect the call. The incompetence is pervasive—and the GOP is allowing the Democrats to exploit a crease to depress conservative turnout.
That’s the game here. Democrats know they’re going to lose. They have a little old dementia-ridden man as a party leader. The economy is a dumpster fire. And they’re fighting history. The president’s party usually loses control of at least one chamber of Congress. The only exception to that trend was the 2002 midterms; Bush gained seats in the House and Senate. So, how do Democrats lessen the blow here? You depress turnout. Messing with the Second Amendment will do that. Messing around with immigration will do that. Remember, a comprehensive bipartisan immigration deal was the first thing that was floated on the Hill before the Buffalo and Uvalde mass shootings.
Republicans don’t even see the trap here. It’s one that Democrats have suckered them into for years. The Left play to the GOP's sense of duty, honor, and tradition. They did that to Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney. They get the bipartisan talking point in defending this circus act with the select committee on January 6. They also get the base to get into a tussle about Trump...again.
The contents of the bill are trash. Yes, funding for school security is fine, but not at the cost of red flag law expansion which is arguably unconstitutional. There are no legal guardrails to protect citizens from overreach. Due process is murky. And it’s a massive finger to veterans who will be targeted most by this law. It also includes enhanced background checks for those under the age of 21 purchasing long guns. Under this new process, juvenile records can be accessed and there’s a 10-day period for NICS to complete its review. Again, NICS is only good as the information it’s given. We’ve seen an appalling breakdown in this system because authorities did not follow proper procedures in updating the database with offenses that would have prevented recent mass shooters from purchasing firearms.
Oh, and there's this:
They gave the f**king FBI $100,000,000 in the gun control bill pic.twitter.com/JPCiA6TXqO
— Oilfield Rando (@Oilfield_Rando) June 22, 2022
Yet, it’s not the provisions that are relevant here. Why were Democrats so eager to not pursue what their base wants which is a new ban on modern sporting rifles and so-called high-capacity magazines? Has anyone on the GOP side asked themselves that question? Democrats say they didn't want “perfection to be the enemy of the good,” but they knew there were no dividends here. Their party is still going to lose in November. They can ignore their base. All they need to do is focus on hurling a wet blanket on ours by conning enough Republicans to support their gun control package.
I know what you’re saying, ‘It's late June, Matt. People will forget.’ No. This isn’t some pork bill. It’s not abortion. It’s the Second Amendment. It’s about our civil rights. It’s about the government expanding its power so they can strip those rights. And the people we sent to DC to stop this nonsense just sided with the enemy. What’s the point of supporting Republicans right now? It’s not going away. When they return from recess, we’re going to make sure they remember what they did. We're going to remind them that the base views the Second Amendment as non-negotiable. The Democrats acted like Sirens again—and the GOP fell for it and crashed the ship.
They lay down the bear trap and these clowns step in it every single time. If you can’t win, then try to whittle down their numbers as best you can. That’s all Democrats can do right now, and they’ve picked the best issues to dampen the mood for GOP voters.
It goes back to an old Tea Party saying that Matt Kibbe formerly of FreedomWorks once said, “sometimes you need to defeat the Republicans before you can defeat the Democrats.”
When was the last time you saw a Democrat that represents a deep blue area of the country ever break with their party on any issue? It literally never happens. Yet Republicans that represent some of the reddest areas in America constantly vote to betray their own side.
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) June 22, 2022
The GOP is in the best political position for a midterm election they've been in since 2010 and our party's leaders respond by driving a wedge right into their base.
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) June 22, 2022
You want to know why Trump won in 2016? Because you people constantly fucking betray your own voters.
I feel like that’s very appropriate given what has transpired here. We’ve been betrayed folks. Act like it. Give these traitors’ offices a call:
- Sens. Roy Blunt (R-MO)
- Richard Burr (R-NC)
- Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV)
- Bill Cassidy (R-LA))
- Susan M. Collins (R-M)
- John Cornyn (R-TX)
- Joni Ernst (R-IA)
- Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
- Lisa Murkowski (R-AK))
- Rob Portman (R-OH)
- Mitt Romney (R-UT)
- Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
- Thom Tillis (R-NC)
- Todd Young (R-IN)