How Democrats keep 'Red Dogs' in their camp

[iemanja]

Jennifer Rubin.

Tim Miller of the Bulwark coined the term “Red Dogs” to describe the Republicans who reached their breaking point when the party embraced anti-democratic, unhinged racists. “In the 1990s, after the GOP won control of both houses of Congress, moderate Democrats who believed their party had moved too far to the left started calling themselves the ‘Blue Dogs,’” Miller wrote. “Today, it’s the ‘Red Dogs’ who are looking for a home in the Democratic Party: college-educated, largely white suburbanites in major metropolitan areas who used to be Republicans or swing voters." . . .

Democrat David R. Eichenthal, former chief of staff to New York City Public Advocate Mark Green and former city finance officer in Chattanooga, Tenn., who recently explored a run in Tennessee’s 3rd Congressional District, writes for the New Republic: “While an overwhelming majority of Republicans and conservatives in the district are on the wrong side of democracy, as much as one-third are pro-democracy Republicans for whom the insurrection and the vote against certification were the last straw.” He adds, “That’s not enough to win a Republican primary, but it is enough to create an interesting electoral dynamic in the general election.”
. . .

Both Miller and Eichenthal touch on a critical point: More about any policy issue foreign or domestic, these Republicans are deeply concerned about the GOP’s descent into a cult that poses a danger both to its own followers (via vaccine denial) and to democracy. The gap between their concern for democracy and the next issue of importance is vast. Indeed, these are essentially one issue voters — the issue being democracy.
. . .

This suggests Democrats should not neglect Jan. 6 or the “big lie” in their 2022 campaigns. They must remind Red Dogs that congressional Republicans are abetting a scheme to suppress voting and rig the results of future elections. Highlighting how close the country came to a meltdown of our democracy will be critical to keeping these voters on board. Even if they like a particular Republican in the House, a vote for a Republican in 2022 is essentially a vote to invest power in the disgraced former president.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/07/21/how-democrats-keep-red-dogs-their-camp/

Wishful thinking or real? Thoughts?

[lagomorph777]

1. Keeping the danger to democracy in the spotlight helps motivate our own people.

If it motivates a few pubs around the edge, all the better. Even if it only motivates them to sit one out.

[iemanja]

2. My brother-in-law was a Republican

but he's disgusted by Trump and the way the party has built itself around Trump. He doesn't like the state GOP either. As a result, he doesn't vote Republican anymore. It didn't take January 6 to convince him. He was going well before then.