Through the looking glass
Biden is a fighter and the Republicans are getting weirder
The State of the Union is crazy.
I actually recorded this week’s ‘On Democracy with FPWellman’ on Wednesday and I was a little worried that with the State of the Union the next day it wouldn’t be timely. I was wrong.
My guest, political commentator and original Never Trump Republican, Rina Shah and I opened from the top with the first question being “Rina…what the hell happened to your party?” It was the right question even 24 hours later.
Biden gave the speech Democrats needed to hear. I have been saying over and over on my show and in private to Democratic candidates that their voters want them to fight. They are tired of the soft approach of old. The ‘we go high’ pandering. They want us to take off the gloves and fight back against the increasingly authoritarian movement that the Republican Party has morphed into.
Joe Biden clearly got the message.
“That was some weird shit” - George W. Bush
The Republicans had one mission. Convince viewers that they were a reasonable alternative to an aging President that they have painted as weak and brain addled. Come out and show they are ready to govern after the disastrous first Trump term and their leadership of the most ineffective Congress in U.S. history.
The American people got this.
The face of the Republican Party is Marjorie Taylor Greene in every way. Thanks to Super Tuesday she is joined by the absolutely monstrous Mark Robinson running for North Carolina governor with a long history of anti-semitic, bigoted, and sexist comments all on video and social media posts.
Throw in Kari Lake who lost the ability to hide from Ruben Gallego thanks to Kristen Sinema packing her wine and going home…or Sonoma. They all join Donald Trump and his insane band of fascists and authoritarians.
We haven’t even gotten to the bizarre Republican rebuttal speech from Alabama Mom….and Senator…Katie Britt. In her speech she ranged from anger to near tears to sweet church lady in a matter of seconds in a seeting the which can only be described as…beige.
That is the modern Republican Party and Rina and I talked about it at length as she clings to her mission of being a voice of reason from within the party that abandoned me nearly nine years ago. We certainly don’t agree on all of the things but we had a lot of fun talking about them as friends and a lot of laughs along the way.
The Show
We had to talk about the collapse of the party along with the many aspects of this authoritarian streak including the insidious ‘Project 2025’ plans and her unique perspective as a Congressional staffer in those early days of the Tea Party movement. I also touched on the criticisms of Adam Schiff from the left for his strategy to win the California jungle primary.
TL:DR he did it right because you have to fight the race you are in.
I hope you’ll watch it now and subscribe to ‘On Democracy Podcast’ on YouTube.
Rina Shah
Rina Shah is a DC-based political advisor, commentator, and social entrepreneur. She is a proud daughter of West Virginia and of immigrants from Uganda and India. In 2016, she led the #NeverTrump movement, becoming the first RNC delegate to speak out against candidate Donald Trump––for which she was canceled by the RNC, only to be reinstated after a lengthy legal battle. She later worked as Chief Spokesperson for Evan McMullin’s presidential campaign, just one of nearly 40 political campaigns on which she has worked. In 2020, she founded Republican Women for Biden. She is a co-founder of the Women’s Public Leadership Network and sits on the board of many women-focused nonprofits and is a member of the Leadership Network for the American Enterprise Institute.
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I like the fact that Senator Britt tried portrayed herself as being "one of the common people" as she is seated in front of what appears to be a subzero freezer.............