The DCCC is cynical. They think they are playing smart hardball politics.
It isn't smart. It is wrong.
They undermine the moral case against Trump's attempted coup.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee--the DCCC--tries to elect Democrats to the U.S. House of Representatives. They collect money from around the country to spend strategically. Republicans have a similar committee to help Republicans.
The DCCC got involved in a Republican primary election for a congressional seat in Michigan. They donated money to help a Trump-friendly election conspiracy advocate, John Gibbs, defeat an incumbent Republican Peter Meijer. The strategy presumed a Trump-endorsed election denier would be easier to defeat in November than a more moderate Republican. Meijer was already in political trouble. He was one of 10 Republican House Members to vote for impeachment in the days following the January 6 attack.
John Gibbs had raised little money. He had nothing going for him but an endorsement from Trump. But he won because the DCCC flooded the markets with ads to help him. Here is a 30-second ad the DCCC paid for:
The ad is bait for Republicans. Democrats are attacking Gibbs for being too conservative and pro-Trump, so vote for Gibbs. This strategy is worse than cynical. It is dangerous. Gibbs just might win the general election.
Worse, the DCCC loses the moral argument. The strongest moral argument against Trump's coup d'étatis that it is unconstitutional and wrong to lie and cheat and obstruct the peaceful transfer of power. Overthrowing an election with legal fictions, fake electors, and a mob intimidating Congress is just as much an attack on America as were Japanese planes at Pearl Harbor or the 9-11 jetliners. The moral argument--well voiced by Lyn Cheney and a few other Republicans--is that Trump's efforts to overthrow the election are a crime that eclipses partisan interest. An attack on democracy itself requires we do what is right, political costs be damned. Democrats say that, too.
The DCCC needs to walk the talk. Its devious support for Gibbs shows it doesn't really consider Trump's coup uniquely wrong and above politics. They don't protect the patriotic candidates who fight the good fight on that issue. They shoot them in the back.
Too many Republicans are enabling and normalizing Trump’s attempted coup. It is shameful. They close ranks around party, not country. Shame also attaches to the DCCC for revealing its own party-first behavior. But helping an election denier defeat a Republican who said the Trump coup was impeachable is wrong. It reveals corrupt values. They are no better than Republican officeholders who are silent in the face of Trump's coup.
The fact that the DCCC helps empower election conspiracies does not make it right for Republicans to do it. It is wrong. Equally wrong.
I sometimes give campaign help to Democratic candidates. I give directly to ones I like. I hang up when the DCCC calls me to help their national effort. I am disgusted by what they do with it.
The national democrats have left me disgusted for years now. Thankfully they don't call anymore. I would love to be part of a moral party...
Hi Peter. Thanks for telling us about this. This is horrible behavior. I usually just give to candidates and from now on I will do that for sure. The DCCC should be ashamed.