“Like many of the so-called policies from this new Trump MAGA Republican Party, this ‘Commitment to America’ sounds good on the surface. In reality they’re promising dire changes when you realize what they’re actually promising to do if they gain power.” Pam Everhardt Bloom 

As the midterms approach we are repeatedly seeing Republican nods toward the Trump MAGA wing of today’s Republican Party as they attempt to couch radical policy in palatable language. On September 23rd, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy released a Republican House plan for how they intend to rule the country. Like many of the so-called policies from this new Trump MAGA Republican Party, this “Commitment to America” sounds good on the surface. In reality, they’re promising dire changes when you realize what they’re actually promising to do if they gain power. 

Remember Newt Gingrich’s “Contract with America” from Sept. 1994, right before Republicans gained total control of the House and Senate? House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy’s recent ploy echoes 1994 in a tactical move to give Republicans candidates a national feel good, unified message that disguises the actual Republican agenda and policy. Let’s not forget that many of these Republicans primary winners are rapidly removing from their websites and speeches any mention of Trump endorsements, their 2020 election denials, strict abortion policies and/or a complete end to the right to reproductive health, and nods to ending social security and medicare in an attempt to try and appeal to moderates and unaffiliated voters and garner their votes in 2022. Meanwhile, Senator McConnell appears to be happy with not releasing a Republican legislative agenda before the midterms. It certainly seems to me that if voters actually know what the MAGA Republicans stand for and plan to do with new Congressional power, they can’t win beyond the primaries. If that’s the case, deception or ignoring the issues with vagueness is their friend.  

Heather Cox Richardson explains the possible results well in her response in her daily email, “Letters from an American.” Cox Richardson is a political historian who uses facts and history to put the news in context and has been writing “Letters from an American” since Sept. 2019 as a commentary on current events. “While the part of this section that calls for stopping government abuse and incompetence seems rich coming from the MAGA Republicans, the statement that they intend to protect Social Security and Medicare strikes me as I felt when hearing Trump tell voters in 2020 that he would protect Obamacare at the very time his lawyers were in court trying to overturn the law. Now, in this moment, leading Republicans have vowed to get rid of Social Security and Medicare, which is an interesting way to ‘save and strengthen’ them.” Read more at: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/september-23-2022?r=2xyae&s=r&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email 

I urge all of us in Rowan County to be informed as the elections approach and talk to friends and family about what can actually happen if these new Trump inspired radical MAGA Republicans take the reins of our country on the national level and increase their presence on the state and local levels through vague policies, misinformation and disinformation. In the case of disinformation, like many locals, I was taught to call those big fibs outright lies.   

Pam Everhardt Bloom