I am worried that the radicalized Republicans now have most, if not all, the pieces necessary to convert our democracy into an autocracy. The four main pieces are
(1) their work at the state level to suppress the vote;
(2) their work at the state level to create laws to make it easier to subvert whatever vote gets through;
(3) their 6-3 majority on the Supreme Court; and
(4) their propaganda machine.
I am only going to address No. 4 because I think, ultimately, this is the most vulnerable to attack by Democrats.
There is no excuse for the Democrats to have a “messaging problem” at this late date. The GOP has been given a head start and has used the talents of people like Dr. Frank Luntz and broadcast outlets like Fox for a long time with hardly any organized pushback.
We urgently need to set up our own well-financed “messaging” department with its own Luntz-like czar. I use the word “urgently” because, right now, the lies, disinformation, misinformation and conspiracy theories are coming at us like water through a huge fire hose, and the November elections are only seven months away.
In the end, I am hopeful that the work of such a department will show the Trump wing of the GOP for what it is: a gigantic fraud machine that is not worthy of support by anyone who believes in democracy.
This revelation will, I hope, bring out the American people in droves to vote to keep our democracy alive.
Frederick Longacre
Hockessin
