Whole Hog Politics: How a little more ‘pearl clutching’ would have helped GOP

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In the run-up to last fall’s state elections in Virginia and New Jersey, Democrats belatedly found a weapon to use against the barrage of GOP attacks on the blue team’s nominee for Virginia attorney general.

The episode understandably has faded from memory because, as it turned out, it was a meaningless spin cycle. Jay Jones , the candidate who had sent creepy, cruel texts to a Republican former statehouse colleague, won in a breeze. He came in a little more than 4 points behind the top of the ticket, but a big blue wave in both states carried all the Democratic candidates, good and bad, to victory.

For a moment in October, though, when polls suggested some uncertainty in that outcome, Republicans zeroed in on Jones — very progressive, inexperienced and running to be the first Black attorney general in the commonwealth’s history — as a way to frighten law-and-order suburbanites and to suggest the moderation expressed by Democrats was only a ruse to gain power.

Anxious Democrats breasted a great sigh of relief when the story of the Young Republican group chat broke loose. A former member of the group for Republicans under age 40 (young being a relative term) had leaked the messages with all manner of horrible stuff: racism, antisemitism, gay slurs and jokes about gas chambers, slavery and rape. And some of those involved were or had become staffers with official positions in the party.

Democratic spinmeisters had a way to reclaim the narrative about nasty electronic communications. Any question about Jones could be answered with an “Oh, yeah. How about your holocaust jokes?” Most Republicans confronted with the messages were quick to denounce and disavow them and their senders. But into this panic strode Vice President Vance , cool and collected, telling his fellow Republicans not to take the bait.

These “edgy, offensive jokes” told by “kids” — “especially young boys” — who “do stupid things” should not “ruin their lives.” The most important thing , Vance said, was to keep the focus on Jones in Virginia: “I refuse to join the pearl clutching when powerful people call for political violence.”

But, of course, the question of whether to clutch or not to clutch was immaterial. The rout was on. Indeed, insofar as the question of which texts were worse mattered to any persuadable voter, a lack of pearl clutching may actually have hurt Republicans’ performance. If you were one of the many fiscally conservative, socially moderate suburbanites in Virginia or New Jersey concerned about the unsavory elements of the post-Jan. 6 GOP, it might have been comforting to hear party leaders take the chuds behind the rhetorical woodshed.

Vance, though, made it clear that these 30-something-year-olds should be shielded to deny Democrats to deflect from Jones. But that’s not how campaign communications work. Refusing to condemn the Young Republicans leaders didn’t lessen attention to the scandal, but rather increased it. Ask any Democrat this year how well deflect-to-protect has worked with the initial efforts to “move on” from their own chud faction, especially Graham Platner and Hasan Piker . Vance imagined a stone wall, but instead provided a gate through which the story could charge ahead.

We can mostly leave aside how Vance’s personal ambitions may have interfered with the counsel he provided to his party. But it is fair to say that Vance launched his efforts to minimize the offense in an interview with Turning Point USA, the group for campus right-wingers founded by Charlie Kirk . Turning Point USA is a centerpiece of Vance’s 2028 campaign and is an important part of his bid to block any challenger from his right. He was presumably talking more to the very online, young, male podcast audience than any suburban moms in Leesburg, Va., or Parsippany, N.J.

But, again, it probably didn’t matter much to the election results in those states what Vance said. The climate had already turned very cold for the Republicans, and swing voters were swinging hard back to the Democrats after a good year for the GOP in 2024. But that doesn’t mean Vance’s strategy didn’t have political consequences.

Remember that the Jones-Young Republicans imbroglio was before the Iran war, surging prices, steep mortgage rates, the massive personal paydays for President Trump and everything else that has afflicted the red team this year. The climate of a year ago looks positively balmy compared with what the GOP is facing now.

In other words, now is not a good time for Republicans to again be debating the appropriateness of white nationalism , Nazi imagery , deeming oneself a “ heritage American ” and dealing in antisemitic tropes . The recent eruptions of right-wing bigotry are bad, regardless of their political implications. But to compound the problem for Republicans, this flood comes at exactly the moment the GOP is trying to use Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed ’s radicalism on Israel to tar his whole party.

Vance told House Republicans this week to use El-Sayed in any race in which the actual Democrat is “not that crazy.” Not a terrible strategy. Both parties have long profited by enthusiastic use of part-to-whole fallacies . But if you want to say that the other side is full of kooky bigots, it is helpful if you have mopped up your own kooks and bigots first. If Republicans are trying to do with El-Sayed what they tried to do with Jones last year, they would have a much easier time of it if the vice president and others had sent the clear signal in 2025 that they had no tolerance for that kind of bad behavior.

Instead, Republicans, still riding the “vibe shift” of the 2024 election, tried to redefine the rules of the game. “Pearl clutching” and “ endless, self-defeating purity tests ” were out. It was time, we were told, that “you don’t have to apologize for being white anymore.” It is not surprising that many actual bigots heard these things as dog whistles calling them out in the open.

And they have shown up, barking mad, at exactly the moment it would help Republicans for them to be chained up under the porch.

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Change from one week ago: ↓ -0.2 points (-25 points)

Change from one month ago: 0 points (-25.2 points)

[ Average includes: Fox News: 39 percent approve – 61 percent disapprove; Ipsos/Reuters: 35 percent approve – 62 percent disapprove; New York Times/Siena: 37 percent approve – 62 percent disapprove; Marquette Law School: 37 percent approve – 63 percent disapprove; Quinnipiac University: 33 percent approve – 59 percent disapprove ]

Change from one week ago: ↑ 1.8 points (D +7.2 points)

Change from one month ago: ↑ 2.6 points (D +6.4 points)

[ Average includes: Fox News: 51 percent Democratic – 44 percent Republican; Ipsos/Reuters: 44 percent Democratic – 37 percent Republican; New York Times/Siena: 51 percent Democratic – 43 percent Republican; Marquette Law School: 54 percent Democratic – 42 percent Republican; Quinnipiac University: 49 percent Democratic – 38 percent Republican ]

The Atlantic : “Most retrospectives unfold like a stately procession. You buy your ticket and proceed through a choreographed sequence of galleries, scrutinizing first the juvenilia, then the promising early work. Next come the triumphal years, and finally (if the artist was lucky) a poignant late phase. An idea of timelessness prevails, enhanced by an enveloping atmosphere of climate control, security, and massive insurance coverage. The lighting is good; the frames are tasteful. Everything looks marvelous. There’s not a whiff of the urgency of the studio, no hint of the emotional or psychological state in which these objects were made. Lost is any suggestion of that feeling, deep inside the creator, of an improvised, inner necessity. ‘ Willem de Kooning Drawing,’ at the Art Institute of Chicago, is a classic retrospective—a decorous, deeply researched exhibition about a much-lauded artist at a major museum. In another, more robust sense, however, the show is a giant debauch. It’s frankly (and thrillingly) unseemly. I’ve never been to an art show that takes you so far inside the creative process. You start to wonder if you should even be permitted to get so close.”

Sketchy candidates turn up in swing districts: The Washington Post : “In Arizona’s 1st Congressional District, one of the most contested races in the country, voters received poll questions testing messages that attacked Republican Jay Feely , according to screenshots obtained by The Washington Post. ‘ Monica Alponte is the true America First candidate in the race,’ one of the questions says, referring to the Libertarian candidate for the congressional seat. Alponte said her campaign isn’t behind the messages. She had raised only about $8,000 as of July and hadn’t spent any money on polling. … But the survey has escalated long-standing Republican suspicions that Libertarian candidates in hot congressional races are being propped up by Democrats aiming to siphon off conservative votes. The concern is especially acute this cycle as Libertarian candidates have popped up in battleground districts across North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas, including in Florida districts where they haven’t run previously. … But boosting third-party spoilers is a bipartisan sport. In Pennsylvania, Michigan and Virginia battleground races, independents and Green candidates have popped up as left-wing alternatives to Democrats, even though their social media and voter registration history show them as supporters of President Donald Trump .”

Healthcare costs and tariffs could turn a deep red district blue: Punchbowl News : “New York’s 21st District is turning competitive this fall, the latest sign that a blue wave may be sweeping up solidly red House seats outside of the traditional battlegrounds. The upstate New York district being vacated by Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) voted for President Donald Trump by 21 points in 2024. But in the years since, Trump’s approval rating has slumped due to the raging Canadian trade war, rising diesel prices and a rural healthcare crisis. An internal poll from Republican candidate Anthony Constantino recently found him with a 47%-42% lead over Democrat Blake Gendebien . Trump’s approval rating is even at 49%-49% in the poll, which has been distributed to Republican campaign officials in D.C. These numbers are major warning signs for the GOP in a supposedly safe district.”

Democrat leans in on domestic abuse charges against Max Miller: The Washington Post : “A new campaign ad from Rep. Max Miller ’s Democratic opponent seeks to recast his race around the domestic violence allegations against the Ohio Republican. The spot for challenger Brian Poindexter , shared with The Washington Post ahead of a six-figure television run, features a local sheriff recounting the accusations of physical abuse made by Miller’s ex-wife, which Miller has denied. ‘I know what the worst of the worst looks like,’ Kandy Fatheree , the Democratic sheriff for Summit County, which includes Akron and falls just outside Miller’s district, says directly to camera while standing in front of flashing police lights. ‘Thirty-four years in law enforcement tells me Max Miller does not belong in power.’ That line echoes what Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio), Miller’s former father-in-law, said last month, when he called Miller ‘a danger’ who should not serve in Congress, igniting national interest in a race that should have been a safe hold for Republicans. Miller is fighting back aggressively. He launched a campaign ad over the weekend highlighting Poindexter’s past arrests for drug possession and assault.”

Missouri gerrymandering mess flummoxes voters: The Wall Street Journal : “U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II arrived at a banquet hall here this week to speak at a nonprofit dinner, a standard campaign stop and usually a ho-hum affair. Before he even spoke, the room erupted into a standing ovation. Only hours earlier, the 11-term, 81-year-old Democratic congressman learned the U.S. Supreme Court had, for the second time, rejected Republican efforts to redistrict him out of office. As the high-stakes midterm elections approach, battles over redistricting and voting are intensifying nationwide. Republicans are trying to keep control of Congress, amid voter frustration with prices and an unpopular war with Iran. Democrats are seeking to gain majorities and restrain President Trump. Nowhere has the fallout been greater than in Missouri, a heartland state that has large rural areas dominated by conservative Republicans—but also has urban areas, including St. Louis and Kansas City, dominated by Democrats.”

Democrats worry AI may edge out affordability on the campaign trail: Politico : “Democrats spent months honing their affordability message. Most don’t think AI should overshadow it now. Even as discussion of AI safety dominates Capitol Hill, key battleground Democrats are not planning to follow suit on the campaign trail — wary of overshadowing their laser focus on the economy and not yet convinced of its salience. ‘People want to know that Congress is willing to put some guardrails around a technology that has the potential to further the economic inequality in this country,’ said Rep. Susie Lee (D-Nev.), who holds a competitive district. ‘But they’re really most concerned right now about the cost of living.’ She said she’s not planning to run ads on the growing AI panic ‘at this point.’ Other Democrats similarly want to keep hammering Republicans where they’re weakest — the economy — and worry that a last-minute pivot to focus on possible existential threats from artificial intelligence could prove a distraction from the issue voters have made clear they care about the most, according to a dozen Democratic lawmakers, pollsters and strategists.”

New poll says Texas Senate contest stays tight — The Hill

Dem Mary Peltola solidly ahead in new Alaska survey — The Hill

El-Sayed hangs on to narrow edge for Michigan Senate — The Hill

Jon Ossoff , leading and flush with cash, bails out underfunded Dem for governor — The Atlanta Journal Constitution

Many refused Kamala Harris ’s endorsement, but Abdul El-Sayed welcomes the former VP to the campaign trail — Politico

Sherrod Brown focuses campaign on Trump voters — The Washington Post

Robinson Meyer : Alaska’s Peltola offers a climate change blueprint for red-state Democrats — The New York Times

A costly and expensive scramble as GOP fears loss for Indiana secretary of state — The Downballot

Trump PACs spend $138 million in 10 days on GOP midterm campaigns — The New York Times

Kash Patel warns FBI agents will monitor polling places — The Washington Sun

Gavin Newsom says he’d step aside for 2028 if Harris runs again — CNN

Ossoff’s self-conscious Obama vibes — The Guardian

“If Joe participated in bestiality, not as the animal but as the human, don’t you think he should be disqualified?” — Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) using a hypothetical applicant to plumb the depths of the FBI’s new policy allowing those previously charged with having sex with animals to apply to become agents.

“I must admit, after two years of — two decades, actually — of dodging your questions, I wasn’t sure how many of you would be here today. … But I’m glad to see you.” Sen. Mitch McConnell (R- Ky.) greeting reporters as he returned .

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KSL News : “A defense lawyer appealing his client’s murder conviction submitted a brief containing made-up police testimony and witnesses fabricated ​by OpenAI’s ChatGPT, New Mexico’s highest court said. The New Mexico Supreme Court on Wednesday fined the attorney, Stephen Aarons , and held him in contempt for failing to verify the accuracy of the court filing, which Aarons ‌said he prepared with help from the AI program. The filing ‘contained false testimony from wholly fabricated witnesses,’ the court said. The panel also said Aarons had ‘demonstrated a lack of ⁠remorse and a lack of concern for his client.’ ​The justices fined Aarons $5,000 and said they will refer ⁠him to an attorney disciplinary board for investigation. Aarons, in a statement to Reuters, said he had used ChatGPT to ‌summarize the trial proceedings when ‌he agreed to take up the defendant’s appeal last year, and did not understand the degree ⁠to which AI could ‘hallucinate’ facts.”