The 2020 Republican National Convention made one thing clear; the GOP has no agenda or platform. The party has move against arguing policy and all in on fighting the culture war. And one of the key aspects of their culture war is race baiting.
The party, along with Fox News has been pushing back against the teaching of critical race theory. It doesn’t matter to many of their supporters that critical race theory is taught in law schools rather than elementary schools. And it has been a effective way for them to trigger white grievance.
Steve Bannon helped make white grievance an important aspect of Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign. And he thinks critical race theory will be a crucial part of taking back the House in 2022.
The former Trump strategist told Politico, “This is the Tea Party to the 10th power. This isn’t Q, this is mainstream suburban moms — and a lot of these people aren’t Trump voters.”
Bannon continued, “I look at this and say, ‘Hey, this is how we are going to win.’ I see 50 [House Republican] seats in 2022. Keep this up. I think you’re going to see a lot more emphasis from Trump on it and DeSantis and others. People who are serious in 2024 and beyond are going to focus on it.”
GOP voters are often likely to be swayed by bad faith arguments like this one. It will be incumbent upon Democrats to find a way to push back against it.