Blunt, ruthless, smash-mouth politics.
That’s the GOP playbook when they’re the opposition party.
Commentator and strategist Kurt Bardella should know because that was his role when he worked for Republican Darrell Issa, then Chair of the House Oversight Committee. According to Kurt, Rep. Boehner told Issa that their job wasn’t to advance policy, but to work on communications. At the Senate, Mitch McConnell famously said his only goal as a Republican leader was to ensure Barack Obama would be a one-term President.
Well, he failed on that goal, but he emerged as one of the most destructive forces to the Democratic agenda, using all of his minority power to act as a bulwark, even going so far as to deny President Obama a Supreme Court seat.
To harm Hillary Clinton’s 2016 changes, Republicans concentrated their efforts and messaging on keeping the Benghazi scandal in the news 24-7. Unfortunately, that worked, along with Steve Bannon using corporate media to launder the narrative of Clinton being corrupt.
It’s dirty, but it worked.
In 2026, Trump is actually a corrupt, lawless, aging, unpopular vulgarian who partied with a pedophile and is engaged in a massive cover-up regarding the Epstein scandal. If anything, Democrats have the wind at their back and should have a unified message and strategy to use the Epstein Files to attack and weaken Trump.
Unfortunately, we have complacent, corporate Democratic leadership in the form of Senator Schumer and Rep. Jeffries, who believe playing possum and not taking bold stands on anything is the best way to win in 2026 and 2028, assuming we have free and fair elections.
Bardella recommends they change up the playbook and go on offense, starting with the Democratic response to Trump’s upcoming State of the Union.
He joins The Left Hook and shares his strategies and ideas.
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Thank you Cat: Poli-Psych, Caro Henry, Petrena Wilbur, Theresa Lease, Leah Anderson, and many others for tuning into my live video with Kurt Bardella! Join me for my next live video in the app.
