Operation Chaos 2020

A vote for Sanders in March 3 Virginia primary could hurt Trump, not help

“Voters are pliable – to a point.”

That’s what I wrote in my book, “Six Secrets to Winning Any Local Election“,  and added: “voters can be manipulated very easily given how little many pay attention to the issues, candidates, or the election itself. But the key phrase is ‘to a degree’.”

Such is the case in local and maybe some state races.  But in national elections where there is considerably more information on candidates, I believe that despite the seeming disarray we’re seeing among the Democratic presidential contenders, Democrats are going to coalesce around a candidate, who at his point seems to be self-proclaimed socialist, Comrade Bernie Sanders.

Because Virginia has no GOP primary March 3, as delegates for Trump will be determined at district and the state GOP convention (which is March 1-2), a number of conservative friends plan to vote in the Democrat primary in a kind of repeat of Rush Limbaugh’s “Operation Chaos” in 2008, when the talk radio show host and now Medal of Freedom awardee implored his listeners one week to vote for Barack Obama and then in other weeks, Hillary Clinton.

But if conservatives wish to vote March 3 in “Operation Chaos 2020,” think twice about voting for Sanders.  Here’s why:   

1. A Sanders candidacy unites the far left and precludes a Green Party effect that could divide the liberal vote and secure Trump a 2^nd term.   In my view, Trump’s 2016 electoral college win was aided by the dynamic Green Party candidate Jill Stein and perhaps the libertarians.  Read my rationale here.  However, if moderate candidates can continue to capture delegates in the March and April primaries, and go to the convention in August with a sizable chunk, I suppose there could be a scenario where the party is fearful of a Sanders candidacy and could throw the “super delegates” (who are members of Congress and other high ranking Democrats) to crown a more-moderate candidate as the nominee.  Should that happen, I would hope Sanders or a surrogate will run as the Green Party candidate and thus split the Democratic/liberal vote in November.
2. Sanders has enthusiasm behind him – much like Obama, and Trump – with a bevy of volunteers and donors (though, Trump leads all candidates in fundraising).
3. Sanders is doing well among all Democrat constituencies including African Americans and Latinos, at least according to this poll. 

I am still skeptical African American and Latino voters will vote GOP in the fall due to peer pressure, but Trump could improve his percentages from 2016.  

1. Democratic voters care more about getting rid of Trump vs. making serious changes in policy, except maybe on guns and allowing open borders.  I called them – “Fickle-crats” in a previous missive but virtually all Democrats are united against Trump, at least according to this poll, which shows only 4% of Democrats support Trump,  but 14% of Republicans are against him! That 14% number is worrisome, but in another recent poll, when asked Democratic voters if they could vote for a “socialist,” 76% responded yes. So, maybe there’ some hope for us among the remaining 24%.
2. The liberal media won’t scrutinize any of Sanders’ Big Government proposals like the Green New Deal, Medicare for All and Free College Tuition because they want Trump out, too. This leaves the job to conservative media and GOP TV ads to explain the folly of his proposals, but as I also noted in my book, “you cannot educate people in an election campaign.”  Liberals tune out our media the way conservatives tune out liberal media (Fake News).    Liberals respond more to emotional high-minded appeals and will “justify” voting for Sanders regardless of how little chance any of his agenda has to be enacted.  
3. Prosperity and approval ratings don’t necessarily transfer into votes for Trump and Republicans.  It’s a shame that so many well-to-do technical class people in this nation are doing so well financially due to the Trump-GOP economy yet won’t give the president their vote.  Perhaps it takes a correction in the stock market in October based on the fear of a Sanders presidency to make some Democrat or moderate voters switch to Trump.   
4. A huge number of Democrats view the word ‘socialist’ as ‘progressive.’  Again, the liberal media will blur the distinction; conservatives are left just howling about it.

Finally, the very astute former White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders implored Republicans not to sit back and just have fun watching the Democrats clobber each other.  She said: “I think Republicans have to be extremely careful. We can take nothing for granted at this point. The stakes have literally never been higher.”

She’s right.   It’s up to us activists to get away from our keyboards and TV sets and talk radio , get out in the streets and start hitting doors and making calls and convincing people that while you may not like his style, this nation is doing much better under President Trump.  

At least in Hampton Roads, I don’t see much action in this regard – just pizza parties to watch Trump rallies and sporadic voter registration efforts.

But it helps for more folks to volunteer with your local GOP unit or at https://trumpvictory.com/   and do something practical besides using your vote in the March 3 primary to wager on who will be Trump’s weaker opponent.  

Given the fact Obama won the nomination and the presidency – twice – I’d say Rush Limbaugh’s 2008 chaos campaign was just a temporary high for Republicans, nothing more.