Something sappy and sentimental from the shriveled heart of activist-progressive America to get you in the mood for the holiday. Watch, then read on.
Can’t lie: My initial reaction was that “Go back to where you came from. — Me” is a hilariously funny yearbook quote and I wish I had thought of it back in the day.
In fact, the whole ad is lightly amusing until it takes a sharp turn with the Charlottesville photo and turns into a semi-serious warning that if your son supports Trump you have a very real problem in your household. Mainstream Democrats, knowing how it’ll be received, are groaning:
WHAT ARE THESE TOM STEYER ADS AND WHO DO THEY HELP https://t.co/poXEUXWugQ
— Jon Lovett (@jonlovett) May 11, 2018
Steyer has been a pain in the ass for his party for months. He has an idea in his head that he has a political future, maybe a national one, and has settled on a strategy of pandering to the most ardent hashtag-Resistance lefties to try to build it. He’s been bankrolling an “Impeach Trump” campaign for months, running TV ads and urging people to sign up on his website with an eye to converting them into voters, donors, and volunteers later if he does choose to run for office. The impeachment push gives Democratic leaders fits because it serves Steyer’s ends at the expense of their own. It antagonizes Republicans, giving them more motivation to turn out this fall; it distracts from the economic message that Schumer and Pelosi are trying to push; and it makes every Dem who isn’t gung ho to impeach look like a DINO and a sellout by comparison, eroding their support.
Steyer doesn’t care. He’s becoming a minor political force by assuming the role, essentially, of anti-Trumper-in-chief. Check him out yesterday chumming the lefty waters with more red meat:
“[Trump] really is an incredibly skillful and talented communicator. He really is, which Hitler was, too,” Steyer said. “I think the reason people push back against the Hitler comparison, regardless of any similarities, is Hitler ended up killing millions and millions of people, and Mr. Trump has shown a disregard for our law, he breaks the law … But he hasn’t killed millions of people.”
The crowd broke out into murmurs at the remarks, which one person seemingly replying “yet” to Steyer’s last remark.
“I agree! Look, that’s why we want to impeach him!” Steyer said, waving his hand at the crowd. “We’d like to end it here while it’s still OK. I think that’s why people push back so hard, because that is a very big difference. We haven’t gotten to that point. God bless us, let’s hope we never get anywhere near that point.”
Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who hates Trump the most of all? That’s the question Steyer is betting will separate the real contenders in the 2020 primaries from the wannabes. Farting out an ad this trollish on Mother’s Day is a small part of his case that it’s him.
Exit question via Michael Brendan Dougherty: Why is this ad a low blow? “By the standards of political ads, it’s a fair shot at a party whose president said there were good people waving tiki torches that day.”
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