In December, Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler was so profligate with the phrase “radical liberal Raphael Warnock” to describe her opponent that someone put together a compilation video showing her repeating it robotically at least 10 times in a single debate.

It’s almost too silly to call the centrist 78-year-old Biden a socialist, so Republicans are instead calling him “a hapless tool of the extreme left,” insisting he won’t be able to withstand the pressure from the radical likes of Sanders and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

But here’s what Republicans are failing to realize. As families suffer and Americans die because the Trump administration refused to lead during the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s hard to sell the idea that we need less government. In a pandemic — must it even be said? — competent government is essential.

And yet the notion that Democrats are taking this country down a scary path — to socialism or perhaps hell — continues to resonate with conservatives.