In New Hampshire, two Republicans are duking it out for the U.S. Senate nomination. Their primary is September 13. One or the other will face the incumbent Democratic senator, Maggie Hassan, in November.
The Republicans are Chuck Morse, the president of the state senate; and Don Bolduc, a retired brigadier general. Bolduc is MAGA all the way. He claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. Last year, he labeled New Hampshire’s governor, Chris Sununu, a “Chinese Communist sympathizer.” You get the picture.
(Sununu, for his part, has described Bolduc as “kind of a conspiracy-theorist–type candidate.”)
So, whom do the Democrats want to run against? Not Chuck Morse.
Natalie Allison of Politico notes that Mitch McConnell’s PAC has put $4.5 million into the Morse campaign. At the same time, Chuck Schumer’s PAC has put $3.1 million into the Bolduc campaign.
A quick reminder: McConnell is the Republican leader in the U.S. Senate, Schumer the Democratic leader.
Have the Democrats really put all that money into the Bolduc campaign? Well, they have aired an ad against Morse. And it is not what you would call a Democratic ad against Morse. It is a flagrantly MAGA ad.
The ad begins, “Mitch McConnell’s Washington establishment is going all in for Chuck Morse.” The candidate and McConnell are yoked. The music is spooky. A Red Chinese — and red Chinese — flag billows. You get the picture.
This ad is designed to turn out the MAGA vote for Bolduc, and against Morse.
Now, I realize that “politics ain’t beanbag.” I realize that there is a Machiavellian aspect to it. I also remember that conservatives rejoiced in 2008 when Rush Limbaugh ran “Operation Chaos.” This was a campaign to get Republicans to re-register as Democrats so as to vote for Hillary Clinton in the Democratic presidential primaries. The thinking was, Clinton would be easier to beat than Senator Obama.
Anyway, I get all that. But Democrats have been warning about MAGA and the threat it poses to democracy. I’m but a simple child from southeastern Michigan, and I say: If you don’t like something — if you don’t want something — don’t pay for it. Don’t fund it. Don’t invite it.
Also, you play with fire, you risk burning down your neighborhood, and beyond.