Last Tuesday’s electoral disaster for Republicans effectively eliminated their power in Minnesota for the foreseeable future. The only thing worse than that night’s results is seeing how the dumbest Republicans in the nation not only learned nothing from it, but sought to offer strawman excuses to hide behind so as not to take personal responsibility for their political incompetence.
From the train wreck known as the chair of the party, Jennifer Carnahan, to the accidental Speaker, now, incomprehensibly, House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt, to the Mr. Rogers from Nisswa, Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka, the Republican base has no effective leadership. Worse, these people, and others, act as though nothing happened. They’re gaslighting us.
Carnahan asserted on social media that the obliteration at the polls “in no way” reflected on her, the candidates, their message or their efforts. It was the very definition of a reflection but Carnahan is so bad at her job she refuses to see it. The idea, floated by some if not her, that she should run against Tina Smith in 2020 is preposterous on its face.
Carnahan needs to go to DC with her fiancé who barely won CD 1 in his own poorly run campaign and be one of those inconsequential “ladies who lunch.” I expect to be called names by her, again, for this criticism, a sure sign someone doesn’t have the talent to lead a political party. She hides her stunning ineptness behind false claims of racism and sexism.
We need a new chair of the Republican Party of Minnesota but who? The talent famine™ is real, not just a clever turn of phrase. Some have suggested former Rep. Matt Dean and he would be a clear improvement. Then again, no disrespect to Dean, anyone would be.
Early voting: what is it? Carnahan failed entirely to capitalize on the ability of Minnesota voters for the first time to cast their ballots early, no reason needed. The DFL did the opposite and the results were clear last Tuesday night. With no managerial skills, no innate talent or feel for politics (the opposite, really), Carnahan has made her position all about her small, petty, vain self and it shows.
Kip Christianson and Max Rymer have a good podcast looking over the numerical electoral carnage.
Kurt Daudt presided over the loss of 18 House seats, losing the Republican majority and his accidental Speakership in the process. But like a dog to its puke, the remaining members elected him Minority Leader after a grueling 5 hour meeting. He said it was unanimous, which it always is at the end of such contests, but hotly contested it was. Did he cry again to seal the deal?
This is the political genius who told local media that he thought of the House races as “the top of the ticket.” The real power in the House, alas, is Florida man Ben Golnik, who never saw this loss coming and kept House candidates wedded to no real message to take to their voters because last session there were no real accomplishments. We tend to forget this in the aftermath of the electoral abattoir. Golnik’s political malpractice has been ongoing for some time.
Laughably, Daudt said that he didn’t “think voters were sending us a message, personally . . . We don’t think it was our message or our record that lost this election.” They manifestly were, you had no message and you had no record. Carnahan, Daudt & Golnik: a trifecta of political incompetents. Lucky us.
What Daudt not so subtly was saying was that Trump lost 18 House seats except he didn’t. Some were in danger because of him, clearly, but not 18. Saying otherwise is simply the inability to take responsibility, not exactly a sign of leadership. Then again, the surprise would be if Daudt exhibited any such signs. Why start now though? He added, self-servingly and if he hadn’t been obvious enough, that many Republican members felt the election was “beyond their control.” It wasn’t but these weak sisters weren’t about to admit to it.
Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek appears to have lost by .44% to a grossly unqualified contender. His campaign got zero help from CD 5 and Carnahan. If this loss doesn’t make you angry, nothing will.
Republicans were outspent by the DFL four or five or six to one, depending on who you talk to and how that metric is assessed. That’s clearly part of the problem but, again, not all of it, even though our donors are timid and politically naive. In the wake of Tuesday’s appointment with Lakehurst, Republicans at all levels of so called leadership either denied outright the disaster that had befallen them or sought to shift blame. They’ve learned nothing–insist on it, in fact–and still want to keep their small jobs with large perks. They represent everything people rightly detest about the “professional” political class.
Republicans kept their one seat majority in the Senate when they won a special election. Paul Gazelka continues on as Majority Leader but he too shares in the abundant blame for last session’s lack of accomplishments. Nice guy, bad politician, fairly summarizes him.
Governor-elect Tim Walz immediately said that he’d seek an as yet unspecified increase in the gas tax. Showing his complete lack of talent for politics, Daudt blustered that “Anybody whose first reaction is to raise taxes when we have a $2 billion surplus needs to get themselves checked into an institution.” Mr. Minority Leader, you’re in the minority, you and your members literally don’t count. Stop compensating for your shortcomings. We see you.
Gazelka, hopefully, can convey the substance of this with more skill and less little boy posturing. I worry about the Republican Senate being able to withstand wanting to be liked by their political enemies and a media in the tank for them. Sociopaths like Jim Abeler are likely to defect, and not just on the gas tax. What does Gazelka have to keep that all but in name Democrat in his column?
A skillful majority leader would have many things but Gazelka is not that leader. Nothing in the last session would suggest otherwise. In such cases, it’s legitimate to extrapolate from the past to the future.
The only question is the scale of the damage the Republican Senate will let the far left DFL inflict on this state.
In the meantime, Republicans in the Senate had better start their reelection campaigns at once and be good at doing so. Getting rid of their current fundraiser would be a big help because he’s of none to them.
I feel like I keep refashioning the same column, a groundhog day of sorts for writers: there is no opposition party in Minnesota, only one that wants to make progressivism go the speed limit while wanting to be applauded for the accommodation, a political nightmare from which one cannot awaken.
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The DFL are ball busters, even assuming Republicans had any to bust. They are vicious and unprincipled, standing behind our next Attorney General Keith Ellison, implicitly if not explicitly. They play for keeps. Our cucks play for perks.
In the process, they have come close to losing the future of Minnesota. Please clap.
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In addition to Alpha News, John Gilmore is also a contributor to The Hill. He is the founder and executive director of Minnesota Media Monitor.™ He blogs at MinnesotaConservatives.org and is on Twitter under @Shabbosgoy. He can be reached at Wbua@nycunarjfza.pbz
Photo credit: Jennifer Carnahan, Chair of the Minnesota Republican Party, Grey DC
John Gilmore
John Gilmore is an author, freelance writer & former opinion columnist for Alpha News. He blogs at minnesotaconservatives.org & is @Shabbosgoy on Twitter
