“I think there is no danger in ignoring a debate about Mr Potato Head and Mr Seuss,” said John Anzalone, a Biden adviser and campaign opinion pollster.
Anzalone argues that there is no benefit to tackling ‘meaningless’ issues, and that there may indeed be a downside to disregarding them while the Biden government and Democrats conclude a massive Covid relief package. amid more than 500,000 deaths due to the pandemic. “Republicans run the risk of ignoring getting money for the distribution of Covid vaccines in states, reopening money and controlling schools in the pocket of struggling Americans,” he added.
Other assistants to the president agree, pointing to the often volatile nature of the stories burning up conservative airwaves as proof that it is not necessary to weigh in.
The divisions over what is right-wing ‘culture cancellation’ and what is left-wing ‘concern’ are somehow growing in the political landscape after Trump. And no side shows signs of withdrawal. While Biden World may find it all a troublesome distraction, Republicans see an ointment. A lack of power and a co-operative political message, a relentless focus on ‘canceling culture’ has proven to be a galvanizing force for their base.
“At the end of the day, I think it’s uniting the party, but it’s expanding to the area we need – the suburban moms, the educational men we struggled with in 2020, there’s a common ground with these constituencies, “said Mercedes Schlapp, senior fellow American Conservative Union Foundation and a former Trump White House aide. “We are the common sense company and we are not going to be the party that constantly oversees what our children read, and not for this canceled cultural mass to decide.”
On Thursday, Republicans opened a new front in the battle, targeting Biden’s use of the phrase “Neanderthal thinking” to describe the reason among leaders in GOP-governed states lifting their Covid-19 restrictions.
Senate Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) Swung left by appealing to the president to apologize for offending people whose ancestors were of very, very, very, very far from the archaic human species. He suggested that Biden ‘seek training on unconscious prejudice’. And Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) Even has the air to defend the reputation of cave dwellers and women.
“Neanderthals are hunter-gatherers, they are protectors of their family, they are resilient, inventive, they are prone to their own,” Blackburn told Fox Business. “So, I think Joe Biden needs to rethink what he’s saying.”
The battles are metastasized so quickly that it is sometimes difficult to remember how it started. In the case of dr. Seuss, the government of Biden omitted the famous children’s book author in a proclamation for Read Across America Day, which was deliberately established on the good doctor’s birthday. Then the estate of Dr Seuss decided not to publish six of his children’s books because they contained illustrations that the estate itself considered ‘hurtful’ and ‘wrong’.
The topic quickly became a fixation of IDP legislators and conservative cable programming. Tuesday it was the primary focus on Fox News, even as Christopher Wray, director of the FBI, sits in the hot seat for a trial on the Jan. 6 riots on Capitol Hill. By all accounts, the network has talked about it 60 times, according to a Washington Post version.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy even took the matter to the House floor during a debate on a Democratic bill introduced by Democrats. ‘First, they ban dr. “Seuss and now they want to say what we have to say,” McCarthy said.
For the White House, it was worth stepping aside. The White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, acted when asked why Biden dr. Seuss did not announce at his reading day like former presidents Trump, Obama and Bush.
“The proclamation was written by the Department of Education, and you can definitely talk to them about more details on drafting it,” Psaki said.
This is not the only culture war in which Psaki refuses to participate. Asked about Biden’s Neanderthal remark, she calls it a ‘reflection of his frustration’ because Americans refuse to follow public health guidelines. Earlier, she declined to comment directly on a question about the announcement by Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban that his team would halt the start of games by playing the National Anthem – a policy he eventually turned his back on.
The Culture War playbook is a worn out book for the GOP, especially if they are less numerous in Washington. But recent examples have taken a different form than in the past. This was especially true in the Trump era, but rather than being tied to a particular policy or politician, they often take the form of backlash to the alleged social pressure for political correctness.
During Barack Obama’s presidency, assistants motivated many of these ‘scandals’ by their dislike of him personally, or dealing with his race, or often a combination of both. Incidents include photos of Obama not wearing a jacket in the Oval Office (after no such photos were taken of George W. Bush for eight years) and the Obamas inviting hip-hop artist and actor Common into the White House as part of a poetry reading. , which drew the mockery of Karl Rove and Sarah Palin. “Oh dear, White House …” she said.
There was also the so-called Starbucks salute when Obama Marines greeted informally while holding a cup of coffee in his raised hand.
“The non-subtle implication was ‘he is part of the other and he does not belong here,'” a former White House official in the Obama administration, describing many of the attacks as racist.
Today, many of the fracas do not even involve Biden, his administration or his policy agenda. Rather, it is about matters such as corporate decisions around child toys.
Last month, toy manufacturer Hasbro announced that it was launching the “Mr.” abandon. from its logo and brand in an effort to promote gender equality and inclusion. After an initial firestorm over the decision, the company explained that both Mr. Potato head as Mrs. Potato head under the names will sell. Hasbro acknowledged the initial confusion. But then the story began. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), Who spoke at CPAC last weekend, mockingly called the Potato Head toy ‘America’s first transgender doll’.
Republicans, divided by warring factions, have found a common ground to push back against ‘cancel culture’. ‘America Uncanceled’ was the dominant theme of the Conservative political action conference this year, with Donald Trump and 2024 hopefuls like Senator Ted Cruz, (R-Texas) raising the issue along with topics such as immigration, China and climate change.
“Will it displace the pandemic or the economy that the voters are losing in their minds? No, ”said GOP strategist Matt Gorman. ‘But it’s a cultural touchstone for people showing where the party’s priorities are. Suburban parents who see school districts banning a children’s book or changing schools’ names but not getting children in the classrooms are one way to make them angry. They see how they are focused on the absolute wrong things. ”
There are numbers that seem to reinforce Gorman’s point. According to a new Harvard CAPS-Harris poll, a majority of Americans consider “culture canceling” as a threat to freedoms in the US. Eighty percent of Republicans see it as a threat, compared to 48 percent of Democrats in the poll.
Pollster Frank Luntz said the use of ‘culture cancel’ as a ‘definitely’ button is effective in pulling the GOP base together.
“The delegation of Trump and his constituents five years ago is what led to his election,” Luntz said. “The cancellation culture by the left is exactly the same strategy, and it will cause the same result. It does not matter if you are left or right: people will fight for their right to exist. ”
Even those in the entertainment industry – one of the forerunners of the ‘cancel culture’ wars – fear that this could all be effective. “This is how Trump is re-elected,” he said. Seuss, cancel Abe Lincoln. Melt Mr. “Potato Head’s private parts and throw them to the Muppets,” Jimmy Kimmel said in a recent show. “This is his path to victory.”
So will Republicans succeed? Is it actually 98 percent guaranteed? The White House does not think so, as evidenced by the fact that an official there is responding with a Seussian rebuttal of their own.
‘Republicans may complain, but they are still talking
To a president who acted like a Neanderthal
Instead of coming together, the flames that ignite them
When they have to work with Joe on the rescue plan
Cry, whine and gnash their teeth as they please
It’s actually the Republicans who are in disarray! ”