In the days since the 2018 midterms, where the Democrats smoked the GOP by the largest margin since the post-Watergate election of 1974, Republicans have been laser focused on the 2020 election.
It would have been nice to see Trump and the GOP use their humiliating defeat as an opportunity to learn from their mistakes and commit themselves to the conservative values they claim to hold. Instead, they have decided to double down on the politics of distraction and their lying lies.
For example, even though the Mueller investigation is over, and Trump has allegedly been “vindicated,” Trump and the GOP along with some help from faux conservatives in media have every intention on keeping the Mueller investigation front and center through 2020 as a distraction to cover their lies and failed leadership.
Speaking of lies, instead of admitting their falsehoods to the American people, Trump and the GOP are recycling the lies of the 2016 and 2018 elections on issues like abortion, Obamacare, and the national debt as a major part of their 2020 strategy.
In addition to distractions and lies, a somewhat surprising approach to protecting their jobs in 2020 has been the Republican embrace of “conservative socialism” and the Hillary-inspired socialist agenda of the woman Trump said he would be hitting on if she weren’t his daughter, senior advisor Ivanka Trump.
I call it surprising because Republicans once considered to be the bastion of conservatism in Washington are now involved. One of these so-called conservatives is Gutless On Principles Hall of Shame enshrinee, Sen. Mike Lee.
Lee has developed a political infatuation with Ivanka and recently came out of the closet to admit his same-politics attraction to her Far-Left agenda by joining Sen. Joni Ernst to cosponsor a paid family leave bill called the Child Rearing and Development Leave Empowerment (CRADLE) Act. Their plan would allow individuals to borrow from their future Social Security benefits to take up to 90 paid days off for the birth or adoption of a child.
The CRADLE Act is a slightly different version of a paid family leave bill proposed during the midterms by another “conservative” Republican, Marco Rubio. Lee and Ivanka worked with Rubio to create this earlier version, but the Florida Senator is now promoting Ivanka’s agenda with help from the man credited with creating Obamacare, Sen. Mitt Romney.
The paid leave bill proposed by Rubio and Romney is still funded through Social Security but offers an option where individuals can take a reduction in retirement payments for the first few years in lieu of delaying the start of those benefits. Their legislation has also been offered as a companion bill in the House by Republican Reps. Ann Wagoner and Dan Crenshaw.
Meanwhile, Democrats aren’t sitting idly by as Trump and the GOP try to steal their socialist thunder. In fact, they’re going bigger!
Democrat nominee for president Kirsten Gillibrand is running on a platform that includes paid family leave. Known as the FAMILY Act, her plan guarantees new parents and other caregivers 12 weeks of paid leave, covering up to 66% of a worker’s salary. This new entitlement would be paid for with a 0.2 percent payroll tax. Much like FICA, the tax would be split between employer and employee and is estimated to cost about $4 per week. And unlike the GOP proposals, her plan doesn’t touch Social Security.
Mike Lee is critical of creating new taxes to fund paid family leave while completely ignoring the fact he wants the same thing Democrats want. And get this, he is defending his “revenue neutral” version of socialism as the “conservative alternative.”
One last thought.
When the Family and Medical Leave Act first became law in 1993 under Bill Clinton, it was an unpaid entitlement, although, there were indirect costs to businesses. Today, Republicans are working with Democrats to find a way to turn it into a paid entitlement at little-to-no cost to taxpayers.
When you consider the fact that nothing government does ends up costing what they claim (see history of income tax), how long will it be before we see Republicans fighting for new revenue streams to pay for Ivanka’s family leave plan?
Creating a new entitlement certainly isn’t conservative, and creating one using funds from an already bankrupt program is insane. But it’s the perfect addition to the distractions and lies already being used by the Republican Party … a Party desperate to save their jobs in 2020.
David Leach is the owner of The Strident Conservative. His politically incorrect and always “right” columns are also featured on NOQReport.com.
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