Challenger John Gibbs, left, and incumbent Peter Meijer, right, were candidates for Michigan’s 3rd Congressional District.
The more someone repeats the same talking point, the more likely it is insincere. Take this: Democrats often talk about the importance and fragility of “our democracy.” Through four years of Donald Trump’s presidency, from its beginning to its regrettable end on January 6, Democrats told us the end of “democracy” was just around the corner.
To anyone paying attention, it was clear that cries of this sort were not about principles but power. Democratic politicians and their friends in the media saw a talking point and made the most of it. Now the scam is being revealed.
Two Republican candidates, incumbent Peter Meijer and challenger John Gibbs were running for Michigan’s 3rd congressional district seat earlier this month. Meijer, widely praised by Democrats after voting for the second impeachment of President Trump in the wake of the January 6 riot, lost in a surprising turn of events to Gibbs on Tuesday, August 2.
While Meijer is the sort of Republican Democrats heap disingenuous praise on when he sides with them, Gibbs is of the sort they condemn as being a “threat to democracy.”
Before running for Congress, Gibbs had several roles in the Trump administration, one as an Assistant Secretary in the Department of Housing and Urban Development. In the wake of the 2020 election, Gibbs claimed that the official results showing Biden won were “mathematically impossible.”
So why did the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee run ads that help Gibbs to the tune of $435,000?
Ostensibly, the ads didn’t support Gibbs but rather gave a wink and a nod to Republican voters that Gibbs should be their preferred candidate. One ad opens with an “attack” that Gibbs is “too conservative” and “hand-picked by Trump.” Later a graphic appears that criticizes him for supporting “so-called patriotic education.” The horror.
The goal of the ad is clear: To paint Gibbs as the candidate most disliked by Democrats and say things about him that Republicans would find favorable.
Why would the Committee do this? Simply, they think Meijer, the incumbent, is the stronger candidate.
The Democratic candidate for Meijer’s seat, Hillary Scholten, lost to Meijer by 6 points in 2020. She narrowly out-raised him, $3 million to his $2.7.
So the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee made the following conclusion: Scholten would probably lose a race against Meijer but might win a race against Gibbs.
In July of this year, Meijer had spent $2.1 million on campaign ads compared to Gibbs’ $340,000. In other words, the Democrats more than doubled what Gibbs had spent on campaign ads.
Before proceeding, two of my own perspectives. First, I don’t like Peter Meijer. To his credit, Meijer seems strong on abortion but is otherwise weak on social issues. He voted for the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, which allowed transgender women (biological males) to live in women’s shelters and be imprisoned in women’s prisons, and the Respect for Marriage Act, which sought to codify same-sex marriage in federal law. Support for such legislation has no place in any conservative movement. Additionally, I find it essential that the ten Republican congressmen who voted for thecharade that was Trump’s second impeachment be bounced from office as soon as humanly possible.
Second, I like political strategies that involve taking clever risks. Running ads that benefit an opponent who is easier to defeat is one such strategy, and in a vacuum, it’s a worthy one. Politics is about winning; anything that isn’t immoral is fair game.
That said, none of this matters because Democrats have the trump card: the End of Democracy.
As the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Sean Patrick Maloney, has said, “It’s not just about Trump. It’s about a MAGA Republican movement that is defined by serious, serious things like the attack on our democracy.”
This isn’t the only race Democrats have performed this stunt. Doug Mastriano in Pennsylvania, Dan Cox in Maryland, and Darren Bailey in Illinois have all received such support in their primary races. Mastriano and Bailey both won their primaries.
One thing that should now be clear: Democrats who praise Republicans for acting like Democrats are partisan hacks. You should always follow your conscience, but if you ever find yourself performing for the wolves and the jackals, don’t expect loyalty when it’s feeding time. Congressman Meijer should not be surprised.
As our own Seth Moulton (D-Salem) told The Washington Post, “I think Peter is exactly the kind of Republican we want to have around, but at the end of the day we have to win the majority, and that is the bigger concern.”
Sure, Democrats talked a big game after Meijer voted to impeach Trump. But when push comes to shove? It’s winning time, baby.
The Democrats’ protests against the destruction of our democracy are fake.
They were willing to help a candidate they claim is a threat to democracy over one they praised for defending it.
If John Gibbs wins his general election, expect Democrats to accuse Republicans of destroying democracy. And when they do, ignore them.
Now Democrats are quick to counter that they don’t actually think that Gibbs is going to win; in fact, the entire point is that he won’t. But that isn’t good enough. If you believe a certain candidate is dangerous to the country, you do everything you can to keep him far from power.
This descent to the lowest common denominator — reckless cynicism — is one of the things tearing the country apart. There’s a mindset in modern-day politics that “this is it.” If we don’t win this next election, the country will self-destruct.
This is a terrible way of thinking. One, it’s not true — the general trajectory and well-being of the country is more important than a single election; our country is built such that significant change depends on a like-minded citizenry, which ours won’t have any time soon. The talk of “the most important election” in your lifetime — or worse, the most important midterm — is the stuff of demagogues.
Any strategy stemming from this viewpoint should be abandoned, and those who use it should be ashamed.
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Challenger John Gibbs, left, and incumbent Peter Meijer, right, were candidates for Michigan’s 3rd Congressional District. 
