There are some hard realities that conservatives and Republicans need to face up to and address as we move deeper into the 2024 election cycle. The GOP has lost five out of the last eight presidential elections and they lost the popular vote (while winning the White House) in even more. The “red trickle” of 2022 which was supposed to be a red wave demonstrated that the party is struggling on the state level as well as the national one. The outlook is sunnier at the local level in many rural areas, which is important, but national policy isn’t set by small-town mayors and county supervisors. Why is that? Derek Hunter tries to explain at Townhall this week in a column titled “Why Republicans Lose All The Time.” As he sees it, it largely comes down to failing to understand the underlying nature of your opponent before charging into battle.

You can have all the facts on your side and still lose an argument. How? Because the other side is not bound by facts, they’re arguing emotion, and emotion always overrides facts. It sounds stupid, it is stupid, but it’s also true. Think about the things you’ve apologized for in your life – I’d give you odds it was for things you said in the heat of the moment, not after thinking about the situation in a cool, rational way. That emotion factor is a big part of why Republicans always seem to get rolled when it comes to policy debates, but it’s not the only reason.

When your opponent isn’t bound by any sense of decency or reality, defeating them in debate is like boxing a cloud. That’s what Democrats are – a cloud – big and empty. But all too often Republicans feed them, arm them, seemingly do things someone interested in winning would never do simply because they want to be liked.

Derek goes on to criticize Jim Comer for claiming the corruption on display inside of Biden Incorporated “happens in both parties” and requires “a legislative solution” rather than booting out the corrupt and putting them behind bars. That’s a fair complaint, but holding officials accountable when you don’t control both chambers of Congress and your targets are in charge of our intelligence and law enforcement agencies at the federal level is a steep hill to climb.

He goes on to point out that almost the entirety of the mainstream media is in the pocket of the DNC. They ignore stories of Democratic corruption or portray them as something other than they are. It’s extremely challenging to make your case to the public when they are continually being kept uninformed or misinformed. That’s very true, and there may be solutions available. Derek wants to see GOP candidates running thirty-second advertisements (starting today) based on “Here’s what the Democrats don’t want you to know.”

I really can’t disagree with any of that, but I also think there is more to the story and bigger solutions will be required. I don’t believe it’s enough to simply be opposed to something simply because Democrats support it or vice versa. “Owning the libs” is not any better of a strategy than “owning the cons.” We need to promote candidates who do a better job of explaining the underlying rationale for policies and doing so in a relatable way. You’re never going to get the hard left to come along, but there are many independents who would be willing to consider a rational argument.

When it comes to the media, there are still too many Republicans who refuse to do interviews on CNN or MSNBC because of the poor treatment they receive. That’s the opposite of bravery. Any Republican should be able to go on those networks and calmly call out dishonesty by liberal reporters when they encounter it and rationally explain the benefits of conservative policies in a relatable way. You’ll never win over an audience that never hears from you.

At the same time, the sorry state of the mainstream media is crying out for a better alternative and I’m not talking about Fox News. While they offer a lot of great content for conservatives, Fox far too predictably comes down on the same side on virtually every topic that arises and repeats aggressive rhetoric targeted at liberals. I truly believe many people would open to a new news network that tackled both sides of any policy debate openly and without rancor. Spectrum News actually does quite a good job of that, but it’s not available in all the places where it’s needed. Think of how Elon Musk bought Twitter and has been transforming it. Someone else, probably a coalition of wealthy conservatives, needs to either buy out an existing network or launch a new one and handle political news honestly and openly.

If other people have additional solutions to offer they should bring them to the table. But something has to be done because the 2024 elections are heading our way quickly. The Democrats will be defending a much larger number of Senate seats this time and their incumbent President is a confused husk of a human being with terrible approval ratings. This should be a prime opportunity for conservatives but we said the same thing last year and look what happened. And honestly, I don’t know if the republic could survive five more years of Democrat rule. More has to be done to keep people informed and grounded in reality. And I’ll take this opportunity as one of my periodic reminders that if you want to help us keep on getting the word out, please consider subscribing to one of our VIP programs. You can still use the promo code “SAVEAMERICA” to receive a substantial discount.