Many Politicians Want To Hide Who They Are From The Voters— And For Good Reasons

Yesterday, Alice Herman reported that Trump’s weirdo running mate “will speak at an event on Saturday hosted by the self-styled prophet and political extremist Lance Wallnau, who has claimed Kamala Harris practices witchcraft and has written that the US is headed toward bloody internal conflict… Wallnau, who hosts the tour and broadcasts its speakers on his online show— drawing hundreds in-person and sometimes tens of thousands virtually— is a proponent of the ‘seven mountains’ mandate, which commands Christians to seek leadership in seven key areas of society— the church, the education system, the family, the media, the arts, business and government. He is also a leader in the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), a movement that features modern-day apostles and has taken hold in particular in non-denominational charismatic churches that embrace faith healing and believe that the Holy Spirit can speak directly through believers in the form of speaking in tongues and prophesy. These religious spaces often also practice ‘deliverance ministry’ and ‘spiritual warfare’ to cleanse people of demonic entities… Wallnau has also written in his book, God’s Chaos Candidate: Donald J Trump and the American Unraveling, that he believes the United States is headed toward a potentially bloody clash— a ‘fiery trial’ that will come ‘both to believers and nations.’ In his book, in which he also claims to have met with Trump on multiple occasions, Wallnau writes that the US is entering a ‘crucible,’ which will involve ‘a conflict of ideologies, often arms, to determine a victor in the power clash.’”

This Wallnau tour is as crackpot as it comes and it’s visiting 5 swing states: Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia and Arizona. Herman wrote that “The inclusion of Vance… in the tour highlights the Trump campaign’s increasing alignment with a movement on the religious right that seeks to subordinate US government and society to Christian doctrine... The campaign is probably betting the support he could shore up from rightwing Christians there will outweigh the risk of appearing at an event with extremist overtones.”

Politicians often try to hide who they are from the voters. The NY Times had a funny article about that yesterday, GOP Candidates, Looking To Soften Their Imagine, TurnTo Their Wives. Or, in some cases, actors who play the role of wives and children in campaign ads! First, this is who they really are, but who they’re hoping swing voters don’t remember:

Merry Christmas from Lauren Boebert and Thomas Massie & families

Annie Karni and Catie Edmonson wrote that “male Republicans struggling to appeal to female voters concerned about their records on reproductive rights are unleashing their spouses to make the pitch on their behalf. Their ads often feature women in softly lit living rooms and pristine kitchens vouching for their husbands’ characters. Sometimes the women are driving S.U.V.s with young children in the back seat as they stop for gas and groceries, talking about how their husbands are champions for their families, and can be champions for yours, too. Other times, candidates film footage of a wholesome family gathering around the dining room table. In at least one case, such a gathering includes a candidate at the dinner table in a family-like tableau with a woman and children who are not related. The campaign of Derrick Anderson, a former Army Green Beret who is running in a competitive race for an open seat in Virginia’s Seventh District, has posted footage of him posing with a woman and her three daughters in what looks like a photo that might be used for an annual holiday card. In another scene filmed for potential use in a campaign ad, Anderson is seated around the dining room table with the same woman and three girls, chatting and smiling. But the people are not relatives. They are the wife and children of a longtime friend. Anderson, who announced this month that he was engaged, does not have any children of his own. His campaign website says he lives with his dog and does not display any of the photos.

Ads featuring a candidate’s wife or daughter have long been standard political fare for both Democrats and Republicans. But they have taken on increased urgency in this campaign cycle.

“There has been a resurgence of these ads, with Republicans being on the defensive on abortion in a way in which we haven’t seen in recent times,” said Isaac Baker, a veteran Democratic strategist and ad maker.

Alexandra De Luca, the vice president for communications at American Bridge 21st Century, a Democratic super PAC that conducts research and tracking on GOP candidates, blasted Republicans for the tactic.

“Hiding behind your wife as a prop as you and your party work to dismantle women’s rights and risk their lives is a pathetic political move,” she said. “These Republicans should own their dangerous policies and their vicious insistence that women have no control over their own bodies.”

But the ads have long been popular, Baker said, because they work. While progressive Democrats sometimes have negative reactions to them, he said, suburban women who pay less attention to politics often respond emotionally to seeing someone they identify with vouching for a candidate they may know little about.

Baker himself reverted to the wife-as-character-witness strategy last cycle while working for Representative Vicente Gonzalez, a [GOP-lite Blue Dog] Democrat from South Texas. Gonzalez was being attacked for work he had done in the capacity of a public defender, representing drug smugglers and gang leaders.

In the commercial, his wife, Lorena, said: “I’ve shared my life with Vicente Gonzalez for 25 years. Vicente is honest, hard-working and a man of faith.” Gonzalez cruised to victory, winning his race by nine points.

Some candidates have deployed their wives to go on offense in commercials against female candidates they are hoping to unseat.

Sharon Hovde, the wife of Eric Hovde, the Republican banking executive running against Senator Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, condemned an ad run by Baldwin’s campaign in a direct-to-camera rebuttal that accused the incumbent of operating a “dirty campaign” that had “gone too far.”

Baldwin had featured comments Hovde made in 2012 while running in a Senate primary. He argued that lawmakers should “do everything we can to support the family unit, and we have to stop government policies that reward those that are having children out of wedlock.”

[Sharon] Hovde countered that she was a single mother when she met Hovde. “Eric saw the difficulty I faced just trying to afford child care,” she said. “It actually inspired him to help single mothers here in Wisconsin.”

Others— not just George Santos and his protagonist Nassau County Republican Anthony D’Esposito— are actual bona fide criminals and have to hide who they are no matter what. Santos failed and he's likely going to prison for a long time. D'Esposito is in the early stages of public unravelling. But look at Florida Republicano Matt Gaetz, a drug using, sex trafficking polymorphous sex pervert… He even married some gal to hide who he is from the voters who might remember his son/lover, Nestor Galban. His latest is to refuse to cooperate with the House Ethics Committee, which appears to be on the verge of recommending he be expelled from Congress. 

Steve Benen: “NBC News reported in June that the bipartisan panel said in a lengthy statement that it was examining whether Gaetz may have ‘engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, accepted improper gifts, dispensed special privileges and favors to individuals with whom he had a personal relationship, and sought to obstruct government investigations of his conduct.’ There’s fresh reason to believe the process is still intensifying. CNBC reported: ‘Rep. Matt Gaetz said Thursday that he has learned the House Ethics Committee will subpoena him as it investigates whether the Florida Republican engaged in sexual misconduct with a minor or illicit drug use. Gaetz, a close ally of former President Donald Trump, made the statement in an angry letter to the Ethics Committee that declared he will “no longer voluntarily participate” in the panel’s probe.’ Gaetz concluded that the House Ethics Committee’s lines of inquiry had become ‘nosy,’ and he would no longer cooperate with the ongoing investigation.”

Nosy investigators! OMG! What’s the world coming to?