As we hurtle towards the day of reckoning, one of the most fascinating elements of this election season has been the utter destruction of nearly all Democrats who took to the debate stage, often by opponents who were considered intellectual lightweights, extremists, or sacrificial lambs by the media and the establishment.  Heading towards Halloween, these were the true horror shows for the Democrats, no doubt leading to many of them waking up in the middle of the night in cold sweat and tremors. 

There are a few key lessons that came out of those debates worth considering going forward. 

1. Democrats are such a radical party at this point with such a horrible record that they cannot withstand the slightest bit of scrutiny by anyone who is not a sycophant.

They are a pro-crime, racist, anti-border, anti-energy authoritarian death cult committed to shrinking the economy to placate their weather gods, exposing America’s children to pornography and drag queen hours, erasing the word “woman” from the American lexicon, and siding against parents at every opportunity.Good luck defending the indefensible.

So, they have resorted to three primary tactics when faced with the prospect of debates against real opponents; shamelessly lying through their teeth ala Gretchen “three-month school closure” Whitmer and John “I love fracking” Fetterman, avoiding the debate stage at all cost a la Katie “hiding in my basement” Hobbs, and pretending to be one small step removed from being a Republican ala Tim “so moderate that I vote with Pelosi 100% of the time” Ryan, Maggie “most bipartisan senator in my own mind” Hassan, and Mark “did you know I was an astronaut?” Kelly. None of these tactics are working, although the last tactic is probably the smartest one at this point.

In Hobbs’ case, it is hard to blame her for running scared and hiding out from debates. If she stepped onto the debate stage with Kari Lake, it could quickly birth the newest horror classic just in time for Halloween. Almost all Republicans are winning their debates with ease, to include the ones that the Republican establishment types turned their backs on.

One of the most telling debates of the cycle was the one that happened between Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker. It was a David versus Goliath debate that featured a career communicator in Warnock against a man that the Democrats hold in utter contempt and see as an intellectual lightweight who can’t speak. Nothing quite brings out the Democrats’ racism problem as quickly as a black Republican. They were shocked when the ole Bulldog ran away with the debate easier than he used to run away from tacklers. They shouldn’t have been. Warnock is a radical defending the indefensible and Walker was plenty capable of shining a light on that radicalism.

Republicans frequently are forced into two-on-one debates with sympathetic moderators jumping in to “Crowley” the Republican. But even that advantage can’t save them from their radicalism. The only thing that helps to dull the destruction is that the media continues to do all it can after the debate to present the outcomes in the most favorable way possible for the Democrat in the hopes that most people did not actually watch the train wreck.

Even in deep blue states like Washington, Oregon, and New York, along with lighter blue states like Nevada and New Hampshire, Democrats are being routinely taken to the debate woodshed. While out party success is to be expected in a midterm year with a deeply unpopular president, the debates show that there is something more going on this time and that if Democrats don’t moderate their positions, some of these blue states may turn red quicker than expected to go along with the red-pilling of their populations.

2. The debates have put to bed the conventional wisdom that the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade would help the Democrats.  Short-term, it may have given them a slight boost, but all that did was cause them to make the horrible choice of running on unrestricted abortion access as their single mid-term issue.  Long-term, the end of Roe is a real problem for them, which the debates have highlighted. 

Thanks to the unconstitutional Roe decision, in past cycles, Republicans were forced to defend their position while the Democrats were allowed to skate, often to disastrous results. In this cycle, Republicans are having no such problem. With the issue being returned to the states, it is very easy to turn any question on abortion into a discussion on what constitutes reasonable restrictions, which is very solid ground considering Republicans are morally on the right side of the issue.

Democrats cannot agree to any restrictions without infuriating the maniacal part of their base that is now their driving force and are left looking like radicals while the Republicans look far more reasonable and in alignment with popular opinion. Republicans will only get better at communicating on this issue from here as more Americans wake up to the fact that the unborn deserve protection.

3. These debates demonstrate how well President Trump situated the party to be a nationally popular party going forward.  He effectively cut out the least popular elements of the Republican platform, areas that were major vulnerabilities in past debates, and turned the Republican party into one that will enjoy broad popular support for as long as it holds to this platform. 

The problem for the Democrats is not just that their radical positions are unpopular. Those unpopular positions are now in contrast to Republican positions that are very popular with law-abiding Americans. Trump’s focus on border security, pro-energy policies, fair versus free trade, and strong military deterrence in lieu of foreign adventurism resulted in a very popular platform. How could it not?

The military adventurists have largely left the Republicans to join the Democrats, saddling Democrats with the dubious honor of being the party that believes in sending American lives and dollars we don’t have into corrupt foreign shredders while actively threatening the national interest. Trading the Bill Kristols and the Liz Cheneys to the Democrats for broad swaths of the electorate? Republicans should take that to the bank.

Trump was routinely attacked as a nationalist and populist as if caring about the national interest and American lives was somehow a bad thing. But a party is in a much better electoral place going forward when it is defending American interests than when it is taking its marching orders from foolish power-crazed globalists and snobby race-obsessed elites.

The Democrats always believed that they were positioned for absolute supremacy in America based on demographic changes, which was the thesis of multiple high-profile books, perhaps none as influential as The Emerging Democratic Majority. But they shredded that long-term advantage when they turned so fiercely against Americans.

The Republican candidates benefitted spectacularly in the debates from this repositioning since they are now advancing and defending positions that Americans believe in instead of trying explain, for example, how losing jobs overseas is a good thing. This is also one of the primary reasons they are doing so well with minority communities where they have traditionally struggled. If they stay on course, they will continue to gain with these communities.

While the last two years have been terrible for America thanks to Democrat rule, watching these debates, I have a sense of optimism that the Republicans are well-positioned to save the country from the existential challenges it now faces. The big question will be whether they stay the course or allow the establishment types who resent the repositioning of the party to pull them back to the dark side.

Image: Gage Skidmore