‘Gothic Politics’ Returns as Senator Jon Ossoff’s Demagoguery Offers a Gift to GOP Before Midterms

Senator Jon Ossoff gave the Republicans a remarkable gift last week. On Friday at Atlanta, he gave a powerful and articulate speech which laid bare the Democratic strategy for 2026. As Mark Halperin wrote, Mr. Ossoff’s speech has encouraged Democrats and worried Republicans. Mr. Ossoff “fused outrage at Donald Trump with economic populism, optimism, and unusually disciplined messaging, offering what many Democrats now see as a potential template for the midterms ahead,” Mr. Halperin wrote.It was a wonderfully demagogic speech in the great tradition that Robert Sherrill described brilliantly in his 1968 book “Gothic Politics in the Deep South.” In 1980, this book so captured the style of President Carter that I gave it to the Ronald Reagan campaign to study. At the time, I was the only elected federal Republican from Georgia. I wanted Reagan’s team to understand the technique of deliberately lying and exaggerating, which is at the heart of Southern demagoguery. In the end, Reagan dealt with it during his October 28, 1980 debate with Carter.‘There you go again’: President Carter and his Republican opponent, Ronald Reagan, after debating on October 28, 1980 at Cleveland. AP/Madeline DrexlerCarter exaggerated Reagan’s position on Medicare and Medicaid. Instead of getting sucked into a defensive position (the goal of the lies), Reagan simply responded, “there you go again.” The in-studio audience laughed, as the TV audience and the nation collectively dismissed Carter’s lie and Reagan went on to a landslide victory.Mr. Ossoff’s demagoguery lends itself to the same kind of repudiation Reagan used with Carter. For example, when Mr. Ossoff described “the Epstein class ruling our country,” was he including the growing number of left-wing politicians and donors who are emerging in the Epstein files? Is his party prepared to excommunicate some of its biggest personalities and fundraisers?Similarly, Mr. Ossoff asked us to look at Minneapolis and the ICE riots there. Yet he skipped over the accusations of an estimated $9 billion in fraud tolerated by Governor Tim Walz — who was a short time ago the Democratic nominee for vice president.In one glaring falsehood, Mr. Ossoff said “unemployment is rising, too.” Four days later, the New York Times reported “U.S. hiring starts the year at a strong pace.” He also didn’t acknowledge that part of the jobs numbers reflect the 317,000 federal employees who have left their jobs. This represents 13 percent of the federal workforce shifting from costing tax dollars to generating them. A smaller, less expensive federal workforce — and a bigger private sector workforce — are good, popular things.Mr. Ossoff managed to discuss immigration without referencing controlling the borders which Democrats left wide-open — or deporting criminals in America illegally. In the Ossoff world, no criminals have been deported — only poor and vulnerable people.Mr. Ossoff claimed: “We can keep our communities safe from violence.” Yet as a good left-wing Democrat, he then described law enforcement as “roving gangs of masked men who look like they couldn’t pass the army physical exam dressed up like pretend Delta Force operators.” He described ICE as “a huge federal paramilitary force.”In the Ossoff world, the borders would still be open, all immigrants would be welcomed with open arms, and somehow crime would decline magically.While Mr. Ossoff made several references to Elon Musk paying lower taxes, not once did he mention the One Big Beautiful Bill Act — which cut taxes for virtually every American, has led to the largest tax refunds in history, and extended tax cuts to people who work for tips, senior citizens, and parents. Further, children will get much larger tax credits and investment funds from the Republican-led government than any Democrat-led effort has ever accomplished or tried.Yet Mr. Ossoff couldn’t talk about the real tax cut bill. He and every other Democrat in the House and Senate voted against it. The Democrats have truly become the party of higher taxes and lower take home pay. This didn’t make it into his speech.Every Republican should study Mr. Ossoff’s speech in preparation for the 2026 campaign. It is a good example of the kind of dishonest, distorted, and wildly inaccurate attacks we will have to defeat.GOP facts will have to be more powerful than Democrat fibs. The GOP fact-based campaign will have to be more believable and effective than the Democrats’ distortion effort.Mr. Ossoff has given us the gift of time to study what he is doing — and developing the strategies to overmatch the Democrats’ case. It is going to be an amazing campaign, and the future of America will be at stake.

‘Gothic Politics’ Returns as Senator Jon Ossoff’s Demagoguery Offers a Gift to GOP Before Midterms

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