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Tag: urged
Steve Bannon

Bannon Urges Trump To 'Ignore' Suburban Women And 'Rule For 100 Years'

Steve Bannon, former Trump strategist and host of War Room, is telling his audience that Donald Trump should give up trying to win over suburban women in the upcoming presidential election.

The former president is historically unpopular with this demographic, and Republicans have long worried that he needs to win them over for a successful run.

While complaining that Trump’s upcoming criminal trial is designed to “destroy Trump in front of the American people and particularly women,” Bannon said he is “pretty adamant you shouldn't go out of your way to chase that vote.”

The next day Bannon ridiculed the idea that Trump has to “modify” his message to attract college-educated women voters, whom he called “all the Karens,” calling it “a waste of time and money” as “they think Trump personifies the patriarchy.”

Bannon reiterated the point the day after, saying that trying to convince suburban women to vote for Trump is “a waste of resources.”

On April 4, Bannon tried to caveat his previous strategic advice after it received attention on social media. He said, “Don't chase the marginal Karen in a suburb that's got a college degree, just trying to kowtow to her to convince her to support our movement and support Trump when we have tens of millions of men that have punched out of the system because of the way immigration and all the society is stacked against them.” He went on to say if you get the support of these men, “you rule for 100 years.”

Last month, Bannon argued that Republicans must find a way to counter Taylor Swift fans rather than bring them into the fold, and suggested banning TikTok to achieve this objective.

A former White House adviser, Bannon has reemerged in Trumpworld as “one of Trump’s most important advisers” ahead of the 2024 election, according to reporting from ABC’s Jonathan Karl. His show War Room is the media home for Project 2025, a comprehensive staffing and policy plan for the next Republican administration. Project 2025 includes an extensive anti-choice agenda that takes aim at women’s health broadly, including calling for removing the term “abortion” from all federal laws and regulation, reversing abortion pill approval, punishing abortion providers by withdrawing federal health funding, and restricting clinics that provide contraception and STD testing. The Heritage Foundation, which is leading Project 2025, has released draconian new IVF policy recommendations that would limit access to the reproductive method.

Reprinted with permission from Media Matters.

Will Paul Ryan Run?

He apparently is being urged from all directions to join the race and bring “substance” to the primary.

Having Mitch Daniels and Jeb Bush personally encourage him makes Ryan a more likely candidate. But the same things they like about him — his specificity when it comes to cutting entitlements — seem to make the congressman toxic in a general election. We saw that in New York’s 26th congressional district’s special election this May, when running against Ryan’s Medicare plan allowed a Dem to win the conservative territory, and it’s evident in polls showing the Ryan plan is very unpopular.

AARP To Super Committee: Don’t Eviscerate Social Security, Medicare

The AARP, the nation’s largest senior citizen advocacy group and among the most powerful lobbying groups in Washington, urged the Super Congress not to roll back the welfare state yesterday.

“Americans want Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid to be strengthened as part of a broader conversation around health and economic security, not one focused solely on deficit reduction,” Rand said. “AARP believes that the American public deserves a seat at the table in any forum, including the newly created super committee, and we ask that members of the new committee actively solicit input from people across the country, particularly older Americans,” said A. Barry Rand, AARP’s CEO.

The group warned that cuts to the cherished programs “could undermine the standard of living today and for future middle-class generations.”

The AARP came under fire from the left for reportedly shifting its position to favor some “reforms” of the programs (as opposed to outright opposition to changes during the privatization of Social Security fight in 2005) this past year, but this seems mostly to be a question of rhetoric — and a desire to be part of what they see as an inevitable conversation about their members’ top priority.