UAFReport| Daniel| Many Republicans are baffled by how horribly Republicans underperformed in the 2022 midterms. There was no Republican red wave. Despite telltale signs of sweeping midterm pickups in both houses of Congress, Republicans lost a seat in the Senate.
They appear to be barely going to squeak out enough wins to take a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives. Saying that Republican candidates didn’t fulfill expectations would be a gross understatement. Republicans got their hats handed to them.
With a president boasting some of the worst approval ratings in U.S. history, a plummeting economy, a border crisis, and skyrocketing crime, Republicans seemed like shoe-ins. They clearly were not. Many are left scratching their heads in an attempt to figure out what happened.
Others are downright “pissed off.” One of those is a former candidate for the Republican presidential nomination. Texas U.S. Senator Ted Cruz voiced his anger after watching his party basically get embarrassed on game day.
There’s going to be blame aplenty to go around. Some argue that President Trump’s appeal, as well as the candidates he has endorsed, is partly to blame. However, Cruz laid the blame right at the feet of his senatorial leader.
The Republican senator slammed Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. Cruz asserts that McConnell played politics with much-needed candidate support, especially money. Cruz believes that McConnell’s failure to support Blake Masters in Arizona was a terrible call.
The Texas senator said there was no excuse for McConnell to abandon Masters, calling it “indefensible.” Cruz told his podcast host Ben Ferguson just how angry he is. “Well, Ben, let me start off by saying I am so pi**ed off, I cannot even see straight,” Cruz said.
Cruz went on to explain the midterm Republican debacle. “We had an extraordinary opportunity. We had a generational opportunity. This should have been a fundamental landslide election. We should have won the House and the Senate.”
Cruz estimated that “We should have a 30, 40, or 50-vote majority in the House. We should have 53, 54, or 55 Republicans in the Senate.” McConnell’s PAC reportedly pulled $8 million in campaign spending from Arizona after Blake Masters won his primary election.
The lack of campaign funding left Masters scrambling to defend the massive ad campaign his competitor leveled. Mark Kelly used bogus claims about Masters to cast doubt on his worthiness for office. It left Masters in an almost indefensible position.
Ferguson asked Cruz why he thought McConnell yanked funds from the Masters campaign. Cruz was quick to respond. “Because Masters said he would vote against Mitch McConnell, and so Mitch would rather be leader than have a Republican majority.”
After watching Masters come just short of the goal line in his attempts to flip the Arizona U.S. Senate seat. Many want answers. McConnell clearly fumbled the ball in his duties. But former President Trump’s PAC failed to spend a cent from its war chest of over $100 million.
It appears that more people than just Minority Leader McConnell failed to perform on game day. Republicans lost for many reasons. The message was weak, and they failed to counter bogus claims by Democrats that “democracy was at stake.” Cruz’s anger is well-founded.
The midterm results mean more liberal judges appointed across the country. It makes it exceedingly harder for conservatives to stall the radical socialist agenda being pushed by the left. Republicans should be furious. But what are they going to do about it? That’s the question.
