Probably because they’ve been around their own voters too long, and need to get out of the barn more.
After 3 teachers and 3 kids were murdered by an AK47-wielding woman at a Nashville Christian school on Monday, March 27, 2023 (see story here), a survivor of the July 4, 2022, Highland Park parade shooting (details here) interrupted a Fox News live segment to demand gun legislation (watch video here), and President Biden renewed his call for an assault weapon ban (see story here).
Republicans, of course, will refuse. Meanwhile, they’ve elevated Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) to national prominence, and handed her a soapbox and microphone. What did she say about the Nashville slaughter?
She “blamed Joe Biden, Democrats, and gun control advocates,” called gun-free school zones “foolish,” and appeared to call for more guns in schools (see story here). Sure it’s crazy, but this isn’t nuts, it’s calculating. She knows it’ll go over well with Republican voters and raise a lot of money in political donations.
You have to expect Republican politicians to say crazy things, when they know Republican voters are crazy.
But that begs the larger question: The majority of voters aren’t Republican, and polls keep showing the majority of Americans don’t share Republicans’ beliefs or values (see, e.g., story here), so why do Republicans think acting crazy will win elections?
Actually, it appears they don’t think that. From election returns, that only works in Florida. After losing the popular vote in 8 of the last 9 presidential elections, and watching a slew of GOP extremist candidates go down to defeat in key swing states like Arizona, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, they’ve shifted their tactics from gaming elections (gerrymandering, voter suppression, etc.) to overthrowing them.
This doesn’t make them less crazy. It makes them more dangerous. The bottom line is that Americans who want to keep their freedom have to vote, and can’t vote for any Republican, until this manic phase of our country’s history burns itself out.