WASHINGTON | A candidate for the United States Congress reciting an anti-Biden rap on his gigantic lawn marked with a “TRUMP 2020”: the new electoral season which opens in America reveals in broad daylight the rise of extremes in politics.
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To prevent J.R. Majewski, the candidate behind this election clip and supported by Donald Trump, from being able to claim the Republican nomination, the conservative establishment has tried everything – showering the campaign of its rivals with hundreds of thousands of dollars. In vain.
Since the beginning of May, the official launch of the midterm primaries that will determine the balance of political forces in the United States for the next few years, the vast majority of candidates supported by the former president have won, much to the chagrin of more moderate conservatives, worried about seeing centrist ideas and the search for compromise slowly dying out.
In South Carolina, a Donald Trump-backed candidate who called for the dissolution of the US Department of Education, the impeachment of President Joe Biden and the arrest of the White House adviser on COVID-19 , has a chance of dislodging the elected Nancy Mace, repudiated by the former president since she accused him of being responsible for the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
And in Pennsylvania, local Sen. Doug Mastriano, who still insists the 2020 presidential election was “stolen” from Donald Trump — and has sought to help the Republican billionaire prove it — landed his party’s nomination on Tuesday for run for governor in November.
“Socialist”
On the other side of the political spectrum, hitherto taboo ideas like socialism — which for many Americans still evoke the specter of the Cold War — are on the rise.
In Pennsylvania, again, a Democrat who openly claims to be a “socialist” was thus at the head of a race on Thursday to win her party’s nomination for a seat in the House of Representatives.
Summer Lee has during her campaign received the support of the “Justice Democrats”, the group which pushed for the election in 2018 of one of the stars of her party, the young Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
The New York elected official with 8.5 million Instagram followers is the best-known member of a group of Democrats, the “Squad” trying to get as much coverage on the left as possible.
On his Twitter account, “AOC” does not hesitate to denounce by name the most centrist elected officials of his party and to support progressive candidacies against them.
With a strong sounding board, this Democratic fringe is likely to win seats and influence in the November legislative elections.
“Winner’s Bonus”
Analysis by the Pew Research Center reveals that Democrats and Republicans are further apart politically today than at any time in the past 50 years, with a gradual disintegration from the center.
In 1972, 144 Republicans in the House of Representatives were considered less conservative than the most conservative Democrat, and 52 Democrats less liberal than the most liberal Republican. According to the analysis center, this common zone began to crumble, until it disappeared completely in 2002, shortly after the election of Bush Jr.
The Common Ground Committee, an organization that campaigns to reduce incivility in politics, also says it has observed a hardening of public discourse after the 2008 crisis.
“We are in an increasingly bitter situation, caused by a mentality of the” winner’s prize “in Congress, which strongly discourages those who attempt cross-partisan compromises”, told AFP Bruce Bond, co-founder of this group. , for whom the whole thing is exacerbated by “ultra polarized” news channels.
Money is also a factor, according to political consultant Zee Cohen-Sanchez: “Our elections have become extraordinarily expensive, so people are looking to make a quick buck rather than collecting money from Americans. ordinary,” she said. This, she says, encourages candidates to take controversial positions that attract attention and generate funds.
“And,” she warns, “this is where it gets dangerous.”
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