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Robert Costa
National political reporter covering the White House, Congress and Campaigns
When thousands of furious and screaming protesters made their way to the Capitol over the weekend, while Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh was confirmed, Republican staff members took a look at the scene from the window below. above. They were not alarmed but delighted.
A few weeks before the mid-term elections, Republicans have called the Trump resistance movement a "restless crowd," a term used by many of them to describe a faceless fusion of forces that they say threaten the order of the country and, they hope, stimulate their voters. .
President Trump and the GOP have strong control over Congress and the White House and have a considerable financial and media infrastructure. But in order to overthrow the mid-term elections of a referendum on the unpopular president, they portray themselves as defenders of the barricades.
In Virginia, Rep. David Brat (R) stands against the "Liberal Crowd", and Senate GOP candidate Corey Stewart has decried the "crowd tactics" that "attempted to destroy" Kavanaugh.
"When we're in grocery stores or at events, we find that rotating voters are upset about how Kavanaugh was treated," said Peter T. King (RN.Y.) . "Hunt the senators down the hall, climb the stairs to the Capitol – we were surprised by people's reaction. And we answer. "
The characterization evokes the fear of an unknown and uncontrollable mass, and it takes advantage of the grievances aroused by the rapid cultural and demographic changes of the nation which, according to the Republicans, oppose them. By focusing on the impact on traditional values and white voters, especially men, he strikes the same remarks that Trump's earlier attention focused on immigrants, members of MS-13 gangs and African-American football players protesting the treatment of black youth by the police.
The new front is a modern incarnation of the principles of law and order that the Republicans used previously in difficult campaigns, especially 50 years ago, when Richard Nixon used the specter of rioting at the Democratic National Convention to designate the opposing party of anti-war protesters and violent dissenters.
This time, the flagship of the GOP is leftists, elitists and feminists, academics and celebrities, Trump's arch-enemy Michael Avenatti, philanthropist George Soros and Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), Who called for the dismissal of the president.
The turning point to a cultural war is also a tacit admission that many of the problems that the Republicans had sought to resolve, from tax cuts to the optimistic state of the economy, were not enough to fanning the enthusiasm of GOP voters and countering a democratized democracy. electorate.
"It's about rekindling Fox's viewers and the strident elements of Trump's base; it's terror, "said John Weaver, a long-time Republican strategist and Trump's hard-working critic. "I'm sure there's a little old lady from Iowa who is locking her doors because she thinks there's going to be an anarchist crowd going through Davenport."
Weaver pointed out that many of the marches that have emerged since Trump's inauguration have been led by suburban women or by young Americans focused on issues important to voters, such as gun safety or science. .
"They want to take the freedom to come together and make it a negative," Weaver said. "The crowd" is trying to dehumanize and belittle and reject the current activism we see in the country. "
Months are in preparation to prepare the Democrats for anger and loss of control.
Earlier this year, when the White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, had been denied the right to serve in a Virginia restaurant and when the secretary of the Homeland Security Department, Kirstjen Nielsen, was heckled by protesters at a Mexican restaurant, Republicans accused Democrats of overreacting and unable to conceal their feelings. .
It was only in the days that preceded and followed Kavanaugh's controversial confirmation that Republicans adopted the same terminology one after the other.
"They encouraged the power of the crowd," said Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) on Friday in the Senate. Senator Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) said that there was "a paid crowd trying to prevent senators from doing the will of their constituents," while Senator Marco Rubio (R-Utah) Fla.) Is interviewed on Twitter: "Imagine the cover on the cable news if an angry crowd of conservatives stormed the steps of the Supreme Court building. "
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) Said: "We stood up to the crowd."
At his Saturday night rally in Topeka, Kansas, Trump joined him, saying "Radical Democrats have become an angry mob".
Many Republican candidates have suddenly gained support momentum when they are trapped in the politics of the nation.
When Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) And his wife, Heidi, were confronted with protesters at an Italian restaurant in Washington last month – while Kavanaugh's investiture wavered amidst allegations of sexual assault – the couple with the threatening face quickly escaped in militants chanted: "We believe the survivors!"
But when the video of the episode was put online and became viral, it stimulated Cruz, rather than his critics.
Republican strategist Jeff Roe, who advises Cruz's highly contested candidacy for re-election, said September was the country's biggest fundraiser – and that the influx was not in demand and that visceral reaction to the way Cruz had been treated.
"Their tactics are too hot. They insult the Republicans and deter the independents even more than the prospect of an indictment, "Roe said, adding that the other GOP candidates he advises are also targeting the Democrats as a close party to the crowd.
"We've used it everywhere because it's effective," Roe said.
Brat's new ad shows a crowd sitting in an auditorium answering his questions. His campaign cited his Democratic opponent as tweeted: "Abigail Spanberger sits at the forefront of Dave Brat's town hall and agrees with liberal crowd striker Dave Brat."
Some veteran Republicans have described the party's approach as too vague.
Karl Rove, former top adviser to George W. Bush, said Republicans should focus on how the Democrats handled Kavanaugh's candidacy.
"The crowd is a useful thing to talk about, but it's more important to say that the Democrats have basically broken the process," said Rove. "Their unfounded and embarrassing attacks have made it a chaotic disaster, and Republicans should be critical of it."
Other Republicans have worried that the political terrain may change quickly.
"We should not break the ball to say we're winning and the blue wave is over," said Republican pollster Jim McLaughlin, who said many things can still change before the day of the poll. "What we should say is a group of radical leftists. These are the same people who want to raise taxes and want to open the borders. "
The GOP fervor extends through the Internet. In recent days, a short video of a moment inflamed among protesters on Capitol Hill during the Kavanaugh's confirmation vote titled "The Left is harassing an old Trump supporter. More images for Trump 2020 ads. "- was shared by nearly 20,000 people on Twitter. And thousands of alarmed conservatives shared videos of protesters walking the streets of Portland, Oregon.
"That's what happens when we do not share the risk and do not face the crowd," tweeted Fox News host Greg Gutfeld.
The Democrats, however, hesitated over the GOP's attempts to define the Trump resistance movement, saying it was simply a movement of people revolted by Republican politics.
Neera Tanden, who runs the liberal think-tank Center for American Progress, has changed the name of her Twitter account to "Women's Mob", alongside an emoji from the blue wave, to counter the Republican argument.
"They clearly need a way to help their constituents take their place, but the women who have protested against Kavanaugh are female sexual assault victims, who are mothers. The resistance to Trump mainly concerns women university graduates, "Tanden said. "Donald Trump may want to lead a cultural war, but attacking women in general is attacking 50% of the population."
Jessica Campbell-Swanson, 35, of Denver, traveled to Washington last week to lobby Senator Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) With a non-profit group, End Rape on Campus. She was one of those outside the Supreme Court, protesting against the eyes of Republican Senate staff.
"Brett Kavanaugh was allowed to get angry and that suited them," she said. "We have the right to be angry. We are not a crowd. We were not violent. We were completely non-violent. "
Michael Scherer contributed to this report.
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