The GOP's anti-woke cul-de-sac

While Republicans whine about "cancel culture," Democrats are sending Americans checks

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As $1,400 stimulus checks from the sprawling American Rescue Plan start splashing bank accounts this week, prominent Republicans are doubling down on their misguided anti-wokeness message, crying "cancellation!" at the slightest criticism, and steering their party into a potentially disastrous cul-de-sac at the very moment the public is hungry for concrete action rather than theatrics. If they don't correct course by coming up with some kind of policy agenda to complement their shadow ministry of cultural grievance, Republicans may find themselves headed for a history-bucking repudiation in next year's midterm elections.

It's difficult to overstate the extent to which Republicans are wrong-footed on policy matters right now. The party's congressional caucus produced zero votes for a wildly popular relief bill that could define President Biden's first two years in office. Republicans' time-tested gambit of running up obscene deficits under GOP presidents only to immediately change into their austerity costumes when a Democrat assumes office does not appear to be working. Their most prominent attacks on the bill — for example, having Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton point out that the Boston Marathon Bomber will get a stimulus check (oh no!) — felt particularly hollow.

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David Faris

David Faris is an associate professor of political science at Roosevelt University and the author of It's Time to Fight Dirty: How Democrats Can Build a Lasting Majority in American Politics. He is a frequent contributor to Informed Comment, and his work has appeared in the Chicago Sun-Times, The Christian Science Monitor, and Indy Week.