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Opinion

Republican candidates march off to the culture war

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There may be a lot to fret about in our world: climate rising extra excessive with each passing yr on account of human-induced planetary warming; the scary specter of synthetic intelligence entities getting too sensible to tolerate being bossed round by mere mortals; an more and more belligerent China; an aggressive, klepto-fascist regime in Russia; plus a world financial system that’s making a only a few folks extravagantly rich whereas pushing billions of others into an financial sinkhole.

In a severe political atmosphere, these challenges would dominate discussions and debates because the American presidential marketing campaign cranks up. As an alternative, Republican candidates are preoccupied with loos and “wokeness.”

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Sunday, in a CNN interview, former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley raised an alarm about an issue that’s, apparently, disturbing the sleep of the Republican voters she is courting. “How are we imagined to get our ladies used to the truth that organic boys are of their locker rooms?” Haley requested. “After which we surprise why a 3rd of our teenage ladies severely contemplated suicide final yr.”

Setting apart the truth that linking teen suicides to the presence of transgender youngsters is a vicious canard, one could ask if the tiny variety of trans people in America is so threatening to Republicans that it has risen to the highest of their considerations.

Transgenderism is only one battlefield within the broader warfare on “woke” being choreographed by one other would-be president, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. His ban on dialogue of LGBTQ subjects in Sunshine State schools and his push to finish educating about racism and slavery, as effectively, have formed his marketing campaign for the Republican nomination. DeSantis needs to be perceived as a daring tradition warrior, at the same time as he waffles on the true warfare in Ukraine.

We will assume former Vice President Mike Pence, a religious evangelical Christian, is not going to enable himself to be left behind on these points now that he’s working for president. Nor will the opposite contenders (besides, maybe, President Donald Trump, who prefers to drone on about his personal magnificence and victimhood).

Large, world-shaking points like those who dominated the campaigns of Republicans reminiscent of Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush get little traction with right this moment’s GOP voters, so the present crop of contenders for the White Home go for making an enormous deal about small potatoes. It’s straightforward to think about the primary Republican presidential debate descending into farce because the candidates compete to spout essentially the most strident, alarmist rhetoric about crucial race idea, drag queen story instances and gender-neutral loos.

See extra of David Horsey’s cartoons at: st.news/davidhorsey

View different syndicated cartoonists at: st.news/cartoons

Editor’s word: Seattle Occasions Opinion not appends remark threads on David Horsey’s cartoons. Too many feedback violated our community policies and reviewing the handfuls that had been flagged as inappropriate required an excessive amount of of our restricted workers time. You may remark through a Letter to the Editor. Please e mail us at letters@seattletimes.com and embody your full identify, tackle and phone quantity for verification solely. Letters are restricted to 200 phrases.


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