Abby McCloskey, Dallas Morning News, July 2023

”The GOP presidential field is shaping up. The first debate will be at the end of summer. As a retired campaign hand, I thought I’d share a few thoughts.

First, we need messaging based in reality. There seems to be bifurcation in the GOP field between those running on darkness — the end of America as we know it if we have a second Biden term — versus those happy warriors saying it’s a new day, a great day in America, and the only thing that’s wrong is our attitude and some woke stuff. Having hung around Republican campaigns over the last two decades, I can promise you that nearly all consultants paid big bucks argue for the latter approach.

But a smiley optimism risks ringing hollow in today’s environment. Patriotism is at an all-time low. Only 38% are “extremely proud” to be Americans, according to Gallup. Confidence in institutions has plummeted, with the largest declines in the presidency and Supreme Court. Congress ranks dead last with just 7% of respondents expressing a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in Capitol Hill. And few people believe that their children will be better off than they are, according to Wall Street Journal Polling.

Dare I venture to posit that the cowboy hat, swagger and tax cuts of Ronald Reagan would have trouble sweeping these dust bunnies under the rug.”