Republicans' election loss in the New York special election this week is indicative of a broader problem for the party, argued MSNBC's Chris Hayes on Wednesday's edition of "All In": It shows that they are too trapped in their ideological bubble to even understand what sounds normal and reasonable to a typical voter.
"Republicans approach each election with a kind of unbridled undeserved confidence," argued Hayes. "They believe the voters are with them. They think they represent real Americans and therefore the real majority of the country ... so Republicans do not have to think about whether their message is working or whether they are running good candidates. It is simply their destiny." By contrast, "The Democratic Party, in the larger coalition, is in a near-constant state of anxiety. They're always worried that the coalition will crack, they lose the support of real Americans."
"I think part of that is because the party apparatus is, in fact, dominated by college-educated people living in big metro areas, big cities, who make up a disproportionate number of political staffers, elected officials, in the media," said Hayes. "And especially since 2016, that group of folks really does fear they are missing something. Something key about what voters not in those circles think. Now that fear, that they're missing something, can be neurotic and debilitating of the source of the hundreds of diner safari pieces we've all read, but I will say this, I think it's also an important helpful effect."
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That is to say, he continued, "it does, I think, keep the Democratic Party tethered to reality while the Republicans are just about the opposite. They're just about convinced of their own virtue, losing sight of the fact that on a lot of topics they sound like freaks and weirdos. They are so certain they are the real Americans, they cannot see how far they are from them."
One of the most noteworthy examples, Hayes added, is the recent MAGA freakout over pop sensation Taylor Swift and her relationship with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, and conspiracy theories about them being a "psyop," all because of Swift's encouragement of voter registration efforts.
"Somehow, Republicans are threatened by the image of the towering, square-jawed, conventionally handsome star athlete kissing his blond, red-lipped, conventionally attractive pop star girlfriend," said Hayes. "He's from Ohio, plays for Kansas City, she got her start in Nashville with country music. She's Miss Americana and he's the Heartbreak Prince. It's like a 1950s James Dean daydream. They're quintessential Middle America, conservative-code as it gets, and Republicans have so alienated themselves from actual Middle America that this is a threat to them now. They can't hear it, though. They cannot learn from it. They cannot course correct. They keep attacking America's prom king and queen."
Watch the video below or at the link here.
Chris Hayes on Republican "weirdos"www.youtube.com
