Operation Chaos: South Carolina Republicans Urge Voters to Cast Dem Primary Vote for Bernie
“Bernie Sanders is the most socialistic, liberal candidate running in the Democratic presidential preference primary”
Much of the nation’s attention is focused on today’s New Hampshire Democrat primary. Not Joe Biden’s (D-DE), however, as he has given up the Granite State and is heading to South Carolina.
Calling himself the “underdog” now, Biden must win South Carolina to remain even remotely viable in the Democrat presidential nominating contest.
South Carolina Republicans are well aware of this fact and also of the growing concerns among Democrats of a possible Bernie nomination. They have launched Operation Chaos for South Carolina’s February 29th Democrat primary.
A group of prominent Upstate Republicans is preparing to launch a wide-scale effort this week to encourage GOP voters across South Carolina to vote for U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders in the Feb. 29 Democratic primary, The Post and Courier has learned.
The Republican plan to impact the Democratic race, emerging just weeks before the “First in the South” primary, has two goals: Boost the candidate who the Republicans believe presents the weakest general election threat to President Donald Trump and pressure Democrats to support closing state primaries in the future.
South Carolina has open primaries, meaning voters do not have to register by party and can participate in either party’s contest.
. . . . Greenville GOP chairman Nate Leupp, Spartanburg GOP chairman Curtis Smith, Anderson GOP chairwoman Cheryl Cuthrell and the leaders of multiple tea party activist groups in the Upstate are behind the effort to undermine the Democratic race, with other officials still considering joining them.
. . . . “Bernie Sanders is the most socialistic, liberal candidate running in the Democratic presidential preference primary,” Leupp told The Post and Courier. “So we feel we can make a strong point that our Democratic state legislators need to help work to close our primaries so it protects them as well as the Republican brand.”
The idea is inspired in part by conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh’s “Operation Chaos” in 2008, when he encouraged Republicans to vote for Hillary Clinton over Barack Obama in the Democratic primaries in order to keep her in the race and sow division among Democrats.
While the strategy is focused on convincing South Carolina Democrats to switch to a closed primary system, it also has the potential to hand Sanders a clear win and to deal another humiliating blow to Biden.
The Post and Courier continues:
“I think we can easily affect the outcome,” Leupp said. “This is going to catch on like wildfire.”
Presidential preference primaries in South Carolina have no write-in option, so the group plans to pitch the effort to Republicans as a way for them to show their support for Trump even without a primary of their own.
“People have been waiting and waiting for 2020 to come along to vote for Trump, and now they can’t” because of the cancelled GOP primary, Leupp said. “But they can still help Trump. And it helps the Upstate’s cause of registration by party and closed primaries, so it’s a win-win for any conservative Republican.”
Leupp said he fully expects some Democrats will be angry about their efforts, but he argued that should prompt them to come around to their view on the potential perils of open primaries.
While I agree with Professor Jacobson that Bernie v. Trump is the battle we need, just as Britain needed Corbyn v. Johnson, there are also some perils here (as the professor also noted).
Sure, Bernie is the most radical horror show on offer in the Democrat clown car of 2020 candidates and some of his campaign staff are genuinely terrifying, but that might be the very problem facing Trump as he seeks reelection.
Ordinary Americans just won’t believe it possible for Bernie to win and, as a direct result, may not be motivated to head out to the polls. We saw this happen in 2016 when only die-hard Trump supporters believed Trump could win and a lot of Hillary voters stayed home, fully expecting her landslide victory.
Of course, this is not 2016, and voters have many reasons to turn out for Trump, not the least of which is to deliver the House—and the nation—from current House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s grasp. Should Trump win, the last thing we need is four more years of her near-fetish focus on impeaching a duly-reelected president.
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Comments
This is a stupid idea. There is no way in the world Bernie Sanders will be allowed to win.
I think a Trump Biden contest would be AWESOME!!!
Imagine the toxic masculinity that pours off that degenerate geriatric at every campaign stop. The left will murder itself. The slightly sane ones won’t kick that off.
Self-abort? Maybe. If nothing else, they will judge his pronouns, mislabel his sex (i.e. male), and condemn his gender (i.e. masculine).
I know that the Democrat Politburo will not allow Sanders to win. Which is exactly why they need to be forced into the most blatant cheating possible to stop him. The Millenial, Leftist, unconnected-with-reality, Crazies are 30-35% of the Democrat base. Piss them off enough, and the Democrats die both in a campaign and electorally. The goal is to create a fatal split like what happened with the Whigs in 1856 when the could no longer straddle their contradictory positions.
I know forcing the internal contradictions in the enemy’s stands is something that the GOPe, NeverTrumpers, and Mitt Romney would condemn; but then again are they not also the enemy?
Subotai Bahadur
Regardless of Bernie being the nominee it will force a bigger undeniable screw job the more votes he gets. If they can defeat him soundly he and his supporters can be forced to take it lying down.
If he is a front-runner then a Civil War breaks out at a brokered Convention.
I agree. Hannity waged his endless “Stop Hilary Express” in 2008 while Rush conducted his own “Operation Chaos” urging Republicans to cross over to vote for Obama. It was stupid then and is stupid now.
Let the Dems demolish themselves without any interference from us. It’s hard enough to get people to vote. Vote for Trump in as big a LANDSLIDE as we can. Operation Chaos is once again a very stupid idea. Knock it off! Focus!
Clearly a case of R… epublican collusion.
Some people act as if there was only one race on the ballot.
At presidential primaries there usually is only one race on the ballot.
Lets make it Bernie.
We need a “Which Way, America” election to clear the air. A choice of contrasts via Trump versus Bernie as the respective proxies for the two great approaches to government, one successful, one a failure whenever/wherever it’s been imposed
(A) The way of the Founders/Framers (limited government*)
or
(B) The way of the EU/USSR/PRC/UN/Islam model (unlimited government)
Under (A), rights are pre-existing and inalienable, inherent in each person by simply existing. Government is organized, with the consent of the governed, and most importantly with defined limitations, solely to protect those rights.
Under (B), rights are “granted” by government which exists unto itself regardless of the consent of the governed, acting as the final arbiter. Here, what government “gives” can as easily be taken away. And with (B), there are no limiting principles placed on governmental power.
*To varying degrees each one of the 10 planks of the Communist Manifesto has found its way into our laws; Bernie would take us full-bore. We should aim to see where we want to go on how we wish to do government: as citizens or as subjects.
I trust the American people enough to say: we need another “time for choosing.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Time_for_Choosing
Do it. Do it for Rush Limbaugh! It would be awesome.
Wouldn’t it be a better choice for chaos to vote for Biden (to keep the comedy coming) or for Warren (to give Sanders competition in the far, far left lane)? The longer this farce goes on, the better.
No. The more support Bernie gets the biggwr the Civil war in the Dem Party in July.
It’s a stupid ploy and one which has all the merits of what the Democrats use for brains. It has all the markings of unintended consequences which is the hallmark of what has put Democrats in the cross hairs. They’re on defense now because they do not how to execute a thought out offense.
This is how they got rid of Cynthia McKinney in Georgia.
Sanddog, do tell!
Republicans were encouraged to vote in the D primary, and support her opponent. So she lost the D nomination, and thus the election.
But two years later she made a comeback, winning a five-way primary and thus the election. She served two terms before once again losing a primary.
These are small-minded games that serve no purpose. IMHO, it would be much more important and memorable that Trump attracted higher turnout in the primaries than the Dems. This game would only inflate and corrupt the Dem numbers and no one would remember that a lot of those votes were from Republicans playing stupid games.
We finally have a candidate we don’t have to hold our noses to voter for and people are going to talk themselves into throwing their vote away to a communist? I plan on placing my X next to “Trump” every single time it is on a ballot.
I’m in South Carolina. What should I do?
Vote for Bernie. People are going to walk over broken glass who vote for Trump.
Everyone wants to send a message they aren’t going to stay home.
If Bernie gets crushed we have a chance to break the Democrats into pieces.
The Dem Establishment will finally have to banish their radical policies and have reason to do so.
My understanding is that there will be no Republican primary in SC. For obvious reasons. You are allowed to vote in any primary, so our options are limited. You can vote for the best D candidate, or you can throw in with the worst. Since I cannot see a decent one among them, I plan to throw in with the worst.
Tiger, I tried to find it, but can’t right now. I believe Trump said he wants to run against Bloomberg.
Vote Bloomberg!
In S.C. as well and I’m voting, just haven’t decided who I’ll punch.
Don’t be an idiot. The big story should be high GOP voter turnout and low Democrat. Voting for anyone other than Trump is self-defeating. There is no excitement for Bernie or anyone else on the Dem ballot. When the backdrop is pitch black and everyone is wearing dark grey, there is no bright spot. Don’t muddy up the waters by throwing your vote away.
These are the kinds of games that the Stupid Party plays to end up losing. We have a sure winner already IF everyone just shows up and votes for Trump every chance they get. Don’t blow it.
Pretty sure there is no R primary.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/south-carolina-republican-party-could-opt-out-of-2020-primary-in-support-of-trump
But Bernie isn’t a Democrat at all…
He is a Socialist, and should be running in the SPUSA party.
Of course, the Democrats took his money and let him in…
Now, they want out.
Glad I don’t have to deal with it.
They own him now!
“Ordinary Americans just won’t believe it possible for Bernie to win and, as a direct result, may not be motivated to head out to the polls.”
I constantly see this on the Republican side and I NEVER see it on the Democrat side.
Please WHY!!!! Do you Republican pundits think in a world so rigged against us Republicans that we are staying home because we think we will easily.
In what reality do you think we trust that an election is won and we don’t need to vote?
PLEASE! PLEASE PLEASE! Cite me example where the Republican was a heavy favorite and lost because voters stayed home.
Reagan? Oh yeah people really stayed home for that one didn’t they? He won 49 states. Pretty close. I could go on.
Especially you people that I read here need to get off the “Republican will stay home because of the weak democrat” Mantra.
I hear and understand your frustration, Conan, but the simple fact is that a relatively small percentage of registered American voters actually vote (between 43-60% of registered, not just eligible). And of the ones who do, very few vote in every presidential election (let alone midterms or special elections).
So why do the between 57% and 40% stay home? Well, I’m sure there are lots of factors ranging from illness, weather, and a whole host of mitigating factors. But not every one of these millions of people were snowed in or bed-ridden with illness, so why do they stay home?
A lot of reasons. As a younger woman, I would often find myself debating whether or not my vote for a Republican candidate was “worth it” when I was living in Massachusetts, and it was very tempting to just drive on home rather than to my polling place. I voted every time, but the question was there, and I’m sure that not everyone wondering that bothered to go vote.
My personal experience in 2016 may also shed some light on why and how people vote. I intended to write-in Ted Cruz (it wouldn’t have counted, but I wanted to vote FOR someone for a change), but as the Florida results were being called (I live in the panhandle, so have an hour on the rest of the state), it became crystal clear that Florida was more important than perhaps ever (including 2000), so I cast my vote for Trump (or against Hillary, to be more accurate). As I saw it at the time, Trump HAD to win Florida (and it turns out he did need to and eventually did win it), and there was no way I was going to have any part at all in a Hillary victory (that included writing in my preferred candidate in a self-gratifying pee into the wind gesture).
Is anyone here at LI going to not vote because they think Trump’s a lock? Probably not, but the reality is that very few Americans on either side of the aisle pay any attention at all to politics. Good grief, some of the voting public doesn’t even know Trump was impeached by the House. Fewer still can name the Vice President.
So yeah, I think that people who think Trump is a lock might stay home. Not every person, but those who vote infrequently, aren’t aware of what’s going on in politics and tune in only in October, and/or can name every Kardashian but wouldn’t know Joe Biden if he knocked on their door and called them a lying dog-faced pony soldier may indeed not feel a pressing need to vote for Trump. . . . Okay, that last one just made me giggle; those people probably aren’t even registered to vote. 😛
“Ordinary Americans just won’t believe it possible for Bernie to win and, as a direct result, may not be motivated to head out to the polls.”
I constantly see this on the Republican side and I NEVER see it on the Democrat side.
Please WHY!!!! Do you Republican pundits think in a world so rigged against us Republicans that we are staying home because we think we will easily.
In what reality do you think we trust that an election is won and we don’t need to vote?
PLEASE! PLEASE PLEASE! Cite me example where the Republican was a heavy favorite and lost because voters stayed home.
Reagan? Oh yeah people really stayed home for that one didn’t they? He won 49 states. Pretty close. I could go on.
Especially you people that I read here need to get off the “Republican will stay home because of the weak democrat” Mantra.
Ohio has open primaries and I voted Dem in 2004, 2008 and 2012. All of those were for who I thought was the lesser of the two (or more) evils.
I’m thinking going for more indecision would be a better Operation Chaos maneuver than trying to pick the weakest general election candidate. I’d vote for whoever is second or third out of NH in SC or in one of the Super Tuesday states, not Sanders specifically. Even a vote for Biden would muddy the waters.
Not a good idea!! You make it more likely Bernie mat win. Be careful what you wish for. You just might get it.
Sounds good, a couple more will then drop out, and the people can vote down socialism strongly in the general election.
Biden’s campaign has lost and Joe is not smart enough to know it.