‘Crisis’ Is Message as GOP Outrage Machine Ramps Up

New York Times: “For divided House Republicans, outrage may be the tie that binds — at least their leaders hope so. … There is a method to all the remonstrance. Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, who took over as the message maestro of the Republican conference after the banishment of Rep. Liz Cheney, hatched the crisis strategy as one of her first ventures, Rep. Tom Cole said, distributing talking points this month on the perils facing the country.”

“He thought the list had five crises; Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Republican of Washington, remembered four. The idea is that with Democrats in control of the White House, House and Senate, next year’s midterm elections will be a referendum on one-party control, not on Republican governing plans, said Mr. Cole, a former chairman of the House Republicans’ campaign arm. The Republicans, at least this early in the political cycle, need to seed a sense of instability, overreach and fear, he said.”