For many years now, the GOP has been associated with the elephant as its emblem and the Democrats have been associated with the donkey. I won’t go into the history of how those emblems came into being, but I do think it’s time for a change. These days, the chameleon is the more appropriate emblem for the Republican party, and I would also offer up a new acronym – RCS (Republican Chameleon Speak).
Why the chameleon? It has become apparent the GOP, up and down the ballot, has perfected the art of saying one thing in public to mask their policy positions while working behind the scenes to do something completely different. When it becomes evident that their policy positions such as Project 2025, nationwide abortion bans, and mass deportations are widely unpopular with the general electorate, they change their public rhetoric while maintain their ‘real’ positions behind close doors. There have been many examples of this lately.
As more and more news came out about Project 2025 and the Trump campaign realized how widely unpopular many of the policies are, Trump began to distance himself from Project 2025. He says he knows nothing about it even though over one hundred former Trump staffers have worked on the project. One of the main authors was caught on a hidden camera basically saying that Trumps’ public denials are just ‘politics,’ and the entire Project 2025 apparatus is ready to go on day one of a new Trump administration.
Many Republican controlled states have passed various laws restricting access to abortion despite the fact that access to abortion is supported by roughly two thirds of the American public. Many Republicans, at one time or another, are on record stating they support a nationwide abortion ban which is extremely unpopular amongst the general electorate so there has been much backpedaling on this issue. However, behind closed doors, many continue to work for and hope for a nationwide abortion ban once Trump is installed in office.
In New Hampshire, next door to where I currently live in Massachusetts, Republican Kelly Ayotte, is running for governor. During her term in the U.S. Senate, she is on record for supporting the overturning of Roe v. Wade. She is on record for supporting a nationwide abortion ban. Now that she is no longer in the Senate and is running for governor in New Hampshire, her past stance on abortion is being called into question. In response, she is blanketing the airwaves with ads stating she will uphold New Hampshire’s current law which allows women access to abortion for any reason during the first six months of pregnancy and with some limitations in the last trimester.
I was thinking about the discrepancy between her earlier positions and the ads she is currently running. It became apparent to me that she could very well be another Republican chameleon. It’s easy for her to state that she will uphold the current New Hampshire law when she is fully aware of efforts by the Republican party to institute a nationwide abortion ban. If that happens, she can look into the camera with a straight face and simply say, “My hands are tied, Congress passed this nationwide ban.”
The ads are very carefully worded. She says she will uphold and not change the current New Hampshire law. She does not come out with a full-throated support for women’s reproductive rights, including access to abortion. This, in my opinion, is yet another example of Republican Chameleon Speak. (RCS).
These days, I would caution everyone to listen very, very carefully to the exact words being uttered by Trump-supporting Republicans. It is highly likely they are engaged in RCS and what you think they are saying is more than likely not what they really believe.
The only person you should really believe is Trump when he says that he will be a dictator on day one of his presidency. That you should believe!!
