Fox News host Tucker Carlson rightly faulted the GOP’s new “Commitment to America” for being a little too blasé, particularly when contrasted to Italian politician Giorgia Meloni’s populist messaging.
On Friday, Republicans rolled out their “Commitment to America” inspired by 1994’s “Contract with America,” which helped lead to a GOP landslide.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy told the crowd at an event in western Pennsylvania, “Our job is to work for you, not go after you. Our job is to make America stronger.”
“We can secure our border. We can become energy independent, where your price of gas is lower. We can build an education system that has a Parents’ Bill of Rights, that you have a say in your kids’ education. And we can be a check and balance, rein this government that’s going after the individuals,” he added.
Carlson’s overall assessment of the Commitment to America is, “It’s fine.”
“Probably not much in it, you disagree with it. Have you heard of it? No, you probably haven’t. You probably haven’t read it. Nobody really cares. Why? Because there’s nothing real in it,” he said.
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Carlson’s assessment is a bit too harsh. There are some real things in it including the repealing of 87,000 new IRS agents the Democrats voted into law this summer, funding 200,000 more police officers nationwide, and passing a Parent’s Bill of Rights regarding their children’s education.
But his point is well-taken: There’s not a lot that really stirs the populist soul.
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Carlson showed a clip of Meloni speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Florida in February.
“Everything we stand for is under attack,” she said. “Our individual freedom is under attack. Our rights are under attack. The sovereignty of our nation is under attack. The prosperity and well-being of our families are under attack. The education of our children is under attack.”
“In front of this, people understand that in this age, the only way of being rebels is to preserve what we are. The only way of being rebels is to be conservative,” Meloni added.
New PM of Italy, Giorgia Meloni, speaking in English at CPAC 2022 last February.
“We live in a time in which everything we stand for is under attack, our individual freedom is under attack, our rights are under attack, the sovereignty of our nations are under attack…” pic.twitter.com/vUG1dvgzXq
— Robert Kearney (@Robkearney1981) September 26, 2022
Carlson argued what the Italian politician said is very true in the U.S.
“American families are facing the very same onslaught from the very same poisonous ideologies. The difference is that in this country, it’s rarely acknowledged except on the fringes. Meloni’s not on the fringes. She’s the new prime minister of Italy. She will be, and she’s saying it out loud,” he said.
A clip of Meloni recently went viral on social media in which she strongly defended the family and traditional values.
“Why is the family an enemy? Why is the family so frightening? There is a single answer to all these questions. Because it defines us. Because it is our identity. Because everything that defines us is now an enemy for those who would like us to no longer have an identity and to simply be perfect consumer slaves,” she said.
This is Italy’s new Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
I’ve never heard any politician so perfectly explain what we’re up against and why we fight.
When you watch this video, you’ll quickly realize why the establishment is afraid of her.
pic.twitter.com/CswR8o3mjg— Greg Price (@greg_price11) September 26, 2022
“And so they attack national identity, they attack religious identity, they attack gender identity, they attack family identity,” she continued.
“I can’t define myself as: Italian, Christian, woman, mother. No. I must be citizen x, gender x, parent one, parent two. I must be a number. Because when I am only a number, when I no longer have an identity or roots, then I will be the perfect slave at the mercy of financial speculators.”
Carlson argued the reason Meloni is resonating is because she’s willing to talk about controversial topics, at least to the politically correct, establishment types.
She hammered European Union bureaucrats for putting out a document hundreds of pages long, “telling us that in order to be inclusive, we had to exclude all references to Christmas. Jesus, Mary and all Christian names were to be removed from all official communication. Will we surrender in front of this? No, we will not. We will fight it.”
The media has tried to dismiss and marginalize her as some sort of radical neofascist, Carlson noted.
“God, family, country. That’s not radical. It’s hard to imagine a more wholesome message, a more pro-human platform. Fascists don’t believe in God because God is a rival to their power” he said.
“This is a person publicly professing faith in God. That’s so scary, but it is so scary. It’s so scary to the people running and benefiting from our current system and why is that? She’s not the first person to say this. People have said it before, but she’s just been rewarded for saying it,” Carlson added.
In a speech at the 1976 Republican National Convention, former California Governor and future President Ronald Reagan commended his party for taking strong stands on the issues of the day.
“I believe the Republican Party has a platform that is a banner of bold, unmistakable colors with no pale pastel shades,” he said.
On a bold, conservative platform, Reagan led his party to a landslide victory in 1980 in times very similar to today.
Carlson is onto something. Meloni is too. It is no time for pale pastels.
