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Five Sleeper Issues That Could Upend the 2024 Campaign

Posted on Wednesday, May 29, 2024
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by Aaron Flanigan
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With the 2024 campaign season now in full swing, polling indicates that voters’ attention is centered primarily on two key policy areas: the economy and the border. But there are nonetheless a number of under-the-radar issues that could influence the election this fall.

Here are five sleeper issues that could potentially help define the final months of the 2024 campaign cycle.

Student Loan Forgiveness

As he faces historically high disapproval ratings and severe political backlash for his handling of the economy, border, and U.S. foreign policy, Biden has seemingly convinced himself that, in order to win the election, he needs to buy the youth vote by way of unconstitutional and ultra-expensive student loan bailouts that transfer that debt to American taxpayers.

After Biden’s illegal and highly unpopular 2022 executive action on student debt cancellation was shot down by the Supreme Court last summer, the White House has announced yet another plan to “forgive” an additional $6.1 billion in student loans—adding on to the hundreds of trillions of taxpayer dollars Biden has already spent on his far-reaching loan forgiveness programs.

According to the New York Post, Biden’s programs are already costing taxpayers a whopping $560 billion. But to make matters worse, the programs have primarily benefitted wealthy households earning more than $300,000 in annual income.

If Republicans make this a more prevalent campaign issue, it could be a big political winner.

Social Security and Medicare

Though Biden has repeatedly lied about Donald Trump’s stance on Social Security and Medicare in a desperate bid to keep the issue in his party’s political favor, the issue could come back to bite him.

As former National Economic Council director Larry Kudlow noted recently, Trump has been aggressively making the case on the campaign trail that a functioning nation cannot have both open borders and entitlement programs. “He basically said you can’t have entitlement programs that millions of people depend on and at the same time you let tens of millions of illegals into the country and give them more benefits,” Kudlow said. “Can’t be done. Trump is right.”

Kudlow was referring to a comment made by Trump during May 1 remarks in Wisconsin, in which the former president stated that Biden’s economic policies are “going to end up cutting Social Security by allowing millions and millions, which is not sustainable, of people coming into our country, through the southern border.” He continued: “And many, many really bad ones. Okay? Many, many bad ones. You’re going to destroy Social Security. You’re going to destroy Medicare. You’re going to destroy the fabric of the country. It’s not sustainable.”

As even CNN was recently forced to concede, entitlement programs are also being gutted by inflation—and that could cost Biden dearly at the ballot box. “Social Security isn’t keeping up with inflation,” their April 28 headline reads. “That could weaken Biden’s support among some seniors.”

This acknowledgment serves as simply the latest reminder that Biden’s economic and border policies are not only disastrous in and of themselves, but that they are even more disastrous when considered with their second-order effects. If Trump continues to hammer this point on the campaign trail, it may become a political anchor for Biden.

Cost of Housing

A largely underreported component of the Biden inflation crisis is the massive increase in the cost of housing and soaring mortgage rates.

Under Biden, thanks to high interest rates, the monthly mortgage payment on a median-priced home is now twice as much as it was when he took office. The 30-year mortgage rate, which sat at 2.6 percent when Trump left office, is nearing eight percent under Biden. And a record high of 22.4 million renter households are now considered cost-burdened.

As even the Biden-friendly economist Mark Zandi put it, purchasing a home in the Biden economy is “completely unaffordable for the typical American household.”

It’s no wonder the Biden camp sees the issue as a massive political liability.

But rather than finding ways to improve the economy, cut down on inflation, and create much-needed economic conditions for lower interest rates, Biden has instead opted to promote a bizarre “mortgage relief credit,” in which his administration is seeking to “provide a one-year tax credit of up to $10,000 to middle-class families who sell their starter home.”

While this initiative may seem appealing at first glance, given skyrocketing mortgage rates, a mere $10,000 will barely move the needle for struggling families—and is highly unlikely to induce many American families to forfeit their low-interest mortgages.

Ultimately, it remains doubtful that voters will be swayed by this obvious political ploy—creating yet another valuable political opening for Republicans this fall.

Democrats’ Appalling Record of Anti-Catholicism

Few issues in American politics have been as underplayed as the left’s shameful record of hostility toward the Catholic faith.

Perhaps most notably, a December 4 report from the House Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government found, among other disturbing revelations, that the FBI “abused its counterterrorism tools to target Catholic Americans as potential domestic terrorists” when agency operatives in Richmond, Virginia, circulated a report designating so-called “radical-traditionalist Catholic[s]” (RTC) as potential “racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists.”

According to the report, the FBI also “singled out Americans who are pro-life, pro-family, and support the biological basis for sex and gender distinction as potential domestic terrorists”—a stunning indication that the federal government is openly targeting Americans on the basis of their fidelity to the Catholic Church.

Additionally, in 2022, religious Americans were in shock when legions of armed FBI agents raided the home of Mark Houck, a Catholic pro-life activist, and father of seven, who was charged with violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act for praying the rosary outside of a Planned Parenthood clinic.

But this is only the beginning of the Biden administration’s anti-Catholic streak.

Democrats in the executive branch notably failed to invoke the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act to stop the onslaught of violent attacks against crisis pregnancy centers and Catholic parishes in the wake of the Supreme Court’s June 2022 Dobbs decision—even while they actively weaponize the law to target peaceful pro-life protesters outside abortion clinics.

Meanwhile, in a series of particularly tone-deaf moves, Biden commemorated a so-called “Transgender Day of Visibility” on Easter Sunday—a slap in the face to hundreds of millions of American Christians—and prohibited the use of religious imagery during the White House Easter Egg Roll.

Because Catholics make up a significant fraction of voters in the crucial Rust Belt swing states of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania (in addition to Hispanic Catholics in the Sun Belt states), it would be of great benefit for the GOP to remind Catholic voters just how much the left despises them.

Title IX Overhaul and the Left’s Gender Ideology Crusade

Last month, the Biden administration stealthily issued a new series of Title IX regulations that, effective this August, will allow males who identify as transgender to enter women’s bathrooms and locker rooms, receive women’s scholarships, and live in women’s dorm rooms. The rules will also compel students and faculty to use the “preferred pronouns” of transgender-identifying individuals.

Specifically, the regulations prohibit discrimination on the basis of “gender identity”—obliterating any legal distinction between men and women and empowering transgender-identifying individuals to sue anyone for harassment if they dare to dissent.

Given that these rules are set to take effect on August 1—right as families will be preparing to send their children back to school for the start of the new academic year—Republicans have every reason to make the left’s sinister Title IX overhaul a major campaign issue as election season enters its final stretch. Right before Election Day, parents could very well come to learn that boys are sharing bathrooms with their daughters, which could lay the groundwork for a massive parental protest movement—not unlike the parental rights in education movement that propelled Governor Glenn Youngkin (R-VA) to the Virginia Governor’s Mansion in 2021.

In a Michigan speech, Donald Trump condemned the move as a “radical rewrite” of education rules that will “impose the most extreme left-wing gender ideology on every school in America.” Other Republicans on the ballot this fall would do well to echo that warning.

The border and the economy are certainly the top two issues. But there are a host of other opportunities for Republicans just beneath the surface.

Aaron Flanigan is the pen name of a writer in Washington, D.C.

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Kim
Kim
4 months ago

“…hundreds of trillions of taxpayer dollars Biden has already spent on his far-reaching loan forgiveness programs.” ?? Edit button!
There are plenty of reasons for despising what the left has done to this country. My conservative friends and I can’t believe that…

  • gender choice
  • pronoun preference
  • an open border
  • illegal student debt bailouts
  • hormone therapy for underage kids
  • boys in girls’ bathrooms
  • underemployment in the work place
  • celebrating holidays on the White House lawn with ultra fringe groups
  • shameful targeting of religious groups
  • biased behaviors of the FBI, DOJ, and other departments
  • Trump’s fake court cases
  • rampant inflation
  • men in bras competing in women’s sports
  • full-term abortion
  • Marxist indoctrination in higher learning
  • the coming higher taxes and higher interest rates
  • disappearing rule of law
  • drag queen story time in elementary schools
  • sexually explicit books in grade school libraries
  • unpunished criminals
  • faulty foreign policy
  • the unserious nature of current politics
  • and all the lies, lies, and more lies

…have not turned everyone off to the liberal, progressive way of thinking. All this is such a bad look for a prosperous nation that prides itself on earning rewards for hard work. I hope we haven’t buried all of our time-tested traditions, but re-electing biden certainly will further the left’s plan to ruin the country. We need to turn this around!

MAGA 2024.

Max
Max
4 months ago

This article states a lot that is at stake for the nation in the upcoming election. It is not just the presidential race that up for grabs but Congressional seats. All bad and pathetic Demos and RINOS need to be ousted but also know who could take their places. Not all races will have a better candidate so you may to choose the lesser of two weevils. Do get to know your candidates with proper research. If the adversary remains in control, then this nation will be sunk and not to rise again.

Armed Patriot
Armed Patriot
4 months ago

JOE FOR HOSPICE 2024!

Nick
Nick
4 months ago

Of all those issues the Title Nine is the most dangerous to our women. He needs to thrown out of office just on that alone! The other issues are very important, but Title Nine rewrite is the earmarks of a radical left-wing Marxist Democrat. No one agrees with that there are not enough transgendered people to get Biden elected. The Democrat Party needs to be branded as a domestic terrorist organization and abolished. They are threatening the very fabric of this Nation on the daily basis

Ralph
Ralph
4 months ago

We need a full time president, not a fool time president who spends the bulk of his time sunning himself on the beach. Send Joe on a permanent vacation.

mikem
mikem
4 months ago

only a fool would vote for biden, but then again liberals and elite’s aren’t the sharpest knives in the drawer.

Myrna
Myrna
4 months ago

Heaven help America.

REBEL
REBEL
4 months ago

These are NOT sleeper issues to working Americans, you know those who are here legally and paying the bills.

Harry Mallory
Harry Mallory
4 months ago

Biden is nothing but a total waste of good air

Jimmy Page
Jimmy Page
4 months ago

Did you ever ask yourself?… How did all these events (such as the college Palestinian protestors, insane covid response, and Lawfare as a political weapon to name a few) all seem to blowup in the last few years? Most said the world has gone mad. But what if it was a plan that was planted many years ago? Youtube Yuri Bezmenov’s 1984 interview. It will will blow your mind!

Robert Zuccaro
Robert Zuccaro
4 months ago

Fick Buden 2024.

L.C.
L.C.
4 months ago

The people who read this excellent article aren’t the ones who need to read it for the most part. It strengthens our resolve, true, but it seems those who would EVER vote for Biden can’t be confused with the facts.
We had better include pleading for mercy from the one and only wise God in our struggle to keep America under God!

John
John
4 months ago

There isn’t one issue that “Biden the Inept” and all of the Totalitarian Communist Democrat Party comrade’s are on the right side of.
The best thing for America would be the death of the DemocRAT Party!

Stephen Russell
Stephen Russell
4 months ago

FUND SS & Medicare from Govt waste, see CAGW.org
CUT DC Hq staffing alone for Both
Cut overhead
Replan SS & Medicare then

Jay David
Jay David
4 months ago

The Democrats’ antipathy toward people of faith in general should be a major issue. Part of the problem is that too many “leaders” of the faith are wishy-washy at best. Episcopalians are among the worst. Anglican worship in America these days is essentially a social club with hymnals. It removes in-church plagues for Jefferson and Washington. It ordains gay bishops. The church of today is much different than the one in which I was confirmed sixty years ago.

lindylou
lindylou
4 months ago

Aaron Flanagan you need to make these 5 important points available to the speech writers of Republican candidates across the nation. Every candidate needs a copy! These are sure to be a source for inspiration for the candidates!

Bob Chase
Bob Chase
4 months ago

These are all great points to make to those who think and who already agree. Dems end game is to buy votes and lie about every point GOP might make. Exposing the actions taken would be more effective. Legal challenge to these illegal actions should have taken place already!

grad
grad
4 months ago

Its not just political speeches on these topics that will turn parents against Democrats. School officials need to speak out- “I’m sorry, we can’t give that scholarship to your daughter, because federal guidelines mandate that we give it to this transgender student.”

Robert W Israel
Robert W Israel
4 months ago

The loss in Ukraine. The Ukrainian army is losing badly and running out of men to fight after billions of dollars of US aid under Biden. He allowed Putin to invade and responded too late.

Louise R
Louise R
4 months ago

Great points! Thanks for bringing them to our attention.

RevJay4
RevJay4
4 months ago

As has been said by others endlessly, there are two courses of action left to turn this nation great again…one of them being the ballot box. No imagination required to know what the other “box” is. Just sayin’.

leland patterson
leland patterson
4 months ago

fathers all across America need to stand guard in front of women’s bathrooms to be sure NO transgender gets free past into the women’s bathroom! That is the right of any father of a daughter and his wife!

Rich
Rich
4 months ago

If the Marxist democrats manage to steal another election, the American public will KNOW that they did not win with votes. This will spark a level of outrage this country has never seen before. Hold on tight. It’s going to get bumpy until the end.

Brenda G
Brenda G
4 months ago

These are all important issues and a piece of the puzzle that has only a certain amount of pieces to complete it.One of the issues like what is brought up is the importance to one person and not another. There has to be debate, a lot of serious thought about each before a final decision is made. Our government hasn’t been doing this. They’ve been deciding or overriding the fair, concensus of these important subjects.

David
David
4 months ago

I saw part of an interview this weekend with Donald Trump. Here’s one thing I forgot about that happened several years ago:
Around 2017 or 2018 the drive by media and others made a big deal about Trump’s health and I recall he had a thorough physical examination around that time. The drive by media spent days making Trump’s physical a “major news story” and even took jabs on the doctors that were tasked with the examination.
Gee, quite a few are concerned about Biden being unfit for office, even several who supported him for office. Very few in the drive by media would demand that Biden have findings from his physical published. (Can you say media bias?)
I am also concerned that news outlets haven’t done an investigative report to see who is really running the oval office ( Sidebar: circa 1919-1921 Mrs. Wilson was running the show after President Wilson had a stroke but that was kept under wraps in those days).

Dean
Dean
4 months ago

LETS GO BRANDON

poland and germany flags on map with euros
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris takes the Oath of Office, being sworn in
Donald Trump vector portrait president of the united states
President Donald J. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump pray at the altar in the Redemptor Hominis Church Tuesday, June 2, 2020, at the Saint John Paul II National Shrine in Washington, D.C. (Official White House Photo by Andrea Hanks)

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