MSNBC Host Fears ‘Red Wave’ in 2022, Pollster Says Chances Are ‘Excellent’

MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle raised the question Tuesday about a potential “red wave” in 2022 and asked how Democrats can more effectively fight Republican messaging.

Salon recently interviewed political scientist Rachel Bitecofer about her correctly predicting the Democratic gains in the 2018 midterms and her concerns about Republican gains in 2022.

Ruhle spoke with Bitecofer — who founded a PAC focused on a “brand offensive” against the GOP — on Tuesday and asked “If Democrats do not fight back, what are the odds of a red wave?”

Bitecofer said, “They’re excellent.”

In addition to the usual “midterm effect” presidents’ parties face, she brought up Republicans “tying every single Democrat, very few of whom actually support defunding the police, to that position.”

Bitecofer said Democrats should “launch their own counter-offense” on this issue, and if they don’t then “they’re going to be at a competitive disadvantage.”

After she added that Republicans are “shrewd” at electioneering, Ruhle picked up on “the Republicans’ shrewdness” and argued the problem with talking about defunding the police is that millions of people see what Republicans and Fox News are saying about these pushes.

“Republicans are really good at branding, irrelevant of what the truth is,” Ruhle said.

Bitecofer argued that what Democrats should be doing is making 2022 “a referendum on the Republican party’s performance during the pandemic, during the economic collapse that came after,” and on what the party has done following the insurrection on January 6th.

You can watch above, via MSNBC.