Let’s face it. If you ask 100 random people on the street who Brett Kavanaugh is, only a handful would know. Chances are those who recognize the name have seen him on television ads run by groups supporting or opposing his nomination to the Supreme Court.
Such is the nature of Supreme Court politics today. In a society that’s always connected, it’s amazing how minuscule the people’s connection is to a major political event such as the nomination of a Supreme Court Justice who may make it possible for an originalist adherence to the Constitution. This is the most important confirmation battle in decades.
That’s why there are so many ads, right? No, not really. Kavanaugh’s nomination battle on the airwaves is simply a vehicle for the left and the right to drive their narratives. It’s a way to get funds from people in the know so these groups can do little to inform the masses that are not in the know.
The numbers are astounding:
Liberals crushed in SCOTUS spending war
“Our budget for Gorsuch was 10 million [dollars],” said Carrie Severino, JCN’s chief counsel. “And we expect we will meet or surpass that given how contentious we have seen things becoming so far.”
JCN, founded in 2005, is one of four groups on the right bombarding swing-state Democrats with television ads in recent weeks. The conservative groups convene regularly for conference calls to update one another and coordinate their efforts and have launched a bus tour and phone banks, and otherwise pledged resources to the effort.
The pressure tactics used on Senators in swing states, both Democrats and moderate Republicans, is definitely intended to try to push them towards or away from confirmation, but there’s much more to it than that. Most of the Senators who are subjects of the ads are up for reelection this year. It’s a two-edged sword; they get attacked to weaken them without the money spent doing so being attributed to the opposition’s campaign. If they pledge to confirm Kavanaugh, the attack ads will be pulled. If they don’t pledge to confirm, the ads will continue to hurt their reelection chances.
Win-win.
If we look more closely at the tactics and messages being used, we’ll see something interesting. It’s much more about promoting a narrative than supporting or opposing Kavanaugh’s confirmation. He’s a narrative vehicle. At the heart are the two primary court-based narratives, guns and abortion.
Let’s look at the ads run by two powerful groups for each topic, the NRA and NARAL:
It’s no surprise that these groups would frame the narrative surrounding Kavanaugh’s confirmation around the topics they hold dear, but it’s important to note that neither actually talk about Kavanaugh himself. They use clips of other people threatening to attack their position rather than looking at Kavanaugh himself. Why? Narrative.
Supreme Court nominations are second only to presidential campaigns when it comes to getting people to open their pocketbooks. The finality of Supreme Court decisions makes the stakes appear to be extremely high, which they are, and this sense of urgency is prime time for collecting donations to push their overall narrative.
It is highly unlikely any Senators will be swayed by the calls being prompted by these groups. It’s possible elections can be swayed, though. At the end of the day, these groups hope to get more people on board with their message. They know Kavanaugh’s confirmation is out of their hands, but that won’t stop them from raising funds around him.
Will America-First News Outlets Make it to 2023?
Things are looking grim for conservative and populist news sites.
There’s something happening behind the scenes at several popular conservative news outlets. 2021 was bad, but 2022 is proving to be disastrous for news sites that aren’t “playing ball” with the corporate media narrative. It’s being said that advertisers are cracking down, forcing some of the biggest ad networks like Google and Yahoo to pull their inventory from conservative outlets. This has had two major effects. First, it has cooled most conservative outlets from discussing “taboo” topics like Pandemic Panic Theater, voter fraud, or The Great Reset. Second, it has isolated those ad networks that aren’t playing ball.
Certain topics are anathema for most ad networks. Speaking out against vaccines or vaccine mandates is a certain path to being demonetized. Highlighting voter fraud in the 2020 and future elections is another instant advertising death penalty. Throw in truthful stories about climate change hysteria, Critical Race Theory, and the border crisis and it’s easy to understand how difficult it is for America-First news outlets to spread the facts, share conservative opinions, and still pay the bills.
Without naming names, I have been told of several news outlets who have been forced to either consolidate with larger organizations or who have backed down on covering certain topics out of fear of being “canceled” by the ad networks. I get it. This is a business for many of us and it’s not very profitable. Those of us who do this for a living are often barely squeaking by, so loss of additional revenue can often mean being forced to make cuts. That means not being able to cover the topics properly. Its a Catch-22: Tell the truth and lose the money necessary to keep telling the truth, or avoid the truth and make enough money to survive. Those who have chosen survival simply aren’t able to spread the truth properly.
We will never avoid the truth. The Lord will provide if it is His will. Our job is simply to share the facts, spread the Gospel, and educate as many Americans as possible while exposing the forces of evil.
To those who have the means, we ask that you please donate. We have options available now, but there is no telling when those options will cancel us. We just launched a new GiveSendGo page. We also have our GivingFuel page. There have been many who have been canceled by PayPal, but for now it’s still an option. Your generosity is what keeps these sites running and allows us to get the truth to the masses. We’ve had great success in growing but we know we can do more with your assistance.
Thank you, and God Bless!
JD Rucker
