Getting Democrats on the record for Green New Deal is great, but it's just the start

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell intends to force Democrats on record either supporting or opposing the Green New Deal. It’s a classic move that works wonders whenever a party starts to step into the fringes, such as the insane realm in which the Green New Deal currently resides intellectually. This can be a strong play, but Republicans must follow up with a tremendous push to expose the truth regardless of how Democrats vote.
The problem is there are plenty of people who really like the concept of the Green New Deal. That puts the Democrats in a strange position of having something their base seems to like in principle, but that’s so indefensible in its details that voting in favor of it puts them individually in a pickle.
Three are three ways this could go down if McConnell forces a vote.

1. Some Democrats pretend to love it while others avoid it. There won’t be too many Democrats who outright vote against it, but there may be a good number who simply choose not to vote on it. This scenario is arguably a best-case scenario for Democrats as it would signal to Independents that the party as a whole hasn’t gone insane while securing the passions of the base behind certain Senators, particularly those running for President in 2020.
2. Democrats support it wholesale. If a vast majority of Democrats support it, this will seem to be a win for Republicans. But that would only happen if the GOP continues further and applies tremendous pressure to inform the people why it’s such a bad idea. If they don’t, their gambit of getting Democrats on record could lead to a sheep-like following of the deal from the left that could actually backfire on Republicans.
3. Most Democrats don’t support it. If the Democratic Party decides to rein in their maverick Congresswoman from New York, this would be the time. By separating out the greater Democratic body from the radical ideas coming from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and others, they’ll alert the press and the people that they’re still trying to maintain a semblance of order and common sense in the party ahead of an election year.

In the third scenario, Republicans will want to take this opportunity to start ignoring Ocasio-Cortez and the far-left fringe and focus on whatever policy recommendations come out of the major candidates. We can assume they’d either deflect or try to come up with an alternative to the Green New Deal, one that is more palatable and grounded in reality. Even though the strategy itself would be different following scenario 3 than it would be with scenario 2 or 1, the basic premise remains: expose the craziness coming from Democrats.
Of course, this third scenario is unlikely based on what we’ve seen so far from candidates. They’ll push their colleagues to support the deal knowing it cannot pass and use it as a rallying cry similar to how Republicans used Obamacare repeal before getting the power to actually repeal it. Just as Republicans bluffed by passing a clean repeal in 2015 for President Obama to veto, so too will the Democrats likely go on record supporting a Green New Deal knowing it won’t actually become law any time soon.
Whether scenario two or scenario one happen, it’s imperative for Republicans to regain their footing in the emotional side of politics. There’s a potential for them to start fundraising and messaging immediately behind the threat of radical socialist ideas permeating through this new version of the Democratic Party. That’s what McConnell hopes to achieve by pushing a vote.
Now is the time to force Democrats into a choice. Are they the party of lukewarm leftism their leaders want them to be, or are they the radical progressives who should terrify intelligent Americans with their insane proposals? Let’s find out.