Hamilton: The Political Summer That Wasn’t Quiet

In the good old days, Julys were months with a lesser political agenda. The legislature was adjourned. The state election-year primaries were over. The stifling heat along the Potomac was slowing the congressional machinery to a crawl before the August recess. And the campaign season wouldn’t begin until Labor Day.

Then came 2024.

A post-debate Democratic cacophony caused President Joe Biden to end his reelection bid. A Republican state elected official was suddenly embroiled in a scandal involving the words “alcohol” and “groping.” And the GOP state superintendent and two state boards of education decided they were no longer required to follow the law.

Daylight Savings Time and Life is Easy? Hardly. July was a month of looking through the looking glass, with almost enough drama to make you long for the very best of all dog days.

It will undoubtedly be tempting to put the whirlwinds of last month behind us. But it would be unwise to dismiss them as isolated incidents with limited, long-term consequences.

Why? Because history suggests that political revolutions are rarely sparked by a single event. It can take years of scandals, quarrels and fierce battles to create the kind of whirlwind that can change the political landscape and political parties.

That’s why both major parties in Oklahoma need to pay special attention to what we’ve just seen.

A Democratic president who put the country ahead of personal political ambitions upended what looked like a presidential landslide in the making of the GOP, at least nationally. Biden’s sacrifice breathed new life into his party, even in a state where Democrats held no statewide office or congressional seat.

Republican leaders may conclude that it makes little difference in Oklahoma, as Republican supermajorities in the legislature remain intact and a large majority of voters in the general election are likely to favor returning Donald Trump to the White House.

In politics, as in life, self-confidence is one thing. Hubris is another.

It’s worth remembering that Democrats dominated Oklahoma politics for much of the twentieth century.^e century. Even as Republicans methodically gained seats in the legislature, too many Democratic leaders embraced Alfred E. Neuman’s motto: “What, am I worried about?”

In the same way, today’s Republican politicians are operating on autopilot, ignoring all the warning signs around them.

Renewed Democratic enthusiasm? So what? Corporation Commissioner Todd Hiett’s reportedly scandalous behavior at a recent regulatory conference in Minnesota? Shrug. Superintendent Ryan Walters and his Republican state boards showing breathtaking disdain for an Oklahoma Supreme Court order and the opinions of Attorney General Gentner Drummond? Close your eyes, plug your ears.

Indifference to Democratic energy is probably to be expected. Human nature, you know. But indifference to the behavior of Hiett, Walters, and the state councils could lead to a variety of fires exploding into a full-fledged political conflagration that could upset the current power imbalance.

It would be one thing if the GOP were one big happy family. It isn’t.

Once upon a time, in the world of Ronald Reagan, there was an 11^e Commandment: Thou shalt not speak evil of another Republican. Now Oklahoma’s supermajority Republicans are embroiled in a bitter civil war reminiscent of 20^e Democrats from the last century.

About forty years ago, a self-styled Moral Majority animated the GOP. It would have demanded that Hiett step aside and declared Walters un-American by creating an enemies list of teachers who refused to bow to his demands.

Unfortunately, the MAGA wing is now on the rise, pushing many true conservatives out of the party or to the sidelines. But culture warriors alone won’t be enough to win elections once voters have had enough of elected leaders who excel at campaign slogans but prove themselves incapable of governing.

That day will come. The political pendulum never stops swinging. Just ask the Democrats in Oklahoma.

Arnold Hamilton is editor of The Oklahoma Observer; okobserver.org.