In a scathing article, Billy Penn exposes Senator Bob Casey’s recent shift to the extreme left.
The move toward a hot-blooded, more left Casey (at least on Twitter) comes as the senator is inching toward his bid for reelection in 2018. He was seen as one of the more vulnerable Democrats heading into the midterms, and GOP wins in November for both Trump and Toomey only made Casey’s position more precarious.
Senator Casey’s slide to the left follows Pennsylvanians’ decision to elect two Republicans in 2016: President Donald Trump and Senator Pat Toomey.
Senator Casey’s press secretary admitted he’s not only moving more left, but more aggressive:
“The senator has been more fiery and aggressive [on social media] since the election,” she said. “I don’t think we had a conversation that we had to be specifically more fiery, I think the senator just kind of became that way — as many congressional Democrats have become. [We are in] much more of a defending role than we had been prior.”
Senator Casey has decided to become more aggressively partisan, listening to his party leaders like Senators Chuck Schumer and Elizabeth Warren rather than Pennsylvanians. In addition to his extremist rhetoric, he’s also begun pandering to millennials.
It’s not just that Casey’s Twitter voice has been aggressive; the emojis, the gifs, the style are all attributes that social media users associate with millennials.
Senator Casey has become a full-fledged member of the far left, adopting strategies comparable to a certain losing presidential candidate, and it’s not just the emojis and gifs…
Politicians, Ott said, are “trying to seem less elitist.” Ott noted that most electeds would still pick communications personnel over tweeting directly a la Trump, though. “The message is still heavily designed, but the form gives the impression that we’re getting a more unfiltered politician.”
A calculated effort to make a candidate seem like a down-to-earth, real person? Sounds familiar. Don’t be fooled, Senator Casey is just another Washington politician calculating every decision to hold onto his power in DC.
Casey’s task is to sort through the calculus of securing votes in the state’s bluer sections, without alienating moderates too greatly.
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