 So the midterms are quickly approaching and the Republican Party is in bad shape and they know they're in bad shape and they know why They're in bad shape. So at the start of this year, let me just remind you where we were It seemed as if a bloodbath was inevitable and that Democrats would be wiped out but now it seems more likely that Democrats actually have a chance of holding on to the Senate and Even though it's more unlikely they could hold on to the House although we'll have to wait and see But let me just show you a couple of headlines that show you how the momentum has shifted in the Democratic Party's favor This is from the Hill GOP looks for Senate campaign reset heading toward November I wonder why you would want to reset if you're doing so well Well, of course, it's because they're not doing well also from the Hill Cook Political Report moves five house races toward Democrats So now Republicans are the ones who are seeing an iceberg dead ahead and they're scrambling to try to find some way to save face And it's not going very well I just talked about last week how they're trying to Block Biden's student debt relief proposal because apparently that's gonna be really popular But like why is it that the momentum has palpably shifted in the Democratic Party's direction? Well, I think a large portion of that can be attributed to Roe v. Wade being overturned and constant headlines like this This is from the Washington Post. They lost pregnancies for unclear reasons Then they were prosecuted experts say drug use is rarely the cause of miscarriage or stillbirth But prosecution of women who test positive for drugs still happens and could get more common in the wake of the Dobbs decision So this is why so many Americans are turned off by the GOP Because they've made women the target of their theocratic witch hunt and what they've accomplished with Roe v. Wade being overturned Is something that they fought for for decades and So immediately after Roe v. Wade was overturned. Well, they broadcasted their intent to enact a total abortion ban So that certainly isn't gonna help them But additionally, it's not just abortion like they've been going out of their way to broadcast how extreme they are They voted against a contraception overwhelmingly in the house They voted against marriage equality overwhelmingly in the house and they keep telling the American people that they're against what they want gay marriage Abortion contraception student that relief and at some point in time. It's gonna hurt them Like the GOP has never really been concerned about what the public wants, but on these issues They're very salient to Americans So you can't just 100% of the time be against what Americans want and expect it to not hurt you at some point now Also to be fair the Democratic Party has been delivering not massively But they've done certain things that will help the American people Biden cancelling 10 to $20,000 worth of student That's gonna help them especially with young people then passing the inflation reduction act wasn't necessarily a game-changer when it came to climate change But they did do some good things Extending subsidies with the Affordable Care Act on top of that enacting a 15% minimum corporate tax rate So there's things in there that the American people like so when you have one party the Democratic Party at least Trying to make it seem as if they're concerned with what the American people wants at least temporarily before the election and Another party just face planting seemingly doing everything that they can to piss off the majority of Americans Well, it's no wonder why their electoral prospects has now changed but I really want to focus on Abortion because that is what really is hurting them again. You know, this is a nuanced thing There's a number of reasons why they're currently hurting But certainly it's because of abortion and they are now learning that they're forced brother positions This is hurting them Substantially so so it started with Kansas Which gave them their first wake-up call when this deep red state voted to protect? Abortion rights that were already enshrined in their state's Constitution But now knowing that Republicans will lose at the ballot when it comes to this issue Forced brothers in Michigan are trying to block an initiative that would enshrine abortion rights in their state's Constitution Now the question is why are they doing this? We know why it's because they're forced brothers and they don't believe that women should be able to control their own bodies But that's not the argument that they're making. They're not trying to block this On substantive grounds. They're not trying to argue like against abortion They're simply trying to block this Due to a technicality. I kid you not So as mark joseph stern points out here when republicans claim they want to return abortion to the people Please remember that michigan republicans are trying to stop the people from voting on abortion Because of a few meaningless typos and as you can see here, they're trying to block this initiative that received more than 750,000 signatures because of typing errors typing errors really That's a reason to subvert democracy not allow your voters to have a say Well, that's disgusting in and of itself But this is an admission not an explicit one But it is an admission nonetheless because they're not saying we're gonna block this because You know women shouldn't have the right to control their own bodies or we really believe strongly that life begins at conception They're blocking this because of typos In other words, they know They would lose on the substance which is why they have to fabricate bullshit reasons To block this initiative because in the event this were on the ballot It would pass most republicans by now know this which is why a number of GOP candidates have walked back They're previously extremist forced brother positions as huffpost reports Some republicans really don't want you to know about their positions on abortion One of them is black masters the GOP nominee for u.s senate in arizona until recently his campaign website promoted him as a 100 pro-life candidate and pledged support for a federal personhood law Ideally a constitutional amendment that recognizes that unborn babies are human beings that may not be killed Then last week correspondence from NBC news learned the website's language had changed the reference to masters as a 100 pro-life candidate Gone mentioned of the personhood law That's vanished too Instead the website now touts his opposition to late term abortion and support for the height amendment Which prohibits the use of taxpayer funds to finance abortion So hang on a second because this is a gigantic shift He went from supporting a constitutional amendment to ban abortion to now saying well I'm going to fight against late term abortions and I support the height amendment What happened to this I'm 100 pro-life and life begins at conception late term abortions height amendment that is a massive massive change and this is Hilarious now you probably already heard about that story because black masters is probably the most High-profile arguably candidate Who's an extremist forced birther and he's extreme in a lot of other areas? But this story went viral, but he's not alone There's other republicans who are running away from their previously extreme forced birther positions Huffposts continues something similar has happened in michigan Where republican state senator tom barrett is running for a u.s. House seat barrett's website once touted his opposition to abortion Under any circumstances and his promise that I will always work to protect life from conception as recently as this past May He told melissa non-burke of the detroit news He opposed allowing abortions in cases of rape or incest But at some point the abortion section vanished from barrett's website Oh curious when burke and her colleague craig mauger asked barrett for an explanation He said he wasn't aware of the change But assumed it was a routine update to focus on issues more important to voters Okay, definitely believable It was a strange explanation given that two polls from the previous week Found abortion to be the number one issue in michigan right now By monday the website had another update with new language on abortion and echoing the new masters website It focused on barrett's opposition to late term abortion the website for barbara kirkemeyer Republican candidate for a u.s. House seat in colorado used to include language on the sanctity of life That language is not there anymore the washington post has the details and the website for mark ron shetty GOP candidate for governor in new mexico who in a previous campaign said that life should be protected at all stages Now promises a middle ground approach that focuses on prohibiting late term abortion I love this story so much. Do you understand what's happening? They're all back peddling walking back their extremist rhetoric Right after roe v. Wade was overturned. They were all emboldened and they couldn't wait to broadcast to all of us That the second day retake power they want to enact a federal ban on abortion But guess what the american people heard you and now they're saying okay. Well No, thank you. We're gonna go ahead and opt for the party. Who's not going to enact a federal ban on abortions So regardless if they want to publicly admit this or not They now know how unpopular their position is even if they may deny that And they know that it's hurting them Actively so and this is so good because as they try to run away Every single opponent to these republicans each democrat running running against these forest burthers Needs to remind them of what they said. Oh, what's that you want to stop late term abortions? But I remember you saying blake masters that um, you wanted a constitutional amendment to ban all abortions Whatever happened to that. So then he'll be backed into a corner. He'll be forced to try to explain himself He'll make himself look like a hypocrite probably contradict himself a hundred times Meanwhile, he's not winning anybody new over and if anything he's going to Turn off his forest brother supporters who won't like that. He's walking back. Who's less extreme now in his rhetoric So this is a really good position to be and democrats are in a position Where they can play offense and republicans are forced to play defense Democrats should use this to their advantage And keep pushing this issue because I hope more republicans walk away from this because every time they do We are going to call them out For their uh, not only hypocrisy, but their cowardice. Look you claim to be a forced birther you claimed life began At conception, but it changed all of a sudden this deeply held moral belief changed because of some public opinion polls Well, that makes you look like a fraud and we're going to expose you now. So thank you for helping us