Todd Achilles plays the new politics, and that’s why he can win | Opinion
President Donald Trump has changed the rules of the game, that is, the serious business of how candidates and officeholders treat each other and how much of what has heretofore been considered off limits in public statements but is now fair game for their speeches and public comments. Anyone who doesn’t think Trump has changed the nature of communication between office holders and constituents hasn’t been listening to Trump’s most unorthodox approach to addressing the American people. Anything goes with Trump, vulgarity is in, civility is out.
Go back as far as Trump’s first run for office when Trump attacked former Republican President George W. Bush for taking America into the Iraq War. At the time, it was considered heresy for a Republican, as Trump called himself at the time, to attack a fellow Republican who served two terms as President. Traditional Republicans at the time were aghast that Trump should be so brutally direct by taking off the gloves and chastising a former Republican president. Trump’s budding MAGA crowd loved it and the minute Trump heard the cat calls of approval from the MAGA ranks, he doubled down and has been doing so ever since.
It was to be a preview of coming attractions with Trump showcasing his willingness to this day to attack anyone, Republican or Democrat, who doesn’t buy into his view of the world.
Even if it’s not vulgarity, but just unfiltered candor, exaggeration or plain lies, Trump’s “political-speak” seems to be changing what Americans expect of their public officials. Some may consider it a sad state of affairs that the quality of our public discourse has been diminished, but there may be a message in there about how challengers get elected in the years to come.
Most incumbent officeholders haven’t quite figured out just what the public is likely to accept as fair game in criticizing opponents. They still operate with canned speeches that sound like they’re delivered from the podium in Congress rather on the streets of America just leveling with the people about how unqualified an incumbent or candidate is for public office.
The best example of that recently was Independent candidate for U.S. Senate, Todd Achilles, wishing Sen. Jim Risch a happy 83rd birthday on billboards across the state. Historically, I doubt you will find many examples of a candidate, incumbent or challenger, pointing out to the people that the opponent is just too damn old to be running for another six-year term representing the people of Idaho in the U.S. Senate.
In Risch’s case, it’s even more compelling an argument since he has failed to exercise the duties of chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at a moment when Trump is committing troops to a war glaringly akin to Bush’s justification for the Iraq War. Amazing how the threat of nuclear weapons still justifies incursions that seem to accomplish little, including a refusal of America’s allies to participate.
As chair of Senate Foreign Relations, isn’t there be something Risch could have done in the months since Trump upended the global economy with his unilateral foray into Iran with no strategy or clue as to how it might all turn out?
Back to campaigns, Achilles seems to be the exception to candidates who seem incapable of changing their tune to adapt to the new politics of getting elected when MAGA still controls at least one-third of the American vote.
That must come in part from the lack of leadership talent available in Congress to lead the Democratic Party. If only two of the most boring and inconsequential Democratic leaders in the history of Congress, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries in the House and Sen. Charles Schumer in the Senate, could drop their canned speeches at the podium and talk to the American people like they understood their plight. They are hardly the role models for how to get elected or even serve as national spokesmen for their parties and their chambers.
In considerable contrast, Senate candidates James Talarico of Texas and Graham Platner of Maine are running their campaigns like they forgot to read the script coming out of the Democratic strategists’ playbook.
Achilles seems to understand the new normal when it comes to getting the attention of voters and how to call the shots as he sees them. If our politics in Idaho wasn’t so addicted to party loyalty, Achilles should win over Risch by gargantuan proportions even before voters think about having Risch, a nonperforming United States Senator, as one of two Idahoans representing them in the Senate. Add Achilles’ substantial government experience and his service in the military, which seems an important factor these days in voters assessing just how committed their candidates are to their country, and Achilles seems the heir apparent.
Let’s hope Achilles isn’t over that kind of messaging on billboards that reminded voters of Risch’s age. Perhaps we’ll see another, this one a question: Will those who served their country in the military please stand? Then a line below: “not so fast, Risch, sit down. You can’t fake military service the way you fake your time as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.” All in service to Trump’s latest foreign policy adventure. In his 2008 campaign, Risch claimed he had a medical exemption for an ulcer as to why no Vietnam service. Sounds a bit like the bone spur excuse of another Republican in the news.
It’s a long way from the days of Sen. Frank Church, who did not allow party affiliation or fear of political reprisal to stand in his way. He challenged his fellow Democrat, President Lyndon Johnson, over his conduct of the Vietnam War. That word Independent before Achilles name suggests he will not suffer fools in office as Risch has done. Achilles is right that both parties have failed the American people, and he will call the shots as he sees them, all in the service of Idahoans in search of representative government gone missing in the Gem State.
Achilles will not be on the primary ballot next week because the May primary serves only the interests of the two parties that write the laws dictating who stands for nomination and who gets to vote in those primaries. But as soon as that primary is over, keep your eye on Independent Todd Achilles and watch his ads whether on billboards or online. It’s the latest example of the kind of candor and honesty Idaho voters deserve in the U.S. Senate and have been lacking in recent years.
Bob Kustra served as president of Boise State University from 2003 to 2018. He is host of Readers Corner on Boise State Public Radi and a contributing columnist for the Chicago Tribune. He served two terms as Illinois lieutenant governor and 10 years as a state legislator.