Russia, Russia, Russia
The main stuff going on here that I could find is that some Republicans are seeking to discredit Mueller but others are fighting back.
“There’s all kinds of reasons to believe there’s political interference, and we really ought to get to the bottom of it,” Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) said, adding: “I’ve got confidence in Mueller, as far as what he’s doing in the Trump-Russia investigation, and I don’t have any reason to believe otherwise.”
Because as we all know, and as some right-leaning outlets are admitting, the evidence is overwhelming. From RealClearPolitics;
But what do the facts show? There is a growing, mostly undisputed body of evidence describing contacts between Trump associates and Russia-linked operatives. Trump partisans have claimed that Mueller's investigation is biased because some members of his staff supported his rival Hillary Clinton. But Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein disagreed Wednesday, arguing that Mueller "is running his office appropriately."
Trump is still talking to Russia and not telling us about it. He just talked to Putin on the phone and we only discovered it via the Kremlin.
Trump’s power is shrinking and we are seeing this among Republicans in the government
The Alabama special election on Tuesday is having many repercussions. Trump claims he knew better about Moore, but Trump and Moore are very similar, no matter what he says. And the fact that Trump’s base couldn’t get Moore elected weakens Trump’s support among Rs.
Trump’s choice to oversee chemical safety laws at the EPA withdraws
If we held a contest to find the most offensive Donald Trump nominee for any post, Michael Dourson would be a very strong contender.
The Republican president decided over the summer that Dourson should lead the Environmental Protection Agency’s office of chemical safety, which was outlandish, even by Trump World standards. Dourson has spent much of his career not only accepting money from the chemical industry, but also helping chemical companies fight against chemical safety regulations.
How did this happen? Two R senators came out against him in recent weeks (Burr and Tillis). You have to think that they were encouraged by (a) the horribleness of the nominee and (b) Trump’s sinking popularity. I mean, it turns out that toxic chemical spills are not popular anywhere, not even among Republicans! But Dourson only withdrew his name only on Wednesday, the day after the special election in Alabama.
We’ve also seen the decision to reject a couple of really unqualified nominees for lifetime judges! What led to that? Chuck Grassley, chair of the Senate Judiciary committee, changed his mind. He also represents Iowa, and noticed the 31% swing toward the Democrats in a special election in his state. Now, the R still won (it’s a very conservative district) but that is an enormous swing.
538 argues that the election of Jones gives more power to moderate Republicans.
This has implications for the damned tax bill. In a segment on Rachel Maddow (which I am having trouble embedding, sorry) Siobhan Hughes discussed the teeny tiny margin that Republicans have, and how Marco Rubio, Mike Lee, Bob Corker have all made noises against it, while John McCain and Ted Cochrane may not be around due to health reasons. CONTACT YOUR REPS!
And, in a complete repudiation of Moore, and by implication, Trump, Sen. Gillibrand is winning support among Republicans in the Senate to fight sexual harassment.
Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), Rob Portman (R-Ohio), and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) joined Cornyn in signing onto Gillibrand's push to remodel the secretive system Congress uses to adjudicate sexual harassment complaints.
Not only is this good for women (and men if falsely accused) but it prepares an approach that can get rid of Trump.
We’ve been wondering how evangelical Christians can support creeps like Trump and Moore. Well, some of them are wondering too. From Christianity Today:
The race between Republican candidate Roy Moore and Democratic candidate Doug Jones has only put an exclamation point on a problem that has been festering for a year and a half—ever since a core of strident conservative Christians began to cheer for Donald Trump without qualification and a chorus of other believers decried that support as immoral. The Christian leaders who have excused, ignored, or justified his unscrupulous behavior and his indecent rhetoric have only given credence to their critics who accuse them of hypocrisy…
The problem with many Christian conservatives is this: They believe they can help the country become godly again by electing people whose godliness is seriously questioned by the very people they want to influence.
Sometimes, hypocrisy can go too far, even for evangelicals!
Republicans who can’t govern are thinking about not governing:
Sometimes it’s due to their own yucky histories. Fahrenthold (who has declared his decision not to seek re-election) is a particularly wretched, sexual harassing congressman from Texas. Maddow talked about several people who have departed from the Trump administration this week as well.
Even Paul Ryan is thinking of quitting. From Politico:
Despite several landmark legislative wins this year, and a better-than-expected relationship with President Donald Trump, Ryan has made it known to some of his closest confidants that this will be his final term as speaker. He consults a small crew of family, friends and staff for career advice, and is always cautious not to telegraph his political maneuvers. But the expectation of his impending departure has escaped the hushed confines of Ryan’s inner circle and permeated the upper-most echelons of the GOP. In recent interviews with three dozen people who know the speaker—fellow lawmakers, congressional and administration aides, conservative intellectuals and Republican lobbyists—not a single person believed Ryan will stay in Congress past 2018.
Having this information come out now reduces his leverage and weakens him. He’ll either have to cave to Democrats or leave early. And although Ryan has shown himself to be a singularly weak and ineffectual Speaker of the House, can you think of anyone they have who would be better?
While Republicans are quitting, we’re showing that we’re in it for the long-term and fighting everywhere
As we have discovered, the fight to save our country is a marathon and not a sprint. So it’s good to discover that our allies are preparing to battle long-term as well (while so many of our foes are bailing). For example, Lt. Governor Tina Smith from Minnesota, who is expected to take over Al Franken’s senate seat, is planning to run for office in 2018. She’s not a caretaker but intends to be a long-term fighter.
Corker’s resignation from his Senate seat in Tennessee means a seat with no incumbent. A poll shows a Democratic candidate, popular former governor Phil Bredesen with a lead over a likely Republican contender, Marsha Blackburn. It’s too early to count chicks but that’s as good as the news can be at this point.
And people are planning to fight everywhere. From Politico:
They’re (Democrats) eyeing Senate races in Utah, Nebraska and Texas; governors' races in South Carolina, Georgia, Kansas and Tennessee; and House districts where Republicans hold more than a 5-point advantage heading into the midterms. The party is close to landing a recruit (a distant relative of Elvis) in Mississippi, the last Senate race where they need one, with hopes that a divisive GOP primary could create another unexpected opening in the South. And there is sudden talk about dozens of pick-ups in state legislatures that could flip seven chambers and up to nine state attorneys general
….
“People are voting everywhere. People woke up the day after Trump got elected and said, ‘I will no longer be a casual participant in democracy ever again,’” Democratic National Committee chairman Tom Perez said in an interview. “Is it an uphill battle to win the House and the Senate? Of course it is. Is it doable? I think so as well.”
And we’re not fighting just for seats in government, but against the terrible policies.
Such as for blocking the terrible blow to net neutrality. States and consumers and many of us can fight and the courts are already gearing up.
The tax bill which Republicans are poised to pass is intended to damage the ACA by taking away the mandate. But states can reinstate that mandate:
But won’t the entire Obamacare system collapse without the mandate? Not if the states step into the breach. They’ve got the power to patch the hole that repeal of the mandate would leave in the ACA. The most ambitious states could even take steps to strengthen the law.
For starters, the states can adopt their own individual mandates to replace the one that Congress repeals. There’s nothing stopping them. Before the ACA existed, Massachusetts had a mandate; it’s still on the books. And, as Vox’s Sarah Kliff reported last week, a number of states — including California, Maryland, and Washington, as well as the District of Columbia— are toying with creating their own mandates.
Small farmers who voted for Trump are discovering how awful he is and are suing too. Now, it would have been helpful if they had realized this before the 2016 election, but I predict this will wake them up a little and contribute to the blue wave.
Many of the farmers affected by the rollback supported Donald Trump for president, who promised to look after their interests. Now, the disillusionment is setting in.
West Virginia poultry farmer Mike Weaver voted for Trump, but says the feeling now among small farmers and ranchers is, "Where's the support that you promised us? We voted for you because you were going to make things right, and it's not happening."
We just have to make sure they realize that it’s not just Trump, but most of the Republican party. After all, they shouldn’t be spending their money on booze and women, says Grassley.
Most of the rest of the world hates Trump too. There’s a demonstration taking place in Geneva, Switzerland on Saturday, to protest his decision to call Jerusalem the capital of Israel.
I’m on the Indivisible mailing list, and their words were so inspiring after Tuesday’s election that I wish to share:
Dear Indivisibles,
What a year it’s been.
You’ve done the unthinkable. You’ve forced more than a dozen high-profile, safe Republicans to retire because of your constant constituent pressure. You defeated the repeal of the Affordable Care Act. Twice. You’ve supported progressives up and down the ballot in Virginia, Michigan, Washington, and Alabama. And you’ve won.
Most importantly, you’ve created thousands of hyper-local movements across the country that have Republicans and the Trump Administration shaking in their boots.
None of this was imaginable on December 14, 2016 (exactly one year ago!) when we sat down to publish the Indivisible Guide. We were going through stages of grief like so many of you. Republicans were lining up behind the Trump Administration and some Democrats were talking about working with the Trump Administration as though it was a normal Republican Administration. But we, and millions of people across the country, knew nothing about a Trump Administration would be normal.
We heard from friends and family that they wanted to get politically active for the first time. They wanted to make change. They wanted to do whatever it would take to stop the worst parts of the Trump Administration. They wanted to fight back, but they didn’t know where to start.
As former Congressional staffers, we knew that a President’s ability to enact much of his or her agenda relies on whether or not Congress went along with it. And Congress is accountable to their constituents. So we wrote a practical, Civics 101-style document to help newcomers to activism realize their power and leverage in our political system. We called it the Indivisible Guide.
We put the Guide online and went to bed one year ago thinking we’d done a good thing… and maybe a few people would find it useful.
Within days, tens of thousands of people downloaded the Guide and read it. You showed up at town halls with and without your members of Congress. You started making phone calls. You visited their district offices. You put up missing posters (and milk cartons!) with your MoCs’ photos. You took control of the narrative and made sure your elected officials knew they were accountable to you. 6,000 of you even took the Guide and started your own Indivisible Groups and ground the Republicans’ agenda to a halt, while fighting for bold, progressive values.
One year ago, we didn't set out to tell people to have hope. We set out to tell people they have power. And with that power, you gave an entire country hope and showed them resisting the Trump agenda was possible.
Today’s the first anniversary of this movement and we’re celebrating you. We have a lot of fun things in store on Facebook and Twitter to show our gratitude, and we can’t wait for you to see them.
Now, go celebrate Star Wars and The Last Jedi.
We are fighting against a pretty evil group, but you know what? We ARE the Resistance. We are the heroes and the fighters and we are making a difference! May the force be with all of us!