Here is the deal: the President of the United States is a monster.
I try not to use dehumanizing language about anyone, but the tweets he sent out yesterday encouraging protests against stay-at-home orders were just beyond abhorrent. They were unbelievable. They were awful. They were irresponsible, craven, morally bankrupt, stupid, and reprehensible.
And because of those tweets and for 8,434,942 other reasons: there is nothing more important than getting Trump out of office in November. Nothing.
Anyone who reads these Saturday roundups with any regularity knows that I try to be upbeat and always chose love.
But I hate that man with the passion of 1,000,000 suns.
I despise what he does and what he refuses to do.
I abhor his selfishness.
I detest the way he values his own political fortunes above anything else.
I hate hate hate hate hate him.
I hate his adult children and their grifting.
I hate the people who enable him in our Congress.
I hate the sycophants who have sold their souls to serve in his cabinet.
They are selfish, hateful, craven monsters and we need to VOTE THEM ALL OUT IN NOVEMBER.
The good news (and it is VERY good news) is that we can do it.
And here are seven reasons why:
1. There is Fire in our Bellies
I heard some idiotic pundit talking about how Democrats are in trouble because people aren’t super enthusiastic about Biden.
Dumbest comment ever.
We aren’t going to the polls because of who is running on our side. We are going because of who we are running AGAINST. And we are plenty motivated in that direction.
How Democrats Won Big in Wisconsin
a progressive challenger, Jill Karofsky, defeated a Donald Trump-backed incumbent, Daniel Kelly, by more than ten percentage points.
In Milwaukee, Wisconsin’s Democratic stronghold, only around three per cent of polling stations were open, owing to limited numbers of poll workers. Across the state, voters complained that they never received absentee ballots that they had requested.
The Republican attempts to suppress votes in Wisconsin backfired profoundly. There is a concept in psychology called “moral injury,” which refers to seeing something happen—or feeling like one failed to prevent something from happening—that is so fundamentally wrong that it tears at the fabric of your moral expectations of the world. And that describes how voters across Wisconsin felt as they watched the G.O.P. force us into an in-person election that every public-health official warned could cost lives. It reminds me of the height of the family-separation crisis and the backlash that followed, in 2018. And, like in 2018, people wanted to fight back with everything they could. For many voters, that meant finding a way to request and return an absentee ballot. For others, it meant braving the coronavirus and standing for hours in line, even in rain and hail, to cast a vote.
Democratic voter motivation in Wisconsin has Republicans worried
The mobilization of these voters could signal a warning to Republicans in a state that will be key for Trump in the fall.
“There’s no question in my mind that Democrats are more motivated to vote than Republicans,” said Mark Mellman, a D.C.-based pollster who has done work for Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D).
“I was surprised at the turnout in the Democratic primary. It was more than what I thought it would be,” said Brandon Scholz, the former chairman of the Wisconsin GOP. The results reminded him how much Democrats hate the president, he said, and what a motivating force that could be.
2. We are Way More United than we were in 2016
I know a lot of people are very worried because there are a few idiots (and many more trolls and russian bots) claiming that they will sit out in 2020. I am not worried at all.
This is not 2016. We know what we are up against and we are WAY more united.
First, most of us are fine with Biden
Democrats mostly satisfied with Biden as nominee
A new poll suggests that the majority of Democratic voters are satisfied with former Vice President Joe Biden as the presumptive nominee
Second, Bernie actually really likes Biden (and Biden really likes him). They are friends. we did NOT have that in 2016 and that will make a big difference).
Sanders says opposing Biden is ‘irresponsible’
Bernie Sanders said Tuesday that it would be “irresponsible” for his loyalists not to support Joe Biden, warning that progressives who “sit on their hands” in the months ahead would simply enable President Donald Trump’s reelection.
Sanders Stands Up for America
However you feel about each of them, Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders just put all the bullshit to the side. We’re in a national emergency.
No, we’re in two national emergencies. The coronavirus is one. The Trump presidency is the other. We need to join together to end emergency #2 so we can really address emergency #1.
“I’m going to need you,” Biden said, “not just to win the campaign but to govern.” And then: “Thank you for being such a gentleman, and I’ll try my best not to let you down.”
He was right. Sanders was a gentleman. This was the Bernie Sanders we need. What a contrast from 2016, when he… nah, let’s not even get into it. He behaved today, and last week in suspending his campaign, exactly as someone in his position should behave. Realistically and graciously.
And Biden behaved exactly as he should behave. Deferentially. To a fault. That’s all right. Sanders has earned that deference, both with the way he’s behaved recently and of course by virtue of the fact that he has that youth army behind him (not quite as big as he thought it would be, but big enough to matter in November).
And Bernie (and Liz) have changed the face of the party and what Biden will fight for:
Remember how Biden was talking when this campaign began? He was talking about a restoration. Now, he’s saying we can’t go back to the way it was.
there’s every reason to think that a united front of Biden, Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and the Obamas (and, yes, even the Clintons) will convince enough people. We may yet have time to save this country.
Warren is behind him too: Elizabeth Warren Endorses Joe Biden: ‘When You Disagree, He’ll Listen’
Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts endorsed Joseph R. Biden Jr. on Wednesday, becoming the most high-profile progressive woman in the party to try to help the former vice president expand his appeal among liberal voters.
Her announcement follows Senator Bernie Sanders’s on Monday and former President Barack Obama’s on Tuesday. Ms. Warren’s support had been a foregone conclusion, but she left the timing of her announcement up to Mr. Biden’s team, according to people familiar with the matter. There was no holdup or demand for concessions, these people said.
Democrats are indeed, for once, in array, which was far from an inevitable outcome after a primary in which the party’s ideological fault lines were bitterly clear. The relatively swift arrival of two liberal challengers, Ms. Warren and Mr. Sanders, into the Biden camp is a striking reminder of the sense of urgency among Democrats to coalesce against Mr. Trump when the public’s attention is so focused on the coronavirus.
and Michelle’s endorsement is coming! Michelle Obama to lend star power to Biden
Former Vice President Joe Biden’s campaign is planning a rollout for Michelle Obama’s endorsement, although there are questions around just how public a role the enormously popular former first lady will play in his campaign.
Sources tell The Hill that the Biden campaign’s early plans include a focus on remote fundraising and voter registration efforts.
The trick for Michelle Obama and the Biden campaign is finding the right balance for the pop culture icon, who could be a massive asset for the campaign but has never shown much enthusiasm for campaign politics.
Democrats look at the presidential contest with a new sentiment: Optimism
Harvard philosopher Cornel West, a prominent champion of Bernie Sanders’s presidential ambitions, defiantly threw his support to the Green Party when Hillary Clinton, a politician he called a “neoliberal disaster,” sealed the Democratic nomination in 2016.
Four years later, in a clear sign of all that has changed, West says he will support the probable Democratic nominee Joe Biden as part of an “anti-fascist coalition” against President Trump in November, despite his concerns about the former vice president’s ties to “Wall Street and militarism.”
“Biden is better than Trump,” West said. “There’s no doubt about it.”
Comments like this have gone a long way in shedding the shell of anxiety and fear that has long enshrouded a Democratic Party still shattered by its unexpected loss to Trump in 2016. In the past month, amid the worst public health crisis in a century, the party has coalesced around a single candidate far earlier than most expected, and set aside many of the divisions that hobbled Clinton in 2016.
3. Trump is a historically unpopular president
I know it is fun (?) for everyone to freak out every week or two when Trump gets some dumb bump or some poll shows a weird pattern, but no matter how you slice it, no president has EVER been this consistently hated throughout his term.
6 new polls all showed bad numbers for Trump when it comes to his job approval.
1. Gallup 43% to 54%, -11%
2. Morning Consult 41% to 53 -12%
3. Pew Research 44% to 53% — 9%
Yougov, which had Trump approval as close as 3% is now showing Trump back underwater by 11%, 42% to 53%. Change Research is also showing Trump underwater by 12%, 44% to 56%.
4. We have Allies in this
One good thing about Biden as candidate is that never Trumpers will vote for him too. He doesn’t scare them the way some of the other choices (who we might have liked more) scared them.
We’ve never backed a Democrat for president. But Trump must be defeated.
By George T. Conway III, Reed Galen, Steve Schmidt, John Weaver and Rick Wilson
When we founded the Lincoln Project, we did so with a clear mission: to defeat President Trump in November. Publicly supporting a Democratic nominee for president is a first for all of us. We are in extraordinary times, and we have chosen to put country over party — and former vice president Joe Biden is the candidate who we believe will do the same.
5. This crisis is making it clear who can and should lead
There is nothing good about what we are going through but there was worry at first that it would help Trump politically. It won’t. It is hurting him instead.
Trump’s retreat from responsibility will fail
who can he blame? The World Health Organization? China? Democratic governors? Joe Biden? He’ll try them all, but it won’t work.
It’s often said that presidents get more credit than they deserve when things go right and more blame than they deserve when things go wrong. Trump desperately wants the former without the latter. But with things going so terribly wrong and his own performance so obviously lacking, his old strategies aren’t going to work.
The GOP was built to fail on coronavirus
The contemporary Republican Party has been built to wage ideological and partisan conflict more than to manage the government or solve specific social problems,” Hopkins writes. “So perhaps it shouldn’t be shocking that an array of subjects, from what medical treatment might help COVID patients to how important it is to take measures protecting the lives of the elderly, have been drawn into the perpetual political wars.
the GOP is less able to shift its policy approach to adapt to specific policy problems: It is so consumed by ideology, so preoccupied with the war on Democrats and liberals, that it cannot countenance cooperating with them to address a shared national problem. The Republican party needs a perpetual liberal enemy.
Sometimes, the impulse to polarize everything works well for Republicans in crass political terms. It helped Trump escape impeachment despite clear evidence of his guilt. But Hopkins thinks it might not work out so well this time around:
There has seldom been a time in recent political history when daily partisan point-scoring has been rendered more irrelevant. The general election is far enough away that good policy is good politics: the best way for the ruling party to serve its own electoral interests is to work as hard as possible over the next seven months to render COVID manageable and prevent economic freefall.
The widespread public confidence that will be necessary for “normal life” to resume simply can’t be jawboned back into existence via daily press conferences, radio broadcasts, or Fox News monologues. If Republicans lose the battle with the coronavirus, they won’t have much of a chance to win the fight against liberalism.
Owning the libs is the raison d’être of the current Republican party. It’s not a governing strategy in normal times. But in a crisis, it’s downright catastrophic — and quite possibly self-defeating.
6. We can win the senate
Y’all this went from a “maybe on the off chance” to THIS CAN REALLY HAPPEN.
It is almost too amazing to imagine: A Democratic House and Senate with Biden in the WH can make REAL change and fix SO MANY ISSUES.
Lindsey Graham outraised by Democrat Jaime Harrison in SC’s record-setting Senate race
U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham’s Democratic challenger Jaime Harrison outraised the incumbent Republican for the first time in the race over the initial three months of 2020, setting a South Carolina campaign fundraising record in the process.
Collins approval rating drops in Maine: poll
Maine Sen. Susan Collins (R) has seen a dip in her approval rating statewide, according to a new poll.
The Maine senator continues to be a top target for Democrats in the fall.
A survey released Monday by the Bangor Daily News found that just 37 percent of voters in the state approve of the job she has done as senator, compared with 52 percent who said they disapproved.
Some Democratic challengers raise big sums in fight for the US Senate amid pandemic
Democratic challengers in some of the most closely watched US Senate races outraised Republican incumbents during the first three months of the year -- as the coronavirus outbreak upended traditional campaigning and fundraising.
Republicans should worry about the Senate
The numbers do not look promising for Republicans to retain their Senate majority. In key states, Republicans incumbents’ approval has tumbled and Democratic challengers have out-fundraised them.
Democrats almost certainly won’t win all these races. But with so many races in play and Democrats raising money like gangbusters, their chances of netting enough seats to gain the majority increase substantially. By contrast, there is no Democratic-held seat other than Alabama that is remotely in play. Given Democrats’ fundraising success, Republicans will need to spend money in lots of places and eventually need to decide which candidates to cut off so as to minimize their losses.
We should keep in mind that we are more than six months from Election Day and that Trump will handily win some red states (e.g., Montana and Kansas), making it harder for down-ticket Democrats. Nevertheless, at this stage, the smart money would be on Democrats at least getting a 50-50 draw.
If you have the resources, you can donate to help us take the Senate. Every dollar helps. Any money you're able to donate now will get held in escrow for the Democratic primary winner in our nine top chance states for flipping and for Alabama incumbent Doug Jones.
Click Here to Donate to Flipping the Senate.
join the rest of the GNR community in flipping the senate. We have already raised almost $9000. Can you set us over that number??? Let’s do it!
7. Democrats are amazing
Even though we are voting AGAINST Trump and his fellow monsters in November, it is a wonderful feeling to also be voting FOR a party that genuinely cares about America and Americans and is fighting so hard for us.
Check out stuff from just this week:
Pelosi says Trump decision on WHO will be 'swiftly challenged'
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is vowing to challenge President Trump's decision to halt U.S. funding to the World Health Organization (WHO), a controversial move that comes as the coronavirus outbreak continues to ravage the globe.
Pelosi did not provide details Wednesday of how she will respond, but she did make it clear she vehemently disagrees with the president's decision.
“This decision is dangerous, illegal and will be swiftly challenged," Pelosi said in a statement.
House Democrats propose $2,000 monthly payments to Americans
House Democrats have introduced legislation that would expand the federal government’s coronavirus relief cash payments to $2,000 a month until the economy recovers.
Democrats try to force McConnell's hand on coronavirus aid
Congressional Democratic leaders are trying to box out Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) by negotiating a deal with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and President Trump to provide $251 billion in new funding for small businesses.
Democratic super PAC: We will fight Trump in court over ads
leading Democratic super PAC has promised it will tangle in court with President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign to keep airing television ads the Republican president is trying to keep off the airwaves.
Priorities USA Action chief Guy Cecil said Thursday that his group will intervene as a defendant in a lawsuit that Trump’s campaign filed in Wisconsin state court to block a local NBC affiliate from airing one of the super PAC’s ads that blasts the president’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Adam Schiff: House Dems Investigating How Trump Handled Coronavirus Intelligence
the coronavirus pandemic and Trump’s lackadaisical and inept response has raised questions about the intelligence that was shared with the White House about the looming crisis—it’s been reported Trump received classified warnings in January and February—and whether Trump ignored the intelligence. And Schiff says he is now on the case.
“You had the president’s own people publicly talking about the danger and even well after the virus was an established fact—that it was spreading and coming to the United States—you still had the president talking it down like it would be no worse than the flu.”
In an interview with Mother Jones, Schiff notes that his intelligence committee is investigating what information the intelligence community obtained in the early days of the coronavirus epidemic, what material reached Trump, and how the president responded. Schiff says this review seeks to “determine when did the intelligence community first start reporting about this. What were they telling us, frankly, about the danger of pandemics even before this one? What did they first observe going in in China? When did it first make its way into the President’s Daily Briefing [from the intelligence agencies] or get briefed to Congress?”
Pelosi, Schumer say they're not backing down on coronavirus relief demands
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Monday that they would not back down from their demands over an interim coronavirus relief bill in Congress, continuing a standoff with Republicans on the additional aid.
In a joint statement, the pair of Democratic leaders said the measure must include money for hospitals and states, support for families who rely on food stamps and aid to small businesses that they say are currently excluded from a government program.
Virginia governor makes Election Day a holiday and expands early voting
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam announced Sunday that he signed a series of new measures into law aimed at expanding access to voting in the commonwealth.
The new legislation will establish Election Day as a holiday, remove the requirement that voters show a photo ID prior to casting a ballot and, expand early voting to be allowed 45 days before an election without a stated reason.
"Voting is a fundamental right, and these new laws strengthen our democracy by making it easier to cast a ballot, not harder," Northam said in a
statement. "No matter who you are or where you live in Virginia, your voice deserves to be heard. I'm proud to sign these bills into law."
Before, we get to the Saturday morning laughs, commit yourself to ACTION from your home to help us save our country.
I 100% believe all seven of the reasons above (and more). But I also know that they will cheat and lie and use every despicable tool they can find to win. So for us to win we also need to work hard. Every single one of us has to pitch in.
Here are some ideas of ways to donate your time from the comfort of your own home (click on the links):
Get involved with Postcards to voters. Postcards to Voters are friendly, handwritten reminders from volunteers to targeted voters giving Democrats a winning edge in close, key races coast to coast.
Register voters in key battleground states. Vote Forward has active campaigns going in 8 key states to encourage under-represented (potential) voters to register. In 6 of them, the packet you send to each potential voter will include the actual voter registration forms and instructions with pre-paid postage for that state. The folks at Vote Forward have collected data on this technique and determined that it does, indeed, appear to increase voter registration.
Text voters in key Senate races Payback Project has a comprehensive, four-pronged approach to make sure Republicans Senators are held accountable for their actions, their votes, and their enabling of Donald Trump.
Organize your community online The Democratic National Committee’s digital organizing team put together a list of ways you can keep organizing in your community online.
Do whatever we can to promote Biden in tweets and posts and emails and wherever. The same goes for other D candidates. Help them get positive recognition!
Also, contact your reps and senators on important issues. The ones that come to mind are: outrage over some of trump’s recent deeds, such as firing an IG wrt Ukraine, the EPA; things we want, such as voting by mail for everything, the funding of the post office.
Saturday Morning Laughs
This one is my favorite from the week:
it is “second winter” in WNY this week. Sigh.
And finally, some inspiration:
Sing us out boys:
So proud and lucky to be this with all of you ❤️ ✊ ❤️