“Stand on Every Corner” protest, St. Paul, MN
This year, several prominent Republicans have either left the Republican Party altogether, or at least have called for fellow Republicans to vote for Democratic candidates in this year’s midterm elections. In June, conservative columnist George Will called for Republicans to vote Democratic this November, primarily to punish Congressional Republicans for not exercising their constitutional powers to stand up to Donald Trump. At about the same time, longtime Republican strategist Steve Schmidt announced that he was leaving the GOP, citing the Trump administration’s cruel family separation policy. Schmidt was followed earlier this month by former U.S. Congressman David Jolly of Florida, who announced that he and his wife have left the GOP. And Republican pundit William Kristol heavily criticizes Donald Trump and seems to be implicitly cheerleading the Democrats in the upcoming elections, with tweets such as:
There are more examples of Republican defections to varying degrees. So the question is, can and should Democrats realistically call upon Republicans to vote for Democratic candidates, at least for their U.S. House Representative, in the midterm elections?
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Leave a comment! Tags: 2018 Elections, 2018 midterm elections, Congress, Constitution, David Jolly, Donald Trump, First Amendment, George Will, GOP, government, protest, Republican Party, Republicans, Steve Schmidt, William Kristol
President Harry Truman at NAS Key West, FL, 1950
Right now, folks inside the White House are high-fiving each other, cracking open beers to celebrate Donald Trump‘s “win” in confirming Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court. However, there’s probably at least one staffer running around, warning that the Kavanaugh confirmation process has galvanized Democratic voters for the upcoming midterm elections which are less than 30 days away. This comes on top of voter enthusiasm levels that already favor Democrats this year. In particular, Democrats have a very good chance of winning back majority control in the U.S. House of Representatives. (The Democrats’ Senate forecast is not as good, largely because this year, many more Democratic than Republican Senate incumbents are up for re-election.)
Thus, some White House advisors likely are telling Trump that, to prepare for a possible Democratic House beginning in January, Trump will have to act like Harry Truman. You may recall that Democratic President Harry S. Truman won re-election in 1948 largely by running against the Republican majority “Do-Nothing Congress.” In Trump’s case, that’s likely to be one-half of a Congress. Therefore, we can call the likely Trump strategy “Half a Harry.” Here’s why that strategy probably won’t work for Donald Trump:
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Leave a comment! Tags: 2018 midterm elections, Brett Kavanaugh, Congress, Democrats, Donald Trump, Franklin Roosevelt, Great Depression, Harry Truman, House of Representatives, Republicans, Senate, U.S. Supreme Court, White House, World War II
Protesters against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh
If there was any pretense left that the Republicans would treat Donald Trump‘s nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court in a fair and reasonable way, that pretense is now gone. As we indicated previously:
Democrats pressured the Republicans running the Judiciary Committee to hold a new hearing on the [Dr. Christine Blasey] Ford allegations, and the Republicans caved, scheduling such hearing …. However, that is not how the Republicans operate…. It now appears that Monday’s hearing, if it even takes place, will likely be a sham.
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Protesters against U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh
Donald Trump‘s nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court should be the final nail in the coffin for Democratic innocence about how the power game is now played in Washington, D.C. Republicans threw out Robert’s Rules and any shred of decency or fair play decades ago. The Republicans know that politics is a numbers game — numbers of votes to get elected, number of Supreme Court votes to get a majority decision, number of Senate votes to confirm a Supreme Court nominee. For the Republicans, it’s not about character, lying, past statements or even past crimes. It’s only about winning. For some remaining Democrats, that light switch hopefully has been flipped on in the face of the Kavanaugh nomination hearings.
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Leave a comment! Tags: Al Franken, Barack Obama, Brett Kavanaugh, Brian Schatz, Christine Blasey Ford, Democrats, Donald Trump, Judges, judicial nominations, Republicans, Roe v. Wade, Senate Judiciary Committee, Supreme Court, U.S. Senate
The September 11, 2001 attacks affected and united many Americans
If you’ve forgotten how united Americans were on September 11, 2001, you would be forgiven. The U.S. today doesn’t look much like it did on and in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. Our country is more divided than many of us can remember at any other time in our lives. Unfortunately, Donald Trump and many Republicans are purposely trying to tear us apart. How we respond to that effort will largely determine America’s future well-being.
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Rally to Save the Affordable Care Act, 2017
This November’s midterm elections could easily focus on Donald Trump alone. After all, this week Trump arguably moved closer to impeachment after his former attorney, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty to crimes that implicated Trump, and former 2016 Trump presidential campaign chairman Paul Manafort was found guilty on eight financial crime counts as part of the investigation into Russia‘s interference in the 2016 elections. Even before this week, Trump has been a natural target who likes to grab the spotlight each day with an outrageous action or statement. And of course, the first midterm elections two years into a presidency naturally are a referendum on the president. However, it would be a mistake for Democrats to concentrate solely on Trump. Rather, Democrats should make this election largely about us. When Democrats do mention Trump and the Republicans, they need to talk about the pain that these opponents are causing everyday Americans in our lives, and the much better Democratic policies and vision.
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Leave a comment! Tags: 2018 Elections, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, climate change, Democratic Party, Democrats, Donald Trump, environment, Gas, healthcare, Michael Cohen, Paul Manafort, Republicans, Russia, taxes
Democratic U.S. Senator Bill Nelson urges Republicans to act on climate change.
With the 2018 mid-term elections less than 100 days away, the Democratic Party is showing off a big tent that encompasses a diverse range of people and ideas. The same cannot be said of the Republican Party, which has developed into a Donald Trump protection cult.
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Trump’s child separation policy
2018 is turning into the Year of the Children. Unfortunately, however, Republicans keep ending up on the wrong side of heartrending, visceral issues regarding child safety. First and foremost this week is the barbaric Trump administration policy of separating immigrant children from their parents at the border, and then detaining the children in “cages.” This follows the school shooting tragedy in Parkland, Florida last Valentine’s Day, and the subsequent protest movement in favor of greater safety from gun violence in our schools and elsewhere.
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Leave a comment! Tags: border, child separation, children, Democrats, Donald Trump, family, family separation, GOP, immigration, Jeb Bush, Laura Bush, Republicans, Twitter, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Knotted Gun sculpture, New York City
Last month, the Democratic Party announced that it would run an anti-corruption campaign against Donald Trump and his administration in the 2018 midterm elections. We suggested that the Democrats also campaign on what they stand for, and, a few days later, the Democrats did something ingenious along those lines when they proposed that the Trump/Republican tax cuts be rolled back and the proceeds be used to fund teacher raises and school improvements such as new textbooks. Since we’ve gone through numerous special elections and primaries already, it’s time for the Democratic Party to roll out a specific, national campaign for the midterms that ties these ideas and actions together. We have the following suggestions:
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Leave a comment! Tags: 2018 midterm elections, Affordable Care Act, Bill Clinton, Democratic Party, Donald Trump, EPA, George H.W. Bush, guns, health, James Carville, Michael Dukakis, NRA, Republicans, Robert Mueller, Russia, schools, Scott Pruitt, taxes, teachers, Willie Horton
Philadelphia Eagles training camp, 2015 Military Appreciation Day
God, Guns and Gays. Illegal immigration. These are Culture War issues that Donald Trump and Republicans are pushing to stir up Republican voter interest as the 2018 midterm elections approach. The latest Culture War topic is Trump’s revocation of his White House invitation to the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles football team, after Trump heard that some Eagles team members were planning to skip the event over political disagreements with Trump. Moreover, Fox News falsely ran photos of Eagles players kneeling to pray (approved behavior by the GOP) with captions about kneeling in protest (such as in support of Black Lives Matter, a protest against police violence which is disapproved behavior by Republicans). Fox had to apologize hours later for its misleading photos and captions.
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Leave a comment! Tags: 2018 Elections, Black Lives Matter, Colin Kaepernick, crime, culture war, Donald Trump, healthcare, NFL, Philadelphia Eagles, police violence, racism, Roseanne Barr, Russia, Samantha Bee, Super Bowl, White House
