“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
Wisconsin pro-union protest
In many areas of the U.S., as has been reported anecdotally, stores, restaurants and other commercial establishments are airing Fox News at all times from a single TV. We’re not talking about an office building that airs multiple TV news networks from different TVs, or a sports bar that may have 50 TVs, including one tuned to Fox News. This is a conscious decision by the business owners to air only this point of view. It is thus impossible for a customer to avoid hearing and/or seeing the Fox News broadcast at these locations. What should you do when you walk into such a business and are not a fan of the divisive, false Fox propaganda channel?
There are several possible options for the non-Fox consumer in this situation:
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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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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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Nike Air Max
Nike has announced that former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick will be their new spokesman for Nike’s continuing “Just Do It” advertising campaign. Kaepernick is known for taking a knee before his NFL football games instead of standing during the National Anthem, in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter group, to protest police killing of black civilians. Almost immediately upon Nike’s news, conservatives lashed out at Nike. However, their protest has taken some illogical, dangerous and even hilarious turns.
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Trump Impeachment sign at 2018 Women’s March
Discussions about the possibility of impeaching Donald Trump are gaining popularity in numerous circles. First, Trump himself is talking about his potential impeachment, warning that “the market would crash” if he were impeached. Apparently, Republicans must continually instill fear in their supporters to get them to the polls. Likewise, Republicans such as House Speaker Paul Ryan warned supporters that, if the Democrats win back the majority in the House of Representatives this November, “you’ll have gridlock, you’ll have subpoenas.” In response to reports of Ryan warning that Democrats would hold Trump accountable, Democratic House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi tweeted:
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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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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
Fox News, completely removed from “news”
Yesterday, in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Michael Cohen‘s attorney was forced to reveal that Cohen has three clients: Donald Trump, former Republican National Committee Deputy Finance Chairman and donor Elliott Broidy, and Sean Hannity of Fox News. The reveal of Hannity as Cohen’s heretofore mystery third client raises some serious questions:
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