The Democratic National Committee (DNC), the governing committee and voice of the Democratic Party, has a video up at its website, as well as on YouTube, which shows the party’s “mission” and “message.” Here is the video:
Not surprisingly, the DNC video stands in stark contrast to the mission and message expressed by Donald Trump and the Republicans:
Russia’s Kremlin, home to Donald Trump’s friends and America’s enemies.
As we approach the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, it’s a good reminder that America’s space program began as a response to Russian military activity. Specifically, the Soviet Union’s 1957 launch of the Sputnik satellite set off a dramatic reaction to what was viewed as the Soviet militarization of space, with rocket technology that could be used to launch nuclear weapons. The United States, led by the Democratic-majority U.S. Senate and Republican President Dwight Eisenhower, soon tasked the Senate Preparedness Subcommittee (which had been established in 1950 to deal with the then-looming crisis in Korea) with addressing the Soviet military threat from space, and created NASA. Within less than four months of the Sputnik launch, the U.S. launched its own satellite into orbit, and the “Space Race” was on. Eventually, America surpassed the U.S.S.R. by embarking on the Apollo program that led to the moon landing. The full-scale national effort of the Apollo program galvanized America to such an extent that the term “Apollo program” is now a figure of speech that means a large coordinated effort, involving scientists and deep governmental resources, to solve a huge challenge (such as climate change.)
The issue of “preparedness” in the face of a Russian threat is something that Democrats should be using now to attack Donald Trump and the Republicans. Specifically, Russia attacked our democracy in the 2016 elections. Russia’s attacks have been termed “cyber warfare,” and even Republican Dick Cheney has said that Russia’s attacks “could be considered an act of war.” In the internet age, Russia’s attacks on America arguably are as serious as the attacks on the United States at Pearl Harbor or on September 11, 2001. However, Donald Trump and many Republicans are refusing to defend us against this threat.
Beto O’Rourke, first to reject invitation from right wing religious group
Pete Buttigieg has joined Beto O’Rourke and Cory Booker on the growing list of Democratic presidential candidates who have turned down invitations from right wing religious group The Family Leader to speak at their September 2019 summit in Iowa. Booker released a statement explaining his rejection of the invitation:
I welcome any opportunity to talk about how faith guides me, but I cannot—in good conscience—attend an event put on by an organization that preaches bigotry and sows hate against the LGBTQ community. That's why I am declining an invitation to the Family Leader's July 12 summit.
— Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) April 29, 2019
The Family Leader describes its mission as:
Strengthen families, by inspiring Christ-like leadership in the home, the church, and the government.
More specifically, the group states that it attempts to:
Protect and defend family values by influencing public policy, campaigns, and elections.
Sign from July 2, 2017 Impeachment March
One of the biggest political events to take place last week was U.S. Senator and presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren‘s announcement that, after reading the Mueller Report, she believes that the U.S. House “should initiate impeachment proceedings” against Donald Trump. Here is Warren’s tweet containing this announcement, which Warren reiterated during subsequent tweets and television interviews:
The severity of this misconduct demands that elected officials in both parties set aside political considerations and do their constitutional duty. That means the House should initiate impeachment proceedings against the President of the United States.
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) April 19, 2019
Tax returns, now a presidential campaign issue
House Democrats yesterday formally requested Donald Trump‘s 2013 through 2018 personal tax returns, as well as the tax returns of eight Trump business entities, from the Internal Revenue Service. At the same time, an increasing number of Democratic presidential candidates have already released multiple prior years of tax returns, but U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders remains the outlier.
The reason for requesting presidential candidates’ tax returns comes down to one word: transparency. According to McClatchy DC, “[t]he returns provide voters a look into the personal finances and charitable contributions of candidates and gives insight into whether he or she has any potential conflicts of interest.” Paraphrasing Joseph Thorndike, author and Director of the Tax History Project at Tax Analysts, McClatchy indicates that, “[w]ithout the full returns, voters can’t see such items as sources of income, which tax breaks they claimed, what they might have deducted as business expenses or how much they gave to charity.” Accordingly, while releasing tax returns is not required by law, it has become a tradition for presidential candidates to do so since Richard Nixon in the early 1970s.
U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)
Democratic U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren appeared at a CNN town hall at Jackson State University in Mississippi this past Monday night, moderated by CNN’s Jake Tapper. By numerous accounts, Warren “nailed” her performance. Warren exhibited traits shared by Democrats who have won the presidency: intelligence, empathy, passion and energy.
The question is whether Warren can gain momentum in these early stages of the 2020 Democratic presidential process, to catapult her into the lead, and eventually, to win the Party’s nomination. Currently, Warren sits in about fifth place in the polls (if Joe Biden, who has yet to enter the race, is included). Warren’s principal competition is thought to be Bernie Sanders, as both of them are considered to occupy the left lane of the Democratic field. Sanders, who ran for the Democratic nomination in 2016 and lost to Hillary Clinton, benefits from name recognition. However, Sanders suffers from some heavy baggage, including his 2016 negative attacks on Clinton and the Democratic Party, questionable votes on guns and Russia, a “woman problem,” and old age. Indeed, Warren appeared to distinguish herself from Sanders when she suggested at the CNN town hall that all candidates for federal office release their tax returns. This comes as Sanders, having been asked since at least 2016 to release multiple prior years of tax returns as other presidential candidates do, still has not done so. In short, Warren can be seen as a safe liberal alternative if Sanders stumbles or gets dragged down by his baggage.
At the same time, Warren may be carving out her own, more moderate lane next to Sanders. This could help her in a general election. In this regard, Warren notably gave tempered yet clear answers on several issues at Monday’s town hall:
On reparations for slavery, Warren was asked by an audience member specifically about what “public apology” should be made to African-Americans. Warren responded:
Warren: I believe it’s time to start the national, full-blown conversation about reparations. And that means I support the bill in the House to appoint a Congressional panel of experts, of people who are studying this, to talk about different ways we may be able to do it, and to make a report back to Congress, so that we can, as a nation, do what’s right and begin to heal.
Tapper: Senator, if I could just follow up on Georgia’s question, you said you’re open to a conversation about reparations to the descendants of slaves, and also to native Americans, you also said. Might that include direct payments, direct financial transfer of money?
Warren: So, there are a lot of ways to think about how reparations should be formed, and I noticed, Georgia’s question actually started with just the frame of an apology, right? With the frame of a national recognition. We have a lot of experts around the country, a lot of activists, who have a whole lot of different approaches to it. And I think the best we can do right now, I love the idea of this Congressional commission. Let’s bring people together, and let’s open that conversation as Americans. Let’s see what ideas people want to put on the table, and let’s talk them through. Because I gotta tell you, ignoring the problem is not working.
Likewise, Warren was asked about universal healthcare coverage. She responded:
Healthcare is a basic human right…. Right now, Democrats are trying to figure out how to expand healthcare coverage, at the lowest possible cost so everybody is covered. Republicans right this minute are out there trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act, they’ve got a lawsuit pending down in Texas where they’re trying to roll it back, what they couldn’t do with a vote, they’re trying to do with the courts. HHS [Department of Health and Human Services] every day is doing what they can to undermine the Affordable Care Act…. The first thing we need to be talking about is defend the Affordable Care Act…. Then part two …. For example, let’s bring down the cost of prescription drugs all across the country…. And then when we talk about Medicare For All, there are a lot of different pathways. What we’re all looking for is the lowest cost way to make sure everybody gets covered.
Finally, on the question of whether Warren and some other Democratic candidates are “Socialists,” Warren also portrayed herself as more moderate:
I believe in markets, and I believe in the value that we get out of markets. But, it’s got to be markets with rules. You know, a market without rules is theft. But a market with rules, a market with a cop on the beat to enforce those rules, that’s how it is that small businesses can get a chance to start and grow…. That’s how it is that we get new products.
The trick for presidential candidates in both parties is that, while most of the country on average might be considered moderate, the primary process comes first, and it energizes activists who are more to the left on the Democratic side, and more to the right on the Republican side. It’s possible that Warren as well as other 2020 Democratic presidential candidates could successfully straddle this line. Warren’s responses at the CNN town hall were attention-getting both for not sounding too “Socialist,” and also for sounding like she’s open to great ideas, as a winning Democratic candidate should be.
Photo by ElizabethForMA, used under Creative Commons license. https://is.gd/uKNPIy
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
Much hay was made this week from Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi‘s answer to a Washington Post interviewer’s question about impeaching Donald Trump. Here’s the question and Pelosi’s response:
There have been increasing calls, including from some of your members, for impeachment of the president.
I’m not for impeachment. This is news. I’m going to give you some news right now because I haven’t said this to any press person before. But since you asked, and I’ve been thinking about this: Impeachment is so divisive to the country that unless there’s something so compelling and overwhelming and bipartisan, I don’t think we should go down that path, because it divides the country. And he’s just not worth it.
Many Democrats took to blogs and social media to express their disappointment with Speaker Pelosi’s answer. For example, here’s author and MSNBC contributor Malcolm Nance:
Wrong! What the hell is wrong with the @SpeakerPelosi Congress that they absolve themselves of their duty! Nothing is criminal anymore?! Trump can do and say like a dictator as he pleases? All of his crimes are OK even if you see them? This requires a public outcry. #Disgraceful. https://t.co/7m3lElzP5n
— Malcolm Nance (@MalcolmNance) March 11, 2019
However, what this episode really shows is that the Democratic Party’s base (including a few House members) and its leadership have different considerations that allow them differing degrees of freedom in what they can say publicly at this time.
Vice-President Joe Biden meets Pope Francis, 2016
If you follow the mainstream media, Fox News or liberal blogs, you might think that all activity on the Democratic side is at the liberal end of the spectrum, with attention placed on new House members like the female minority trio of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib and Ilan Omar. You might think such activity and attention also translates directly to the field of 2020 Democratic presidential candidates. However, the person who currently tops the Democratic presidential polls is Joe Biden, who is considered a moderate and definitely not a fresh face. Although the media would portray this as a Democratic Party “rift,” it’s more like a disconnect. Folks following the latest media shiny objects might have forgotten, for example, that the last time the Democrats nominated an all-out liberal for president was U.S. Senator George McGovern in 1972, and he went down to one of the greatest defeats in presidential election history.
House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-MD)
Republicans are having some major difficulties with former Donald Trump personal attorney Michael Cohen‘s testimony before the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Reform yesterday. Cohen sat for over 7 hours, giving testimony about the workings of the Trump Organization that was riveting, and at times stunning. Notably, the committee Republicans rarely if ever attacked Cohen’s specific allegations about Trump wrongdoings and illegal acts. Instead, they, and Republicans in the media and elsewhere, simply painted Cohen as “a liar” based on his guilty plea in two previous cases, one of which involves scheming with Donald Trump to cover up hush money payments to porn star Stephanie Clifford a/k/a Stormy Daniels, as well as lying for Trump about efforts to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. Apparently, these Republicans realize that they face the following problems regarding Michael Cohen:
Twitter, source of trouble for some politicians
Democratic U.S. Congresswoman Ilan Omar of Minnesota got herself into hot water this week after she sent the following tweets regarding Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy‘s call for her and another Democratic Congresswoman to be admonished over their criticism of Israel:
https://twitter.com/IlhanMN/status/1094747501578633216
https://twitter.com/IlhanMN/status/1094761790595088384
Omar’s tersely expressed view that U.S. support of Israel is only a result of money, and her mention of lobbying group AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) in response to the query “who @IlhanMN thinks is paying American politicians to be pro-Israel,” angered a number of Americans. Many of those who were upset (including members of Congress) accused Omar of raising age-old anti-Semitic tropes regarding Jewish money as an instrument of global domination. On Monday, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic leaders called on Omar to apologize for her tweets. Within hours, Omar issued an apology which mentioned “colleagues who are educating me on the painful history of anti-Semitic tropes.”
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