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:
Continue Reading »
0 Comments -
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:
Continue Reading »
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.
Continue Reading »
0 Comments -
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
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:
Continue Reading »
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.
Continue Reading »
0 Comments -
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
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.
Continue Reading »
0 Comments -
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
Science event at Fallston Middle School, Harford County, Maryland
A debate has been raging in the Democratic Party, over the best posture to take for the coming 2018 midterm elections. Some supporters advocate a sustained campaign of attacking Donald Trump and the Republicans, while others suggest focusing on positive Democratic proposals. Recently, the Democrats unveiled a midterm strategy of highlighting Trump and Republican “corruption.” We noted that such a focus may only be half the battle. Several days ago, however, Congressional Democrats came up with a rather novel approach that tied together both the positive and negative strategies and two separate issues: they seek to raise teacher salaries by rolling back the Trump tax cuts.
Continue Reading »
0 Comments -
Leave a comment! Tags: 2018 midterm elections, Chuck Schumer, Democratic Party, Democrats, Donald Trump, education, Nancy Pelosi, Republican Party, Republicans, tax cuts, taxes, teachers
Millau Viaduct, France
The word “infrastructure” puts people to sleep. It’s up there with “tax tables” in the attention-getting zone. However, few things are more important to America than having modern, well-maintained roads, bridges, airports, rail systems, electrical grids and Internet backbones. As Donald Trump and the Republicans have dropped the ball in this area, Democrats have a great issue to run on in the 2018 and 2020 elections. First, however, the Democrats could inject a little sex into the dry terminology on this issue.
Continue Reading »
0 Comments -
Leave a comment! Tags: 2018 Elections, 2020 Elections, Congress, Democrats, Donald Trump, electric, highways, infrastructure, Internet, Net Neutrality, rail, Republicans, roads
Democratic supporters in McHenry County, IL carry party banner
The Democratic Party is still experiencing a rift that emerged during the 2016 presidential campaign, between so-called progressives (a misnomer since the Democratic Party’s mainstream principles, from civil rights to taxation to gun safety laws and more, are progressive) and more establishment Democrats. Those factions were represented by Senator Bernie Sanders and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Democratic presidential primaries. Thus far, the party has held a unity tour featuring Sanders with Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Tom Perez. That tour did not do much to mend the party rift, especially as Sanders, an Independent, spent and still spends much of his time bashing the Democrats and telling them what to do. Now, Democratic Party leaders and Democratic-leaning organizations are sending numerous surveys to Democratic supporters, apparently in an effort to find out what the voters want to focus on, and to try to show that the politicians are in touch with voter needs.
Continue Reading »
High school students march against gun violence in Minneapolis, MN.
The mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida has led to a renewed movement against the “guns everywhere” policy pushed by the National Rifle Association (NRA) and the Republican Party members who receive so much NRA funding. Led initially by surviving students from Douglas High School, but now joined by many other individuals and groups, there are marches, protests, school walkouts, phone calls, emails, campaigns on social media such as Facebook and Twitter, and other efforts taking place to safeguard America’s children and adults. The momentum appears to be building and the tide may be turning in favor of steps such as Universal Background Checks for all firearm purchases, a renewed Assault Weapons Ban, and more. But as with all movements, the goals of this movement need to be articulated in a simple and powerful way in order to win over hearts and minds. So the question becomes, what is the best way to describe what this movement is fighting for?
Continue Reading »
0 Comments -
Leave a comment! Tags: Affordable Care Act, Broward County, Democrats, Facebook, firearms, Florida, gun control, gun reform, gun safety, gun violence, guns, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, mass shooting, National Rifle Association, NRA, Obamacare, Parkland, Republicans, Twitter
