Tag Archive: Donald Trump

Ask Republicans these loaded questions

Trump/Russia, one area where Republicans are on the defensive

Republicans know the importance of going on offense. For years, we’ve heard Republicans, from Donald Trump to Fox News talking heads to your right wing Uncle Charlie at the dinner table, begin conversations by asking loaded political attack questions against the Democrats. The topics of these questions range from immigration (“what about that caravan that’s coming to invade us?”) to the Obamas (“a terrorist fist jab?”) to the Republicans’ favorite target, Hillary Clinton (“did she use a private email server to cover up Benghazi?”) and more. As the Republicans know, when you hit your opponent with these attack questions, you frame the issue and put them on the defensive to explain why they, their party or their politicians aren’t so bad. At that point, as Willard Mitt Romney and others have stated, “if you’re explaining, you’re losing.”

But now the tables have turned. Trump/Russia and other criminal investigations are closing around Donald Trump and his family, leading to lots of deflection, excuses and explanations by Trump and the Republicans. Donald Trump’s own Twitter feed is an excellent gauge of his worry level, and right now, Trump is doing lots of desperate explaining. This is a great time for Democrats to go on offense, and ask their Republican friends the questions that will put Republicans on defense for a change. Here are some questions that you can use as conversation starters with the Republicans in your life:

The difference between George H.W. Bush and Donald Trump

Former President George H.W. Bush

Former President George H.W. Bush, who died last Friday night at the age of 94, was a Republican through and through. Accordingly, Democrats would rightfully take issue with almost all of Bush’s presidential actions and policies. Yet, virtually all leading Democrats, including Bill and Hillary Clinton, Barack and Michelle Obama, Jimmy Carter, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Adam Schiff and others, have released messages of sincere and glowing praise for Bush. What’s going on?

Going on offense at the Thanksgiving dinner table

Peaceful looking Thanksgiving dinner

Each Thanksgiving, we see tips for Democrats on how to react to conservative Uncle Charlie when he starts raising his Republican Fox News talking points at the holiday meal. However, most such tips are reactive, and assume that our conservative relatives get to set the table first by initiating the conversation based on their talking points. We know that it’s tougher to prevail in political discussions that are framed by your opponent. Instead, how about going on offense and bringing up your points first, thereby tilting the field of debate in your favor? Here are some possible points to bring up at the Thanksgiving dinner table tomorrow:

The 2018 midterms were a change election

Google page telling people to “Go Vote” on Election Day

If the Devil had shown up Tuesday morning and had said to Democrats, “I’ll give you control of the House of Representatives, but my price is the loss of a few more seats in the Senate where you’re already in the minority,” that would have been a good deal all day long. That result is just what happened in the 2018 midterm elections. While all the votes have not yet been processed, we know that Democrats have taken control of the House of Representatives, and that Republicans have kept their slender majority in the Senate, possibly improving on it by several seats. The flipping of the House to the Democrats, however, represents tremendous change, while Republicans keeping their Senate majority, even possibly winning a few more seats, does not. Moreover, at the state level, the Democrats won numerous victories which could change the political landscape further. Additionally, many of the victors this year were women and people of color (often both), the vast majority of them Democrats. Finally, younger voters came out in much bigger numbers this year.

Vote like your life depends on it, because it does

Election Day is this Tuesday, November 6

In this year’s midterm elections, there is a life-and-death issue on the ballot. No, it’s not the “caravan,” despite what Republicans and some in the media might have you believe. The life-and-death issue that we’re voting on this Tuesday (or before, if you have early voting) is healthcare.

In particular, the Affordable Care Act and its preexisting conditions coverage is on the line. There’s a lot of confusion about the ACA and preexisting conditions, but the reality is pretty simple: the 2010 ACA, based on the conservative Heritage Foundation plan and implemented first by Republican Governor Willard Mitt Romney in Massachusetts, is essentially a grand trade-off: Americans got a number of healthcare protections, including coverage of preexisting conditions at non-discriminatory prices, coverage of a comprehensive list of “essential health benefits” (meaning no more junk plans that were cheap but didn’t cover anything), removal of lifetime coverage caps, free annual preventive exams and the ability of young people to remain on their parents’ plans until age 26. In return, since all these protections cost the insurance companies a lot more, the companies got a guarantee of millions more customers, many of them younger people with few or no healthcare claims, via mandatory enrollment. It’s a delicate balance, and those protections can’t be provided under the current system without those extra paying customers.

Right wing hate rhetoric and violence top the political agenda

Photo of MAGABomber Cesar Sayoc with photoshopped slogan on sign.

Just days before the 2018 midterm elections, two incidents have pushed the Republican culture of hate and violence to the top of the political agenda. The first incident culminated on Friday, when right wing activist Cesar Sayoc was arrested for allegedly sending approximately 14 package bombs to prominent targets of Donald Trump and the Republicans, including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former Vice President Joe Biden, Florida Congresswoman (and former Democratic National Committee Chair) Debbie Wasserman Schultz, and CNN. Sayoc’s van is covered in pro-Trump and anti-Democratic hate messages, including a picture of Hillary Clinton with gun cross-hairs over it. Sayoc was therefore dubbed the “MAGA Bomber.”

The second incident occurred Saturday morning, when a white man, yelling “all Jews must die!” opened fire with an AR-15 assault rifle at the Tree of Life Synogogue in Pittsburgh, PA, killing at least 11 worshippers and wounding several others, including police officers. This comes several days after a Fox Business channel host and other Republicans raised anti-Jewish conspiracy theories, such as the idea that the so-called “caravan” of migrants from Central America are dangerous people funded by Jewish billionaire George Soros. Likewise, Donald Trump tweeted on October 22 that the caravan included “unknown Middle Easterners,” a statement with which Vice President Mike Pence agreed. The Pittsburgh killer seemed to synthesize these ideas when he recently posted on his social media:

It’s the filthy EVIL jews Bringing the Filthy EVIL Muslims into the Country!!

This latest right wing violence (it appears to meet the definition of “terrorism,” which is essentially targeting civilians for violence for political purposes) is part of a long history coinciding with Republican hate and death rhetoric. For example, years of Republican anti-government propaganda, including after the 1993 siege in Waco, Texas, culminated in the 1995 bombing of the Murrah Federal Building on Oklahoma City on Waco’s second anniversary.

Would Republicans vote for a Democratic House majority?

“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?

Trump, you can’t handle the Truman

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:

Republicans rig the game, then play victim card in Kavanaugh hearings

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.

On Kavanaugh nomination, Democrats finally lose their innocence

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.